Measurement conversion:

All throughout the text of this book, are references to measurements that is less known or already unknown in this time.  Below is a list of the old measurement standards, followed by the corresponding measures of today.

The linear dimensions are originally related to the human body.

Thus, one fathom is equal to the span of arms stretched out to the side,

one cubit is equal to the length of an arm,

one inch is equal to the width of a thumb.

1 mile (German measure)* = 2000 rods = 7.586 km

1 rod = 2 fathoms = 3.8 m

1 fathom (thread) = 6 feet = 1.90 m

1 foot (shoe) = 12 inches = 31.6 cm

1 inch = 12 lines = 2.63 cm

1 line = 12 points = 2.2 mm

1 point = 0.18 mm

1 cubit = 0.41 fathoms = 77.8 cm

All values are rounded; the exact values are given by the relationship:

1 fathom = 1.896484 m.

1 quintal (100 pounds) = 56 kg

1 pound (32 lots) = 560 g

1 lot (4 quintel) = 17.5 g

1 quintel (60 gran) = 4.4 g

1 gran = 73 mg.

The exact values result from the relationship: 1 quintel = 4.375467 g

In most cases, the Lorber works do not use the Austrian mile, but the German geographical mile based on the circumference of the equator.

1 equatorial circumference = 5400 geogr. miles = 40.1 mm

1 German geogr. mile = 1/15 equatorial degree = 7.42 km

According to "Household of God" (Vol 03 ch 246 v 02)

1 hour's walk = 1/2 German mile = 3 3/4 km

TRANSLATOR’S NOTE:

The German text from this edition of the book ‘Die Erde’, receibed and written down by Jakob Lorber, was published by Gerd Guteman on the website: www.j-lorber.de

THE TOWER CLOCK

a parable (April 4, 1847)

1. On a high tower in a city of that time, a duke had a magnificent clock erected.  Since the tower was octagonal, he had a dial made on each of the eight faces that naturally fell between the eight corners, so that everyone could notice and see the hours from all possible points and see for themselves at what time of day it was, minute and second.

2. In addition to the most precise division of time from the hour to the second, the clock also showed the monthly date, the position of the moon and also the position of the other planets, as well as the daily duration of light from the rising to the setting of the sun, and in addition also the four seasons - but of course, all these special astronomical data on separate astronomical dials attached under the main clock dial.

3. In addition to all this clock showed on it's dials, it also had an excellent hour and quarter striking mechanism and a very pure chime mechanism - and for all this extremely complicated artificial mechanism, only one single driving weight; in short, this clock was looking in vain for it's equal anywhere in the whole educated world!

4. But there is nothing wrong with that, nor with the fact that it performed such diverse services so extremely correctly; but that all these very different operations were set into the most appropriate motion by only one and the same driving weight - that was the real miracle of this clock.

5. When a stranger came to this city, he first noticed the clock, and he asked the first person, how many mainsprings and weights this clock had.  When he was told: "Only one!", he was completely dumbfounded and incredulous and said: "That is impossible!  So many and so different operations and only one driving force?  No, no, that's not possible, it's impossible!"

6. Again, another stranger came and looked at the clock and was amazed when it was explained to him what the clock was doing.  He thought that each dial must have it's own drive, which would mean that the tower would have to be stuffed with all kinds of different clocks.  When it was explained to him, however, that there was only one drive mechanism moving all the hands, he was completely upset, because he thought that they were only joking with him because of his ignorance, and he went away and did not inquire further about this movement.

7. And again another came from a foreign country and admired this clock and asked about the master of it, and he was given the answer: "The master of this clock was a very simple countryman, and it is not certain whether he knew how to read and write!"

8. This correct answer infuriated the stranger so much that he kept quiet about it and soon left, saying that he had not come to be scolded for being such a stupid fool.

9. And so a multitude still came and asked like the first; but when they were to be let more closely into the secrets of this work of art, they all became angry and said: "Until we have seen this with our own eyes, we cannot believe it!"

10. And see, they were led into the tower.  But when they saw the almost innumerable gears, the many levers, cylinders, hooks, rods, and a thousand other mechanical devices and connections, they literally lost their senses and said and cried: "Who can see through and understand this work?  No man could have made it!  It would take a hundred human years to count - let alone make - the components of this work!"  And all these strangers went away completely senseless.

11. Only a few allowed themselves to be taught about the correctness of this work, although for the better few, the too simple and unscientifically educated work master, remained a bone of contention - more or less.

12. What does this image teach?  What is it's inner, secret meaning?  - Think about it a little and practice  yourselves in the search of the inner truths and discover in it as much as is possible, until the perfect solution will be given for your time!  Amen.

PART ONE

THE NATURAL EARTH

The center of gravity of the Earth

13. If, for example, you observe any stone, or any other regular or irregular lump, it will soon become apparent that it's center of gravity is not equally evident on all parts of it; In particular, you can see this most easily with a somewhat misshapen wooden peg by placing it on water, where it will always sink it's center of gravity deepest into the water.  This would be the second point, which everyone can easily find with every object.

14. The third point of a body is it's real center - which, however, is never to be confused with the center of gravity of a body; and therefore every body has two centers, namely one of gravity and one of it's physical measure.  You may also examine bodies of whatever kind, and you will never find that the center of gravity and the center of the body measure coincide completely in one; not even with a perfectly mathematically correct cast metal sphere, and that because absolutely nobody consists of such perfectly equal parts, according to which the center of gravity could coincide with the actual center of the body measure in completely one.

15. If, for example, you take pure steel as one of the most solid metal bodies of all metals, break such a steel bar in two, you will easily recognize the crystalline structure at the white fracture, which will appear to the unaided eye to be strikingly uniform; but observed with a microscope, this fracture surface will get an appearance like the sight of one discovering all kinds of larger and smaller elevations from a high mountain below.  But if such a difference can be perceived in the crystalline structure of one of the most solid metal bodies, how much greater is such a difference with those far less solid bodies, whose crystalline structure is often easily perceptible to the naked eye between large and small, dense and less dense; and it is therefore all the more perfectly true that the center of gravity and the center of the body-measure can never coincide.

16. This principle could also be seen very easily by everyone in the preparation of a carriage.  Someone should construct a perfectly mathematically even wagon beam from metal of as much the same density as possible, then hang it in the wagon fork, and he will see for himself that even with such a highly mathematically correct evenness, the two wagon beams, or rather the two parts of the same wagon beam, will never form a perfectly horizontal plane, but one will suggest something to the other, and the manufacturer of the scale will then have to come to the aid of the scale beam either on one side or on the other with a file or with a hammer.  The cause of this, of course, lies in the above principle.

17. But as this relation is therefore evident with all bodies, so it is all the more at home with those bodies which did not receive a form by human hands, but which My power has formed in such a way, as they must be formed, in order to exist.  Therefore, the center of gravity and the center of measure cannot be thought of on one and the same level as positive and negative polarity.

18. You will certainly ask: How is this to be understood?  But there I ask you just about it instructively: Why are the two poles of a magnetic rod not found in it's mathematical center, but only mostly at the two ends of such rod?

19. Why is the germ tube of a seed not in the center of the seed, but mostly only on one part of the seed, while the center and the opposite pole of the germ tube are usually located one to three quarter parts of the entire seed-body content further inward and outward from the germ tube?

20. Why does neither man nor any animal not have the heart in it's measured center?

21. See, from these questions it is already self explanatory that the center of gravity of a body is something quite different from it's dimensional center.

22. If it is about the revelation of the center of the earth, then by it not so much the measure center, as rather the actual life or center of gravity of the earth is to be understood; because a revelation of the mere measure center of the earth would be, exactly regarded, an exceedingly significant ridiculousness, what can easily be seen, so one must assume the center of every body, thus also that of the earth, only as an ideal dot, which is already correctly defined according to your mathematical terms a something, which permits neither in length, nor in width, nor in thickness - also only the conceivably smallest possible diameter, thus is certainly in it's kind the most minute of all things, and you can certainly assume that already in an atomic creature, which not even the strongest solar microscope is able to discover, there would certainly still be room for countless billions of such points.  The question therefore is: what would we have to reveal of this endlessly small being, which disappears so quite actually into the barest nothingness?  One could only say: The center of the earth consists of nothing; then it would be already completely natural and spiritually revealed.  The nothingness is both physically and spiritually considered synonymous: because where nothingness is, there everything naturally ends, and a nothingness is naturally and spiritually also really conceivable in nothing else, than in such a mathematical center of measure, for which reason we want to distance ourselves from this insignificant center of the earth, and want to turn to the extremely important center of gravity of the earth, which of course must be more voluminous and, with such a large body as the earth is, also of a significantly voluminous extension, in order to give the correspondingly acting impact on it's peculiar world-body life activity.

23. I can already see it in you through and through that you are already asking within yourselves: What does this center of gravity of the earth look like?  What does it consist of?  Is it a diamond lump, or is it pure gold, or iron, or even magnet?  Or is it even a hollow space, filled with nothing but an eternally unquenchable fire, and serves perhaps even for the stay of the damned, and carries the respectable title: Hell, of which the fire-breathing mountains scattered here and there on earth are, in a way, chimneys?

24. There I say, there is no question of all this in the center of gravity of the earth;  just as little as physically taken with the heart of a man, there can be a question of all this.  The heart is neither a diamond, nor a gold nugget, nor is it iron and magnetic stone; The heart is not a hollow space filled with fire, but physically seen, it is an extremely artistic cellular fabric, within which the living soul, and in it the spirit of man, is and can be active like a weaver on his loom, because this loom is arranged for the formation of the natural life and for the temporary preservation thereof in such a way that through it's artistic construction, everything can be produced by the hands of the soul, which is necessary for the representation of the physical life.  Once this loom has become unskilled in it's natural construction in something, then it does not go quite right with the production of the physical life any more.  But if it has finally become completely inept and unskilful, then the soul can no longer use it, and it is time for it to leave this vain workshop.

25. Behold, the very same thing is the center of gravity of the earth.  How?  That will be the subject of our next consideration.

The heart of the Earth

26. So what is the center of gravity of the earth?

27. I have already said above that it has a very similar nature as that of the human heart, or even also of another animal heart.  This center of gravity is therefore also a large earth-heart in relation to the large earth-body, which is the loom or the workshop of the entire organic life of the earth just like the heart in man.

28. How big, you ask, could this heart be?  You know it, that with Me in all things that proportion is according to what is necessary; therefore it is also certainly the case with the heart of the earth.  As the earth is large, there must also be a relatively large heart or center of gravity in itself, so that in it's innumerable compartments, that power can be generated which is sufficiently powerful to drive out all the various life-juices of the earth into the widely extended organs, and again, when the juices perform their service, to draw them to itself for further saturation.

29. From this it follows that the heart of the earth must be quite large; however, it cannot be determined with an exact measure for the reason that this heart of the earth, depending on the necessity, is soon enlarged by a significant amount, soon reduced again by a significant amount.  But so on the average at least the space for this center of gravity may be assumed to be a hundred miles in diameter; but may extend further to two hundred miles, and in contrast, diminish to fifty miles.

30. But what does this so-called heart of the earth consist of?

31. This heart of the earth is not so much a matter as, for instance, the heart of an animal or a human being, but this heart is more a substantial force, which moves in an otherwise solid organism, and through this action, expresses it's effect on the whole other organism of the earth body.

32. Somebody will think and say: If this organism is a solid and therefore brittle one, how can it expand, and how can it serve as an indestructible support for another substantial force during a lengthy time, without suffering damage in it's countless parts itself?

33. My dears, this is already taken care of; the bones of animals are also a solid organism, the juices and the blood are always driven through their many pores, and yet they endure all possible force reactions the longest. It depends only on a certain kind of solid matter, and it is then firm enough against every expression of force developed in it.

34. As, for example, the matter in the intestines of animals; how often and how powerfully is this matter used, and yet, although it is apparently only weak, it continues indestructibly for a considerable time in spite of those important expressions of force.  If you further consider the much more delicate organs in the birds, in which even stones are ground and consumed, it must become still clearer to you how it depends there solely on a certain quality of the matter, according to which it is firm enough to let the forces developed in it work without damage in itself.

35. But if this more delicate matter is already so qualified by Me that it presents itself as a sufficiently firm support for the forces working in it, how much more will it be possible for Me to set up a firm organism of such qualified matter in the earth, to which the most powerful forces of the earth's interior can do little or nothing at all for millions of years.

36. If you were to build, say, how strong would the vault have to be to carry a Großglockner?  You would not manage such a thing; but I, as the Master of all things, have already found the right proportion everywhere so that all the supporting points are firm and durable enough to carry the loads resting on them with the greatest ease, and so it is also the case with the organism for the working of the substantial heart of the earth.

37. In the northern regions of the earth you will have often come across a certain metal under the name of Platina.  Behold, this metal is already something similar to that matter which serves as an organism of the ruling central power of the earth; however, you must not think of this metal as if it were completely the same matter of which the above-mentioned organism consists.  In general, you do not have to think of the interior of the earth as being of the same material nature as that matter which the surface of the earth offers for display; for this is only an outer, impalpable skin of the earth, while the interior of it behaves like flesh and blood to the outer skin, exactly to the outer impalpable rind, and therefore I can say nothing else for you comprehensibly about the inner matter of the earth than:

38. This is a kind of flesh, blood and bones; which animalistic material of the earth body, however, is not to be regarded as completely similar and of the same nature as an animal body, but it is quite peculiar, thus only an earthly flesh, an earthy blood and earth bones.

39. To explain the matter further to you in a material respect would be a useless work, and that for the reason that in the bodily state you could not possibly ever reach there to get a convincing view according to the teaching, and therefore content yourselves regarding the quality of the matter of the interior of the earth being with what has been said so far; in the spiritual representation, all this will already become clearer to you anyway.

40. We have only one question, namely: where in the earth's body is this center of gravity actually located?

41. The significantly important answer to this question will be the subject of our next consideration.

The location and changeableness of the heart of the Earth (31 December 1846)

42. So where is this center of gravity or heart of the earth?

43. In the center not, what was already shown above, as also partly, why not; which "why not" is still more clearly explained at the right place.  The center of the earth, that is, the center of the measure, would certainly be the easiest and safest to indicate as the place or location of the center of gravity, because it must occupy a securely immovable place for all times; for as long as the earth remains what it is, in the same form, size and shape, the center of the measure must also always remain one and the same.

44. But it is not so with the center of gravity of the earth; of this one cannot say, here or there it is located, but it is soon there and soon there.  It's position can be subject to very significant changes; The inner disposition of the earth's body is such that through it, the center of gravity can take it's working place on the north side as well as on the south side according to it's nature, but a fixed tension of this working substance, by which alone the center of gravity of the earth is conditioned, is not to be thought of at all.

45. That this vitalizing center of gravity is not only visible in the body of the earth, but also in other bodies on the surface of the earth, you can easily see in many plants, as there are trees, shrubs and other plants of all kinds.

46. If you look at a tree, you will easily notice that it's growth as well as it's fruitfulness tends sometimes to one part, sometimes to the other; in this year it will sprout luxuriantly on the northern side, but on the southern side everything will be weaker; in another year you will discover a striking polar change in the same tree; it's south side will be the most luxuriant, whereas the north side will look stunted.  Also, soon on one side of the tree, soon on the other, more or less dead branches or twigs will appear; thus, soon on one side of the tree, soon on the other, the foliage will wither sooner or later at autumn time.

47. Behold, these and many more such phenomena on a tree have one and the same reason, namely the always changed position of the vitalizing center of gravity or the actual vitalizing positive polarity.  The same case also occurs naturally with other plants and vegetation.

48. You will certainly ask why this vitalizing center of gravity is thus variable in the bodies?

49. The reason lies very deep; if an existence of matter would it's purpose, then this polar emphasis could also be put in such a way that matter would always have to remain the same what it is.  The apple tree would remain an apple tree in eternity, and so every thing as what it is, but it would not be much better then for the apple tree and the plant than for a diamond; For where this polarity is more and more fixed in a body, and almost coincides with it's center of measure, the more solid and durable the body becomes, but this very body, because of it's fixation, is no longer capable of anything else, but only for it's own unchanging continuation, and it would look quite desperately meager with the food for the living beings on an earth-body if these should reap their food fruits from diamond trees and such other plants.  In the same way it would be very hard to live on a diamond earth body.

50. From this explanatory description, everyone will easily see the reason why - for natural reasons - this polar vitalizing center of gravity must not be fixed, but be variable; just as the blood in animals, as well as in man, represents something similar to this center of gravity.  A fixed blood and even more so a fixed heart would certainly not serve any living being; in the animal bodies, however, which have free movement, the actual heart can already be given a more definite position, because the free movement of an animal body, as also that of man, already causes all kinds of reactions in itself, which, as is easily comprehensible, can certainly not be the case with those bodies which are not capable of any free movement.  With these, the various necessary reactions must then be accomplished by the constantly changed position of the polar center of gravity.

51. Therefore, the animal makes movements, as does the human being, and therefore has a more definite place for it's center of life, namely the heart.  But in the case of bodies which are not capable of free movement, have to have their center of life traveling around inside in a certain way in order to produce the appropriate reactions in all parts of the body.

52. From this easily comprehensible representation also everybody, who is just somewhat pure in spirit, will easily see that to determine the where of the center of gravity of the earth firmly, would be not only flatly impossible, but a purely ludicrous and foolish thing.  Only so much can be determined approximately for now and at most for a next year or at least acceptably indicated that the center of gravity is approximately in the area under Iceland, a part of Norway, Sweden and Lapland; is nevertheless so active that it can extend it's pulse movement in a certain way even to under Kamchatka and also on the southern side into the area under the Mediterranean Sea.

53. In an admittedly somewhat dirty animal, namely in a head louse, you can discover a similar phenomenon through a microscope by the movement of it's vital sap.  But of course, this can only be regarded as a slight similarity on the smallest scale; For animals on the lowest levels still have the most similarity to those bodies which have no free movement with respect to the instability of the living center of gravity.

54. So much about the location of the center of gravity of the Earth.  Next we want to determine the further reason of such change of polarity in those bodies which are not capable of free movement.

The nature of matter and it’s primordial spirits

55. It has already been noted above that the purpose of matter cannot be based in it's existence.

56. That this is correct, can be easily seen by every human being from the continuous new emergence and reappearance of the same matter.  The foliage that adorns the tree in one year falls off in autumn; and when spring comes, there is already very little of the fallen foliage to be discovered under the trees, at most a few leaf skeletons, none of which will survive the next autumn in it's kind.  So it goes with the grass, as also with the fruits of the trees; but not only these vegetal objects, but also minerals and mainly animals of every species arise and pass away.  Mountains, whose tops rose a few millennia ago above the highest cloud regions, are now at least two quarters lower; For the sharpness of the winds, the triggering power of lightning and ice have blown away these proud peaks like chaff, and nothing but at most some crumbled boulder still dissolves slowly in a deep trench, and trifling rubble has to put up with being gradually weathered and destroyed by the influences of rain, wind and electricity in the sandy alpine rifts.  All this is a consequence of the changed center of gravity of matter.

57. There were once oversized beasts out of the earth's body, as well as primeval forests, studded with gigantic trees;  where are these now?  where a Mammoth, where one of the trees that defied a millennium, and where one tree had more wood than now a forest of a hundred yokes?  Floods came, sank all these deeper into the earth's crust, destroyed thus a whole generation, yes not only one, but a thousand generations of trees and animals, and nothing more of all this now carries the earth's surface.

58. From the animals, only fossilized bones are found here and there, and is kept in the art- and nature- museums built by people until a conflagration, which transforms even the last remains of the centers of gravity in these bone remainders of the gigantic primeval animals left over from the primeval times, into that dusty matter, to whose existence the washerwomen usually make a perfect end;  it is namely the ash as the last exceedingly volatile remains of all matter.

59. As far as the final destruction of those primeval trees is concerned, the remains of which are still frequently found under the name of hard coal, no special explanation is needed; for all the fiery and steaming inventions of this time will have fetched and consumed the last remains from the earth's crust in not too long a time;  and so here the newly invented industry of man performs this last work of destruction by fire and steam on the last remains of these primeval trees.  So here the fire still changes the last center of gravity of this matter; and behold, nothing remains of it but just a little ash again, which, scattered on fields and meadows, is completely dissolved again within a year at the most by the action of the rain and the electricity in the air, and thus also such a tree, which once covered over a hundred acres of land, has completely lost it's material existence in it's last remnant.

60. But, some will say, that is also the sad thing, that all existence is heading for a certain destruction.

61. But I say, this is not sad at all; for matter is death, as the flesh is sin through death.

62. Should death and sin remain?  I think that it is better to corrupt all matter and all flesh over time, and thereby free the life trapped in death from matter, than to support matter, and in the end to let all free life pass over into the death of matter, which can never be My intention, because I Myself as the eternal almighty elementary Power and Might of all powers and forces, am the most real Life and therefore cannot work for death, but only for life.

63. But since therefore matter exists only as a means for the regulation and liberation of free life, the unchanging existence of matter can never be it's purpose.  It is therefore only there as long as it must be there as a means to an end; if any purpose of life has been achieved through it, then it passes away again as if it had never been there.

64. In general, matter - as you already know - is in itself nothing else than a purposeful appearance of My will fixed by Myself.

65. But from this it follows that it can be dissolved again in exactly the same way as it was fixed.

66. This fixation, however, is the main focus in matter, or the animating and sustaining principle; if this is now withdrawn from any material body, then matter is also finished.

67. But so that nevertheless not too sudden emergences and perishings happen before the eyes of mankind, I let this above-mentioned principle of My will never recede so suddenly, and also never seize a point so suddenly that thereby, a thing immediately comes into existence, as on the contrary, perish. Of course, the becoming and decaying of the large world-bodies proceeds most slowly in this way; you can already easily understand the reason now.  But it is also the case with the earth that the center of gravity, which animates it, is gradually reduced, and so on and on, until it will finally share the fate of all matter.

68. Now we would know as thoroughly as possible the reason about the change of the center of gravity in matter, as it's transitoriness caused by it, and we would also know of what the actual main principle of the center of gravity in matter consists.

69. But I nevertheless see that you would like to see the essence of this principle in a certain way figuratively; also this shall be shown here.

70. To the material eye, if it were possible, this center of gravity acting in the body of the earth, would appear as a fire which, in a speed unbelievable for you, would strike through those organs of the earth suitable for it, and thereby cause the necessary reaction for the preservation of the body of the earth in all it's parts.

71. But if you could look at this fire with spiritual eyes, you would discover a countless spiritual army, which is held here only by My will and is driven to defined purposeful activity.

72. These are therefore the primordial spirits, banished to the active animation of that matter which surrounds them, through which they themselves finally ascend higher and higher in time, and then, clothed in lighter matter, can pass from stage to stage into perfect, free life.

73. This kind of spirits, which present themselves to the sensual eye as a fire, thus determine the active and the all-matter-animating center of gravity.

74. In the next part we will explain in detail how the countless secondary centers of gravity of the earth-body are driven to useful activity by this center of gravity through the different layers of the earth-body, i.e. of it's bones, intestines, flesh and blood.

The inner structure of the Earth

75. If you look at an animal body of whatever kind, you will, without having studied further the anatomy of all animal bodies, quite easily understand and see that either the blood or the juices pass through all veins and other vessels in the same way as through those veins and vessels which are present in the animal heart, and that at all points the pulse or impulse occurs at the same moment as in the actual heart; and it is easy to see that in an animal body there is therefore no need for more motive forces than just one, which is sufficient for innumerable vessels.

76. So it is also the case with the heart of the earth.  Through it's pulse or impulse, which repeats itself every 6 hours, the most diverse sustaining forces of the earth's interior are driven into all parts of the earth's body, and there is no need for a second, fourth or fifth driving force of another kind; therefore, all phenomena as an earth-body life-process, depend on this sole driving force.

77. High tide and low tide, and other elevations of the outer earth's crust, as well as the winds derived from it, all have their origin there; for this heart of the earth at the same time also represents the place of the lungs in the animal body, from which it is then explicable that both the regular and irregular expansions and recontractures of the earth's body stem from only this.

78. But in order to grasp this general foregoing all the more thoroughly, it will therefore be necessary to briefly see through the inner earth structure as much as possible, in order to arrive through this picture at the view of how the countless other secondary centers of gravity are set into the same motion by the one main center of gravity both in the earth body itself and in the animal bodies.

79. What does the inner structure of the Earth look like?

80. In order to understand this more or less thoroughly, we must first understand how not only the earth, but even every plant, every fruit on the tree, as well as every animal, and finally man himself, distinguishes himself physically in a certain way into three bodies within himself.

81. Let us go to a tree; what is the first thing we discover about it?  It is the bark, which separates itself into the outer dead bark and the inner living bark, called sapwood; this is the first tree.  The second tree, quite different from the first, is the actual solid wood, a combination of countless tubes that run side by side in the most beautiful order.  This is the second tree.  The third or innermost tree is the nucleus, usually another tube, which is completely filled with a sponge-like cellular tissue, which cells first suck in the juices from the earth, purify them in themselves and then, by their extensive and compressive power, expel them into all the innumerable organs of the other tree.

82. In this way, you have now seen three trees in one.

83. If we look at a fruit on a tree, what do we discover first, for example, in a nut, chestnut, acorn, in short, in whatever kind of fruit?  The first thing is the bark, which is twofold just like the bark of the tree; then comes the protective shell as the second part of the fruit, which is usually the firmest; only behind this shell, is the third and main part of the fruit, in which part only the heart or the germinal shell is active.

84. Let us go to an animal.  The first thing that is obvious to everyone about an animal is the skin as the first animal, which shows the whole shape of the animal when stuffed.  Inside the often multi-layered skin, the solid skeleton is bound together with a muscular and partly cartilaginous mass of flesh, and it is strengthened like the hard shell of a nut, or like the skull of any head.  This is the second animal, also called bone animal.  Within this animal is it's viscera, as lungs, liver, spleen, intestines, and in these nobler parts of the animal, the life-producing heart itself; this is again the third animal, through which the two outer ones receive their nourishment and animation, namely through innumerable organs and vessels, which go out from the inner animal into the two outer ones.

85. You will find the same relationship in your own physique.  If you want to see it even more clearly, take an egg, there you will find the same again; in short, you may take from all plants, whichever you want, and look at it's fruits or seeds as you like; you may also go through the whole animal kingdom and you will find everywhere one and the same thing.

86. But why is this relationship so similar?  The answer is very easy, and from it arises that contemplative reason for which children resemble their parents, and the fruits resemble the seeds from which they emerge again as seeds; As, for example, the grain of wheat is a seed which, scattered in the earth, brings forth the same seed again as fruit. So also all organic more or less animated bodily existence on the surface of the earth, carries the type of the earth body itself.

87. Also with the body of the earth the exterior is in a certain way the dead bark, within which there is already a more living and perceptible bark.  Just as the bark of a tree, although sometimes very fissured, is not so completely dead that it is not able to provide sufficient nourishment for the little moss plants that appear on it, And just as the outer skin of animals is not so dead that countless hairs and little hairs, and not infrequently also parasitic animals, would not be able to get their sufficient nourishment through it; just so the outer earth's crust, which is dead or rather impalpable only under certain conditions, is not so completely dead that all countless plants and animals would not be able to get the nourishment they desire through it.

88. Within this outer earth crust, which is about twenty German miles [20 x 7,42 = 148,4 km -tr]  thick, sometimes even less, the second earth begins; this is the actual firmest part of the earth-body, admittedly not equally firm everywhere, but nevertheless still firm enough everywhere to carry the outer earth crust spread over it with the greatest ease.

89. Within this second earth is finally the actually living part of the earth's body, or it's viscera, in which the heart of the earth's body is actually located.

90. But how these three earths are connected with each other, how the inner heart instinct works through them, we will discuss in more detail in the next presentation.

The centers of gravity and the fluids of the Earth (5 January 1847)

91. If you were able to look through a tree trunk from it's core to the outer bark at once with eyes that magnify like a powerful microscope, and thus also from the lowest root fiber up to the outermost tip of the bud, you would discover, in addition to the ascending tubes - which are provided with countless pumps , valves, and orifices, you would discover a multitude of smaller transverse organs, which extend from the core of the tree to the outermost bark in the most diverse windings and curvatures, and are provided with an elastic valve opening at every point where they pass through an ascending tube.  All these pumps, valves are in a certain way special focal points through which the life principle is distributed throughout the entire tree, and all these main and side tubes - or the three trees known to you - are connected by the designated transverse tubes that extend from the pith to the bark.  Through these, the main life principle of the tree, or in a certain way the heart of the tree, works in all parts of the tree just described.

92. We have already indicated once above that beside the main center of gravity, still a lot of other, smaller centers of gravity are present in matter, however, the 'where' is reserved for the consequence, for the sake of a clear explanation.  Just here, however, is the point and the right place where just this 'where' of the minor centers of gravity can be determined in a very contemplative way.  This much we already know from this communication - that the center of gravity in organic matter is the actual point of action animating it; But if this is irrefutably the case, then in a certain way, on every place in matter, there is also a small point of gravity, secondary point or point of action, where the transverse organs discussed above, pierce the ascending organs in a certain way, and produce a special effect in the ascending organs on the point of crossing; which someone can also figuratively adjust through different means.

93. If, for example, only two pieces of wood are placed crosswise one over the other, an easily perceptible effect will certainly occur with these pieces of wood at the point where they touch each other, namely the lower piece of the crosswise piece of wood will unite it's weight with that of the piece lying on top at the moment of contact.  If someone wants to pick up the lower crossbar, he has to deal not only with it's own weight, but also with the weight of the crossbar above it; from which it is clear that this new point of contact has brought about an obvious change in the weight of the beam below it, and thus a new center of gravity.  If the upper crossbeam is even fastened to the lower one either by means of a band or a nail, then both parts have changed their weight, because each takes on the weight of the other through this very point of contact.

94. By this example you have already gotten a small idea of how certain points of contact of matter, have an effect on it.

95. Here we were only talking about a change of weight, which is, however, also a significant change, because a double weight of these two bodies is thereby transformed into a potentized one.  But let us go to another example.

96. Imagine a water pipe, with a point where a second water pipe intersects, in which the water must be led from a basin to two points; one water stream has to pass through the other in a certain way, but this causes one water stream to inhibit the other at the point of intersection.  Beyond this intersecting point of inhibition, the water then continues on it's proper path, just as it did up to this point.

97. What kind of phenomena will this inhibition point offer?  The water of both tubes will first unite in a vortex, and from this vortex the united water will then penetrate into the two continued tubes, which would become even more obvious and comprehensible if one tube conducted water and the other wine;up to this point, everyone would certainly get wine from one tube and water from the other, but beyond this point, each tube would carry a watered wine.

98. See, from this example, already a significantly noticeable effect can be seen, which is produced by this point of intersection, which is therefore a secondary center of gravity.  Something similar, however, is also produced in a tree by the transverse tubes at the points where they intersect the ascending tubes.

99. Having seen through this example, which is already clearer than the first, let us proceed to a third, similar but more composite one.

100. Imagine again a water pipe in which a number of about ten - or even more - tubes would radially intersect at one point; if only water were conducted in each tube, the water would be mixed in this tube union point by a strong vortex movement, and only from there would it continue to penetrate into the further discharge tubes as mixed, so that at the end of each tube, everyone would get a kind of ten times or more mixed water.

101. In order to see this more clearly, however, we let a completely different liquid pass through each inlet tube - e.g. through one, spring water; through the second, an acidic source; through the third, wine; through the fourth, beer; through the fifth, milk; through the sixth, vinegar; through the seventh, spiritus; through the eighth, oil; through the ninth, lye - and through the tenth, real meth; Up to the united point of intersection, each one, if the tube would be open, will receive the original liquid, but after the point of unification, each conduit tube will certainly have a mixture of all the above-mentioned ten liquids, and will certainly no longer have a pure appearance.

102. Behold, our tree has such described small aqueducts in countless quantity, and the further out towards the bark, the more manifold these conduction channels, and also the more multistreamed in one point; Therefore, the bark of a tree is usually a similar liquid mixture, and one finds in the bark the sponge-likeness of the core, the fibrous quality of the wood, as well as a lot of other components mixed together, which arise in the inner tree more separately in the various tubes, and achieve their property purpose in the formation of one or the other part on the tree.

103. Now we have again an even clearer secondary center of gravity in front of us, through which the former condition of the vital juices of a body changes into a completely different one, and also brings about again completely unique effects; what is also not too difficult to see in a tree cut crosswise.

104. These different rings, which are known to you under the name: "Year-rings", and the softer and whiter sapwood lying in between them, as well as the rays extending from the center to the bark, sufficiently testify to the effect of the above-described small secondary centers of gravity, which are, of course, only after-effects of a main living effect, which is located in the tree approximately where the cores from all roots and hair-roots flow into the main core of the trunk, where the main center of gravity, or the usual heart of the tree, is located, the violation of which also irrevocably brings death to the tree.

105. But as you have now seen with the tree - that in it, the already known three trees are connected by these different channels, and how there the different effects are produced, so it is also the case with our earth-body; But of course in a proportionally larger and more extended relationship, which is easy to understand, because the earth is certainly a larger body than a tree.

107. But as with a tree from whose heart innumerable channels rise, and as from the core of the tree, which is in a certain way a continuation of the heart of the tree, again a multitude of still smaller cross-tubes run out, and the rising channels, especially towards the bark, always break through in a more varied and intersected manner, so it is also the case with the body of the earth.  The closer the organs are to the heart, the larger they are; the further away, the smaller they become, but also the more they are branched out to infinity.

108. From this clearest possible representation, however, you can now also understand, and certainly quite well see, how the already known three earths are connected with each other into one, and how the main center of gravity of the earth works up to the surface through the innumerable channels and through their more frequent intersection, and how the so-called secondary centers of gravity are constituted and arranged.

109. But I have just heard someone ask, after reading these lines: That is correct, and one cannot object to it; but where does the heart of the earth get all the different kinds of juices, which it originally carries away in individual larger channels, and only then transforms them at the average points into a second mixed substance, and the further up toward the surface, the more mixed?

110. Then, My beloved ones, I must give you this lesson:

111. A tree also sucks in nothing but raindrops and the dew of the earth through it's root fibers; but in it's heart and stomach, I have simultaneously already placed My well-conditioned chemists who know how to properly filter these sucked-in juices and, in a certain way, direct them, and that in a way that even the most learned chemist will never be able to research and discover.

112. The same is the case with the inner juices of the earth; no matter how simple their substance, they are taken up into the same heart of the earth, but they are nevertheless so carefully separated by the main chemists employed there, and introduced and carried on in the most just measure into the corresponding channels of conduction, that not a drop too much or too little of one or the other substance reaches it's destination.

113. How this happens, however, can never be discussed in the natural way, but it can be discussed in the spiritual way, which we will come to later; therefore, nobody should foolishly ask: What kind of material are these primary substances in the natural way?  And no-one should advise on carbon and oxygen, and on all kinds of other substances, because when it comes to substances, there is little substance in it.  The soul of animals, like that of man, is also a substance, and there is little carbon or oxygen in it.

114. Since we have already seen the earth to such an extent that we now know how it's inner structure is in general, we now want to consider this very structure in the following more propertyally, as far as it is necessary; Or we want to wander through the inner chambers of the earthly body with the spiritual eye, and in each of the aforementioned three earths, we want to spend a little time wherever there is something particularly memorable to look at.

The nourishment and rotation of the Earth (11 January 1847)

115. Since the earth is in a way a great organic animal-body, it must take food, to continue to exist; but in order to take food, as with every animal, or even as with every plant, either a mouth or also several feeding- or sucking trunks are necessary.  Certain animals, such as polyps and others of the same kind, have a number of such sucking and eating proboscises.  A sucking proboscis differs from a so-called eating proboscis in that the sucking proboscis only takes in purely liquid substances and directs them to the appropriate digestive organs for further nourishment of the animal body; But a proboscis also takes bodies, like all kinds of insects, also certain small root-plants into itself, crushes these by it's solid muscles rubbing against each other, and only then leads them thus crushed into the further digestive organs.

116. The same is more or less the case with all plants, trees and shrubs, since especially their roots are nothing but polyp-like proboscises; their flowers and especially the stamens in them are mostly to be regarded as feeding proboscises, which, even if for a short time, take up the fertilized flower dust eggs [pollen -tr], At the same time, however, every animal-body, as well as every planetary body, has a number of small suction tips on it, which by their nature are most suitable for sucking in the electrical and ethereal life substance from the free air.

117. Since all these things, as animals and plants, are small and similarly typical productions of the earth-body, it is self-evident that with the earth-body, all this must be found in the greatest abundance.  The earth has therefore, like every animal, a main mouth completely appropriate to it's nature, through which it also receives the main food in itself; Beside this main mouth, however, it has also everywhere an innumerable quantity of bigger and smaller suction and feeding trunks, where in the counterpart it has then evenly again a corresponding main emptying canal, and beside this, also an innumerable quantity of smaller emptying canals.

118. In order not to go too far in this matter, we will first examine the main mouth and the corresponding main drainage channel, because this exerts the main influence on the rotational movement of the earth. But as for the innumerable small feeding and discharging mouths or channels, we will only give them a brief general consideration; and then we will proceed to the main mouth.

119. The north pole is the earth's main nutrient mouth, like the south pole it's corresponding main drainage channel.

120. What does this mouth look like?  It is rather large; it's diameter at the outermost edge, where the mouth begins funnel-shaped, has a measure in the average between 20 and 30 miles, but narrows at the end up to an eighth of a mile, in which width this mouth then continues to the stomach of the earth body, and that in rather straight direction.  However, the walls of this maw are very uneven, and look very rippled and sometimes long stretches thus pointed or rather studded with peaks, as if they were covered with the skin of a giant urchin.

121. The stomach of the earth is just below the heart in the middle of the earth's body.  This is a hollow space of about ten square miles, which, however, all kinds of smaller and larger transverse bars, some in the diameter of 200 kilometers, extend in a kind of columnar way in all directions, partly expanding and partly supporting it.  This stomach and these cross-supports in it, which have the appearance of oval ribbons, also oval columns in the above-mentioned diameter, are not of a solid mass, but they are approximately of the same nature as a large rubber elastic bag, the inner walls of which would be mutually padded with the same material in a certain way, so that they may not be pressed upon each other by a gravity acting on them from the outside.

122. From this stomach now described, a helically wound main channel then passes through the entire earth-body, and then opens out in the south pole, and is of the same matter as the stomach; only it becomes relatively firmer and more solid towards the opening.

123. That from this main stomach of the earth, and from it's main emptying canal, countless nutrient canals and vessels run out, hardly needs to be mentioned, since this goes without saying.  And so we have now looked at the mouth, the stomach and the discharge canal of the earth, and that as good as it is always possible with this large object in the shortest possible time.

124. But now that we know this, namely the mouth, the stomach and the discharge canal, the question now is about the food with which the earth is fed through this mouth; and because this is the main mouth, it is here about the main food.  What does it consist of and where does it come from?

125. Whoever had the opportunity to go very far north on the surface of the earth, and also has knowledge in the realm of nature, will discover many phenomena in this highest polar region, which he would probably not find anywhere else on the surface of the earth.  Firstly, a very cold air region, which reaches especially in wintertime a high degree hardly measurable for your instruments.  This heavy and cold air will be joined by an ever denser hazy mass, which - towards the North Pole, especially in winter - will be interspersed with countless shooting star-like balls of light; at the same time, however, he will also encounter around the far edge of the pole, an enormous dam-like accumulation of snow crystals and sometimes even ice peaks several fathoms high.

126. See, there we have the food already; this magnetic earth-mouth draws all this into itself with great force, and directs it into the large stomach, on whose walls and cross-beams or supports, this food then crystallizes, and when the stomach is filled in a way, the heat of the earth's heart then enters, sets these large stomach walls into a vibrating movement, and the inner cross-beams of the stomach then also quickly contract tightly and expand again widely.  This food is now grated and crushed and through this action, a new electrical substance is obtained, which decomposes the nutritious water parts in the stomach and discharges them into the countless nutrient channels, while then a negative electrical current seizes the indigestible remains in the stomach and drives them away with great force through the helically wound discharge channel, by which way these digested nutrient parts, due to continuous powerful friction, still have to give up the last remains of their nutritive substance; For which reason then also the northern part of the earth is much more compact than the southern - because on the latter, mostly the last and worst food parts come.

127. By the finite expulsion of the last excrements of the earth, also the rotation of the earth's body is accomplished, namely by the fact that these excrements, which admittedly look very airy, push out in a winding fashion into the free ether, and give the earth a rolling momentum like that of a rocket wound around a wheel, which sets the wheel in motion when it is ignited, and that for the reason that the air escaping from the rocket is so violent that the outer air cannot escape or give way to it to the same degree of violence, whereby a continuous pressure column is formed between the outflowing air from the rocket and the outer air, which brings the wheel, on which the rocket is mounted, into the necessary rotation;  just as a so-called ascending rocket carries a similar rapidly growing column of air upwards under it.

128. From this easily comprehensible example, you can now also quite easily see how the daily rotation of the earth is brought about by it's own quite natural mechanism, and is continuously uniformly supported.  And so we would have looked at one of the most important places of the earth's interior, and that as briefly and correctly and thoroughly as possible.  In the same way, we will choose another not less important place next time, and remain there for a short while.

The lungs and respiration of the Earth (12 January 1847)

129. You know that for the physical life not only the heart and the stomach, but also a lung is necessary. Every animal has such a respiratory tool in itself; also trees and plants must have such organs of transpiration, through which they breathe in and out within 24 hours.

130. Everybody can easily feel the breathing of the earth-body at the shores of the sea, if he sees the sea regularly swell and sink back again.  But once such an outer appearance is present, everyone can conclude with certainty that it can only come from an inner reason, but never from an outer one.

131. If you cannot fully grasp this, put a tub of water in front of you, as I have already shown you on another occasion; hang a significantly large sphere above the tub of water at a distance of about five fathoms, and this sphere should also be made of magnetic iron; then bring this sphere above the tub of water into a swing, and then observe the water in the tub to see if it will stir at all.  You can be completely assured that therefore the water will remain in complete silence.  Now, however, someone lies down in the water and breathes in it as usual, and every observer will convince himself that with every breath, the water in the tub will rise a little, and when expelling the breath, it will fall again.  What we can see here on a small scale, happens to the earth-body on a large scale.

132. The earth draws the air into itself, then the softer belly area of the earth, which is generally covered by the sea, expands more, and the sea water above it rises higher on the solid banks; if the earth, or rather it's lungs, expels the breath again, then the belly sinks lower again, and the sea water also recedes from the firmer banks.

133. This therefore had to be mentioned before, so that you understand that the earth breathes, and that for this purpose it must also naturally have it's respiratory tools, which tools, like some others, as the bowels of the earth, make up the inner earth.

134. Now the question is, where is this earth lung, and where does it take it's breath, and where does it also expel it again?  And finally: What does this lung look like?

135. This earth’s lung, which has a cubic content of about a thousand cubic miles, is located just under the hard and solid earth, and borders an area of a little more than 5000 square miles.  This lung is a great cellular network, within which are a lot of hollow chambers, which are connected by smaller and larger tubes.  These tubes have two properties: firstly, to lead the air into the chambers and to discharge it again, and secondly, these tubes, by virtue of their perceptible elasticity, can contract and expand again, like muscles or optic veins in animals, which contraction and expansion is caused by the constant changing of poles, or by the transformation of the positive pole into the negative pole, which transformation lies solely in the soul substance, without which transformation, no free movement in the bodies would be conceivable.

136. When these tubes expand, the chambers are constricted or, in a sense, compressed more; this causes the air to be expelled.  When the tubes contract again, the chambers naturally expand further, which then causes inhalation.

137. The reversal of polarity is caused - as much as it can be explained only physically - by the fact that as soon as the soul has absorbed the vital substance from the inhaled air into it's vitalizing substance, only the nitrogenous air remains in the lungs, and this causes that the pole, which was formerly positive during the act of inhalation, is immediately transformed into the negative one, because it has no correspondence with the nitrogenous air.

138. In this way, as soon as the contraction of the tubes occurs, new air is inhaled, where, of course, during inhalation, the negative pole becomes positive, and vice versa.

139. Now we know how the respiration business of the earth proceeds and where the lung is.  But where does it breathe in and out?  The earth does this in the same way as an animal, that is, the animal breathes through the mouth and nose, just as man does; likewise the earth.  Through the same main mouth, through which it takes in the food, it also draws in breath; only halfway from this main mouth goes a side mouth, which, as in the animal, can open and close at will.  This large side-mouth leads into the large lung; inhalation occurs every 6 hours, and exhalation after another 6 hours.  During inhalation, the nutrient passage closes into the stomach; once a good portion of air has been inhaled, the lung tube closes as if through a larynx, but the nutrient passage opens again.  If the air is expelled from the lungs again, then the nutrient gullet closes again, and so this matter is arranged in such a way that the earth is nourished continuously through the lungs in the above-mentioned periods, but through the actual nutrient gullet into the stomach every 12 hours, and takes in the food in the time in which the lungs chemically decompose the sucked-in air in a certain way, and divide the vital substance; and so one can assume this determination that the earth in 24 hours inhales twice and exhales twice, and takes up thereby food into the stomach only twice.

140. Now we would also know where and how the earth inhales and exhales, and therefore we only have to take a look how this lung looks like.

141. It will be somewhat difficult to present the figure to you so vividly, unless you could ever once get to see the lungs of an elephant; even clearer and more similar would be the lungs of a Mammoth, but to get to see these would be almost completely impossible in this time, since this animal is completely extinct.  There is still a similar species in Central Asia's primeval forests, but it is very atrophied compared to the former gigantic species, and thus the most similar is the lung of an elephant, which is so large in a fully grown one, that it can easily hold over a hundred cubic feet of air.  It's color is bluish-gray, and it's shape is close to that of a hollow coconut, inside of which, of course, there must still be the heart, stomach, liver, spleen and kidneys.

142. Now imagine this lung in the above described large dimension, so you will be able to sketch a rather similar picture.  A more detailed description of it would be of little use to you, because you would never be able to imagine this great earth breathing tool clearly.  The lungs of the earth are made of a material that is too large for you to see at once, and it would be useless to explain the elastic material of the lungs to you, since you cannot understand the material of an animal lung is made, and how much less would you understand the material of the lungs of the earth?  That it has similarity with the substance of the animal lung, may be evident from the fact that every animal lung descends from this great earth-lung, admittedly on a very refined scale.  But where would one get the material for all the animal-parts of the body if it were not available in the earth?

143. The earth must deliver all that is in it to the surface through the innumerable organs in a transpiring manner; this delivered blood is first taken up by the plants, and finally by the animals, and is transformed in them into what it originally was.  From where should the animal take blood, if it was not previously present in the earth?  Where should water come from, if it was not first in the earth?  In short, the body of the earth must have everything that the beings living on it, have;  just as a head louse has the same in itself, of course in a well modified and smaller scale, as the animal or also the human, who is also a world-body for this small animal.

144. I think this example should make the matter quite clear to you; and so we have now visited a second large place in the earth, and next we want to choose another one for inspection.

The spleen of the Earth (14 January 1847)

145. In every animal, after the lungs, one of the most important viscera - which is the real source of fire in every animal body - is the spleen.  This viscera is just as necessary for the preservation of animal-life as the heart, stomach and lungs; for without this viscera, the former would be dead in every animal body.

146. I said, it is the fireplace in the animal body.  The fireplace is the most necessary thing in every house for the cooking of food and for the warming of the rooms; it may look very ordinary, but it must be there, and it was the very first need of man, and the very first people on earth got to know fire before anything else, and if they had not known it, Cain and Abel would not have been able to sacrifice burnt offerings.

147. To illustrate the importance of such a fireplace and what such a fireplace actually is, with an example from your more recent times, let us take a look at the so-called locomotive that exists at present.

148. See, such a locomotive is very artisticly arranged, according to human fashion; if we fill the boiler with water, but do not put a fire underneath in the hearth, by which the water is decomposed into the driving vapors, it will immediately be seen that this whole mechanism is useless.  The fire is therefore the real motive power; it first sets the water into vapors, and the vapors only then engage the mechanism, and such a steam car then comes into it's well-known rapid motion.

149. Similar, animal bodies are admittedly infinitely more artistic than locomotives; but their whole mechanism, which consists of countless parts and organs, would be useless if the fire source were missing in it.  Fire decomposes all the nourishing parts taken in, and drives them by it's own power into the vessels, where they pass into the blood, and by this reach the heart and from there to their actual destination.

150. This fire-source in the animal body, called a spleen, therefore also consists of it's own loose mass, which in it's criss-cross interwoven cellular tissue, is perfectly suitable to generate and maintain the electromagnetic fire in itself, namely by generating this electromagnetic fire through constant friction of it's cellular tissue, and then stored it in it's countless pouch-like vessels as in small electric bottles, and is in a certain way always saturated with it, in order to thereby, moment by moment, supply the negative part to the stomach and the positive part to the heart.

151. I am well aware that many physicians and naturalists do not yet know what to make of the spleen; but it is difficult to find out, because no-one can look at an animal in it's living state and find out what it does.  But once the animal is dead, this presupposes the death of the spleen long before that anyway; but now let it be known to you what the spleen is and what it serves for.

152. We have thus seen that the spleen is one of the most necessary viscera in the animal body, because it generates the actual motive power for the entire rest of the animal-mechanism within itself, carries it, and passes it on to the other parts.

153. But as this seemingly insignificant viscera is one of the most important in the animal body, there is also such a viscera in the earth itself, which can be called the earth's spleen with the same right.  This earth's spleen is firstly attached to the stomach as in the animal bodies, but on the other hand, it is also in the closest organic connection with the earth's heart, and that because the stomach must draw it's digestive heat from the spleen, and the heart it's pulsating power from this main viscera; The same applies to the activity of the lungs, which is more or less derived from this part of the intestine, although half of the lungs also have completely free movement, which is connected with the will of the soul, for which reason man in particular can breathe faster or slower at will.

154. Since the spleen plays one of the most important vitalizing roles in our earthly body, it is only right to pay special attention to this part of the intestine.

155. In order to also see this, however, we want to have a quick look at the effects of our earth's spleen.

156. Look at all the fire-spitting mountains of the earth; they are, of course, only quite insignificant offshoots of this main fireworks, but they can nevertheless give a convincing view of how things happen in in the main fire-kitchen of the earth's body.  That would be an effect, which would be documented on the surface of the earth.

157. Then we consider the innumerable quantity of the boiling hot water-springs, which also take their heating from this main tissue of the earth, if not directly, then still indirectly by those fiery organs, which stand in most intimate connection with this piece of tissue.  There we have a second effect of this piece of earth-tissue,  on the earth's surface.

158. Let us further consider the clouds and fog formations, and also the winds that move them.  All this is a product of this earth-tissue; for it's main central fire penetrates countless organs of the earth, and heats them in all their parts in a sufficient way.  Someone could only penetrate a little more than a German mile deep into the earth's interior, and he would convince himself how powerfully this inner earth-warming apparatus works already there.  When water penetrates into these depths, it is soon dissolved into vapors; these then inflate the earth's skin, and then either gradually penetrate as gases or vapors through the pores, fissures and other cavities of the earth's crust, and thus fill the air, and disturb it's equilibrium, whence then the winds take their origin; or if these internally formed water vapors and gases sometimes take a more violent way out due to an overfilling, then it will likely cause a greater or smaller earthquake, and in the area of eruption, all-destructive hurricanes, wind and sometimes also fire-tornadoes are brought to light.  There we now again have a third descriptive appearance on the earth's surface which originates from this earth-tissue piece.

159. In a similar way, the movement of the sea (not the ebb and flow, but only the surging and stormy), as well as all the currents of the sea, originate from this very viscera.  Also the saltiness of the sea, which can only happen when certain substances are dissolved by fire beforehand and are then driven up as salt through countless organs for the salting of the sea, stems from this.  So also all the meteoric phenomena, which appear in the air circle of the earth, as not less also all vegetative power of the earth, originate from it.  Besides these, there is an innumerable quantity of phenomena in and above the earth, which all originate from this piece of viscera - with the entire enumeration of which a hundred writers would not finish in a hundred years; Therefore, it would be a highly inexpedient and ridiculous work here to enumerate and discuss all these phenomena separately, and all the more inexpedient, because all these phenomena can be easily understood from the later observation of the spiritual part anyway. Therefore it is enough that we touch this matter here only in general, although on the other hand it must not be an indifferent matter to anybody to get a little deeper information in advance on this very important point, without which he would not understand the spiritual too deeply.

160. We have now listed some of the main manifestations of this piece of viscera, and this for the reason of understanding this extremely important piece of earthly viscera all the more deeply;  However, in order to examine and appreciate it even more deeply, we will soon go into this piece of intestine itself, as if in person, and will take a quite purposeful little walk in it, and at the same time direct our attention to how this piece of intestine is built, from where it gets it's fire and the firing material.

The structure of the spleen and the preparation of blood (15 January 1847)

161. If you were to observe a small piece of an animal spleen through a good microscope, you would discover a number of small chambers, which are mostly quadrangular or cubic in content, but sometimes also form triangular pyramids; more rarely, these chambers are ovoid and round.  These chambers are organically connected at the corners by small cylinders, but the walls of these chambers are free; therefore, a spleen is also very soft and loose to the touch.  Between the rows of the chambers, which are bound together, there are a lot of blood vessels, which do not consist of uniform tubes, but only of such tubes, which are sometimes narrow, sometimes wide, and which present themselves to the eye in approximately the same way as the thread of a cross spider, when it has covered itself with it's gray-white sticky beads; You will have already seen how this animal decorates it's elastic thread with small adhesive beads, which serve to glue an insect to the glue spindle like a bird, the moment it touches the thread and can never leave it.

162. This is the shape of a blood vessel in the spleen; it will be even more comprehensible to you if I compare it to a very fine string of the smallest number beads.  Such blood vessels exist throughout the entire length of the spleen, as well as through the transverse parts of it in an exceedingly large quantity. These blood vessels begin in a single vessel that is connected with the stomach and end again with a main vessel that is connected with the heart on the right side; At the same time, this entire splenic tissue is enclosed by a delicate skin, through which the splenic combs and pearl cord-like blood vessels look like dark red warts.  Since this spleen is an extremely tender tissue in animals, it is surrounded with an extra fat-net, so that it is firstly more secure, and secondly, because of it's constant rubbing activity, it's enveloping good fatty material protects it against hurting itself as a result of such activity.

163. Now we have before us, as well as it is possible in brevity, a certain kind of anatomical description of the spleen, which, in the dead state of course assumes a form very different from that now described; but now we must also know what business it actually performs here with this very arrangement, and how this very arrangement is useful for this activity.

164. We have already heard that the spleen, with it's blood vessels, is connected with the stomach and the heart; why is that?  Because it absorbs the juices from the stomach that pass into the blood, thus actually transforming them into blood and delivering that to the heart; therefore it can very easily happen in full-blooded people, that the spleen becomes too overfilled with blood and because it cannot discharge all that is produced in it to the heart, the blood which has accumulated in the spleen, recedes into the stomach, and the person then suffers vomiting of blood.  And if the blood does not find it's way out, it can very easily lead to inflammation, and in time, which is even worse, to hardening of this main viscera; hence the frequent occurring vomiting of blood usually comes only from the spleen, and very rarely from the lungs.

165. In this way we have already witnessed working of the lungs; the only question now is, how does the spleen produce the blood?  This, too, we will examine very briefly.

166. When the egg-white looking juice passes from the stomach into the spleen, it remains in these pearl-like blood veins for certain periods, and only moves one pearl further with each pulse beat.  At the same time, however, with each pulse-beat, friction occurs in the spleen's chambers.  Through this friction, these chambers are filled with electric fire, which is positive toward the stomach area and negative toward the heart area; therefore, the chambers are more sharp-edged toward the stomach area, while they become more egg-shaped toward the heart area.

167. This electric fire naturally causes the chambers to expand very much and to contract very much; and since these chambers are connected to each other at the edges as well as to each of the blood vessels by small cylinders, the result is that the juices in the blood vessels become more and more fermented.  Through this fermentation, the carbon, which is still somewhat too abundant in it, separates out and is then delivered through the chambers partly to the bile, but also partly to the fat; at the same time, this fermentation produces many small bubbles, which, when they come under the control of the negative electricity, shrink more and take on a lentil-like shape.

168. When they are half filled with this negative electricity, they assume a saffron-like yellowish color, and like this already enter the heart chamber as blood; The blood is not a continuous fluid, but a small lentil-like pulp, which, in it's small lentils - which are very smooth and slippery on the surface - brings and distributes the negative electricity throughout the body.

169. This electricity then also heats the whole organism; and where these lentils are then driven through very narrow vessels, they burst, after which bursting the shell becomes liquid and passes into the so-called lymphatic juices, while the electric substance released by this bursting is consumed as an iron-containing ether for the stimulation of the nerves.

170. Now we had a good overview of our spleen, it's composition and in it's work in the shortest possible time; and since we now have a quite clear basis in this way, we can now venture quite confidently and as well-prepared as possible beforehand, into an admittedly somewhat larger fire-chamber of our earth's spleen.

171. The construction of these is similar to the small construction of the above-described animal spleen, to which the human spleen can also be counted; however, each such chamber is several billion times larger than such an animal spleen chamber - indeed, in many such earthly spleen-chambers there would be room for several million human beings, from which ratio it can already be inferred in advance that the earth's spleen-construction must indeed be a very large one.  The construction of the sun, however, like the construction of the suns in general, is very different from the construction of an earth-body, as already in general the construction of an earth-body has such great differences with the construction of another earth body that only the eye of the Creator can see the general similarity in it.  Therefore you must not think, if you know the interior of the earth, that you would recognize the interior of the earth of Jupiter or of another planet; and therefore we want to go into such an earth-milk chamber and see how things happen there.

172. Look at the grayish-brown walls, how they are constantly flashing with innumerable flashes of lightning; millions of the greatest thunders is continuously heard, and behold, out of the chambers go wide channels; through them, a mighty flood rushes in; the continual electric flames dissolve the flood into strongly excited vapors; with force immeasurable to you, these vapors penetrate further through other channels with the most terrible roar; again, new floods rush into the chamber; again, there is boiling, roaring and whirring, such as has never been heard on the surface of the earth.  Go out of the chamber and look at the blood vessels, which stretch between the rows of chambers in the same form as described above, and listen how the most powerful floods rush through them, how here and there these channels, where they are narrower, contract like great primeval giant snakes, and soon expand again, in order to further promote the powerful floods present in them.  See how the same thing happens and must happen here on a large scale as in the animal spleen on a small scale.

173. That these juices, as in animals, pass from the stomach to the spleen, and from there to the heart, as the nourishing blood of the earth, hardly needs to be mentioned.

174. In this way, we have now become acquainted with this piece of viscera as precisely as it is possible in a short time, and thus we will go to another piece of the earth's viscera next.

The liver of the Earth (16 January 1847)

175. After the spleen, the liver emerges as one of the most important visceral parts.  The liver is the secretion apparatus in the animal, as in our telluric body, and therefore deserves, like the spleen, special attention.

176. Man, like animals, eats food that contains as much deadly poisonous substance as vitalizing nutritive substance; therefore, every human, as well as every animal, after having eaten a meal, would be bodily killed, if there were not such an apparatus in the body, which would greedily draw all these poisonous substances, as mainly carbon and blue-acid bitter substance, and collect them partly in a separate container, and partly discharge them through the urinary tract.  This apparatus is exactly the mentioned liver; it's construction is quite similar to that of the spleen, i.e. as far as the internal construction is concerned; only the form has more similarity with that of the lung.

177. This piece of viscera therefore also consists of a number of chambers arranged in a row, which are like those of the spleen, but only somewhat more closely connected with each other; in addition to these chambers, the liver is mainly crossed through by four different vascular tubes, which, however, do not have the shape of those that pass through the spleen, but they are uniformly continuous organs, which are connected with each other by even smaller throughfare vessels, through which all organs of this piece of viscera are in a mutual connection.

178. A part of these vessels goes out of the heart, and leads rather rich blood into this viscera, so that the blood is saturated here with the necessary degree of carbon, as well as with a relatively small dose of blue acid, where it is then, thus saturated, suitable to accomplish the digestion in the digestive vessels, and from there on further, to also form the outer skin; The blood is not suitable for internal use, which is why liver diseases are easily recognizable mainly on the outer skin.  This is a kind of continuous vessels.

179. A second type goes from the stomach to the liver.  This takes up all the watery substances in which the blue acid is very much diluted, and in the liver it is released into the blood through the small connecting vessels in a just proportion, and the remaining part is released from the liver through the kidneys into the urinary bladder, which then expels it as a useless substance through the urethra, and is completely transported out of the body. This is the second type of vessels that pass through this piece of viscera.

180. A third class of vessels starts again from the stomach, and connects especially the mucous membranes of the stomach with the gall-bladder in the liver.  Through these vessels, the mucous carbon or bile is separated from the food in the stomach, and is for the most part stored in the gall-bladder for the sake of the human or the animal developing too little of this digestive substance in the stomach through the ingested food.  If this were to happen, then the liver must deliver something back to the stomach out of it's supply; for all digestion consists of a kind of fermentation, of which some nutrients are known to be more capable than others.  Again, some substances with very watery content have very little nutrients in them, which everyone can already notice in the outside world.  Just take pure water into a vessel and add a little bran flour, allow the mixture to stand for a long time until it starts to ferment; but if you fill another vessel with wine must and add a little more barley or rice flour to it, in a few hours it will ferment so much, that you will hardly know what to do with it.  If, however, it can be seen from this that some substances which humans - like animals - consume as food, have more or less carbon or fermentation substance in them, then it must also be clear that on the one hand the abundance of this substance in our liver has to come to the aid of the lack of this substance, if the nutrients ingested are of a too small quantity.  Through these vessels we have now gotten to know the third kind.

181. A fourth class of vessels that run through this piece of intestine are the small wind veins, which, starting from the lungs, are guided through the liver in multiple curves and twists.  The gall-bladder is partly formed by these vessels, and partly maintained in constant tension.  At the same time, a fair amount of atmospheric air is always brought into the bile through these vessels, and so much oxygen through the atmospheric air, that the bile does not begin to ferment too much and this fermentation then produce that malignant substance in the body, from which mainly all kinds of things as inflammation, rheumatism, gout and the like come to light; hence it is also very bad for people to stay in such places and rooms in which, instead of the invigorating pure atmospheric air, they only inhale nitrogen, in which there is very little oxygen, but more toxic nitrogen, and take note: especially in those cursed inns, in which the guests prepare themselves for the most vigorous of the stench of hell with the most hideous tobacco smoke!

182. In this way we have now become acquainted with the four types of vessels in our liver, whose action and reaction are brought about again, as in the case of the spleen, by the electrical fluid that is in the aforementioned chambers - as in the case of the spleen - produced by a rubbing movement of this chamber.  But of course the electrical fire of the liver is mainly excited by the fire of the spleen; for the liver would be quite dead and inactive without the spleen.

183. In humans, as in all animals, this part of the gut is around the stomach, because it is there that it is most needed; so this piece of the intestine makes up, of course, an appropriately great part of the earth; it's function is exactly the same as that of the liver in animals.  Even thought it performs only a secondary function, which the spleen does in the first place, it is nevertheless a no less powerful part of vitalization in every animal-organic body; for everything that the earth's crust carries on itself and on it's surface, comes out of the liver of the earth.  So all sea water is derived from this, and is basically nothing else than the urine expelled from the earth's body, but which urine, regardless of this, evaporates again into clouds, which are transformed into sweet, nutritious water in the air through the action of light.

184. In this way, we have now gotten to know this part of the earth's intestines as thoroughly as possible in a very brief way, and will therefore soon move on to another.

The kidneys of the Earth (18 January 1847)

185. After the liver, the kidney comes into consideration; this part of the viscera is in three respects a very noteworthy tool of life in the animal organism; because it has three essential and exceedingly important purposes, without which the animal life could not exist at all, and reproduction would not be conceivable, just as also every being without this visceral piece could never think itself into a happy mindset;  because a certain physical serenity comes from the kidneys, which is why this visceral part is often mentioned and named in Scripture.

186. Therefore, this part of the intestine first of all has the function of taking up the water that has been drained from the liver and is unfit for the life of the organism, absorbs what is still useful for life from the water, and transports the completely useless part of the water into the urinary bladder.

187. The absorbed nobler part is the actual material substance of the fertilizing sperm, which is admittedly taken up by the blood even earlier, and then led by it into it's own vessels, where it is then supported and made suitable for witnessing as a positive polar force by the same negative force of the so-called pouch kidney.  This is therefore a second important process.

188. The third, even more important function of this part of the viscera consists, as already mentioned, in the fact that this part of the viscera is very intimately connected with the heart, lungs, stomach, spleen and liver through it's own very small and more hidden vessels, and therefore, from a more spiritual point of view, as long as a human being or an animal is alive, it serves the soul, in a certain way, as a temporary shelter necessary for procreation; and because this visceral piece is like that, it produces in the natural life a certain serene well-being, which of course is not to be attributed to the body, but to the soul - and even more to the spirit underlying it.

189. Who does not remember, who has ever practiced sexual intercourse, how this has spread in him through his whole organism an exceedingly blissful feeling and an exceedingly delightful well-being. Who also does not remember that, if he abstained from unnecessary coitus for a longer period of time, he was then seized by a continuous cheerful well-being, in which he was often, without knowing why, so happy and cheerful that he found an uplifting joy in everything he looked at.

190. All this is physically prepared in the kidney; therefore this piece of viscera also has the appearance of a well-prepared cushion, and one could say: Behold, there is a pleasant soft seat; on this, one can rest well!  Thus, as far as physical happiness is concerned, this piece of intestine ensures that the soul, which is otherwise active only in the heart and head, has a certain resting place here and, as one is wont to say, sometimes lets itself be quite well there.

191. Also in the so-called animalistic somnambulism, the soul usually enters this part of the intestine, which is in the most intimate connection with the pit of the stomach through the so-called ganglion nerves, through which region the soul in such a state usually looks, hears, feels, and, if necessary, also gets in touch with the outside world.

192. But if this piece of viscera has such a laudable purpose, it will also be necessary to understand it's structure a little.  The structure of this piece of viscera has a significant resemblance to that of the spleen and liver, only with the difference that this piece of viscera differs substantially from the others by the well-known cushion-like division; It has on both sides certain dewlaps, which are separated from each other by a significant indentation and by a whitish cellular tissue, and are only connected with the midline as a whole, which midline is also a white cellular tissue, through which the main water channels pass, and deliver the noble sperm substance into the dewlaps, which they absorb - as already noted above - from the water coming from the liver.  In the intestines, this juice is matured by the electricity produced in them, and more subtle and liquid, and it is then taken up like this into the tender blood vessels in this intestine, and united with the blood which is led to the heart, from where it is only then led again through quite different vessels into the storage chambers intended for it, where it then for it's useful purpose, continuously receive it's nourishment from the so-called pouch kidney and from this, the usefulness occurred.  Now we have also, as much as necessary for our purpose, seen through the construction of this piece of viscera, and now we can search for the same piece of viscera in our earth's body.

193. This piece of viscera lies far south, thus somewhat beyond the equator of the earth, and therefore closer to the south pole than to the north pole.  This piece of intestine of the earth has a significant resemblance to the same piece of intestine of a sow, and even more with that of an elephant, which basically also belongs to the family of pigs.  This piece of viscera has in the earth almost exactly the same purpose as in the animals; it is firstly the basic source from which the whole sea draws it's water, and from which also gradually all water on the surface of the earth comes.

194. Of course, before the sea comes, the earth still has a lot of urine bladders, which are mostly located in the outer earth, which can be called the earth's skin, and in the second solid earth as very large water basins, some of which are larger than a whole part of the world, such as Europe.  From these great earth urine bladders, only then the sea and the other waters of the solid land get their nourishment and their always equal increase of water; this is the first activity of this visceral part of the earth.

195. The second operation is the separation of the noble procreative water from the coarse earth urine water; this noble procreative water then does not immediately rise to the surface of the earth, but is first returned to the heart of the earth, as in the case of animals.  From there, it is led up to the surface of the earth through it's own channels and veins, where it manifests itself partly as sweet spring water and partly as the dew that fertilizes all plant life the most.  This is the second function of the kidneys.  Next, let us consider the third and most remarkable one.

The Earth as a man and a woman

196. Sometimes each one of you will have perceived a feeling in yourself which pleases you exceedingly. The whole area had an extremely friendly appearance; what only fell into the eyes of the observer, refreshed him with multiple delight, the clouds in the firmament or in the air had a particularly friendly design and lovely color, and the air fanned so gently and tenderly into the face and gave the feeling, as if he had been kissed by a thousand invisible lovely angel lips, and thereby, the soul bubbled up completely in joy.  Behold, this human sensation at certain times is a communicated after-sensation, which is derived from the temporary rest and comfort of the earth-body, and is homogeneous with that cheerfulness of the kidneys in man, which can also be easily observed in animals.

197. Such a time of serenity on the earth's body happens when the great, better general earth-soul sits down in it's kidney, and there, in a certain way, allows itself it's necessary relaxation or rest.  At this time it also happens on the surface of the earth that everything becomes peaceful in a certain way, and everything takes on a certain soft and gentle character.  But such a time of serenity of the earth is usually followed by gloomy and stormy weather, in which everything again assumes a repulsive and sometimes even terrible character.  This happens when the general earth-soul has returned to it's usual telluric organs of activity.  With the earth, however, it never quite happens, as with man, that the soul completely passes over into this resting and sleeping chamber; but only a part of the general soul rests there more or less, while another part must be continuously active.

198. This is to be understood metaphorically in a certain way, like some actions of a man who has done some work with his right hand for a while; when this has become tired, he puts this hand into his pocket to rest, and continues to work with his left hand until the right hand has recovered somewhat.  Or the image is also like a man who has worked with his head for some time, until it has become tired, then he allows it to rest, and instead sets his feet in motion; or the image of the partial rest of the general earth-soul is also like a night-watch, which two men occupy, the one watches from evening until midnight, during which time his companion has rested, then the one who was first awake goes to rest, and the rested one takes his place, and performs the watch until morning.

199. This is how you must visualize this action of the general earth-soul, and therefore the earth can never reach that complete general well-being, into which man or also an animal can reach through the nightly sleep, but only into that of the partial rest of man, which also carries with it a not insignificant well-being.  But that such a complete general comfortable retirement can not occur with the earth, the daily rotation in the first place already ensures, and secondly, the annual turn of the earth around the sun, according to which soon the northern, soon again the southern part of the earth is exposed to so-called hibernation, while the opposite part is again in the greatest activity.

200. Since the earth's kidneys also possesses this property, which can be easily perceived by everyone, just like humans and animals, the question arises whether the earth is not capable of procreation?  Indeed, and that significantly, several times and very differently, than every man, or every animal, or every plant.

201. For this reason, however, the earth is to be regarded in a certain way also as a hermaphrodite, or simultaneously a man and woman in one being, and is in this respect similar to the first man, who originally was also in himself man and woman simultaneously, and similar to the perfect spirits of heaven, who are also completely male and female united.

202. This predetermination of this matter is therefore necessary to be able to understand the following more correctly.  Since the earth is therefore capable of procreation, the question is again, how and what does it procreate, and where are its main procreative organs?

203. The main organ of procreation is, as in the case of the animals, the strongly bulging south pole; by virtue of this organ of procreation, the earth is female, because also the whole south pole as negative is equal to the female being, which also behaves as negative against the positive-polar male being.  The earth, however, considered from this point as a woman, is then not capable of procreation by itself, but only capable of receiving the procreation; here it is then asked: who procreates there with the earth? The sun, by it's opposite polar force; and what does it procreate or what has it procreated?

204. A main child of the earth, conceived in this way, is the moon - and is indeed the oldest child of this telluric woman.

205. Doesn't she have several similar children?  Oh yes, a considerable amount of comets are born, which are circling partly in the wide ether space, but partly such children, which come from this procreation, are the almost daily - and mostly around the equinox times - nearly countlessly appearing so-called shooting stars; That they are nothing else than small comet-like planets newly born from the earth, is proved by their always elyptic course and their round shape, when they come so close to the earth that people can observe their diameter more closely with their eyes.  These little planets, however, are devoured again by the earth, like all other procreations, similar to the old fable of Saturnus, who devoured his children.

206. Then, from where or from what are these children born from the earth?  The earth has an innumerable amount of such birth canals.  The main birth canal on the earth, however, is in the middle of the world's great pacific ocean, not far from the equator, namely in the area of the island group of the so-called Taiti and Otahaiti; from there the moon was separated from the earth, and still afterwards quite a lot of still existing comets.

207. This is thus a main birth canal of the Earth.  Other birth canals are a lot of lakes, swamps and caves in the mountains, from which not infrequently, such little planets are hurled out to a significant height by a polar force.  But since they have too small bodies, their small wealth is consumed by the opposite polarity through the predominant polar force of the earth, and they are drawn to the earth again, on which they soon fall down as cinder-like masses, sometimes also as stones; But they come down again as stones only if they have exploded first in the etheric space, and then fall down as parts of the whole.

208. This is a kind of procreation in which the earth appears only as a woman; next we will consider the far more strange thousandfold procreation, where the earth is active as man and woman at the same time.

The male-female procreation of the Earth (20 January 1847)

209. From this procreation, all mineral beings, as well as the plants and the animal world take their material origin.  The earth, considered as man and woman in one, begets here and also gives birth in the most manifold ways, namely in such a way that on the one hand it brings as it were living young to the outside world; Then again, like the birds, it lays eggs, and again, like the plants, it gives birth to seeds, and for minerals it produces certain flowers, in which lies the power to draw to itself everything that is similar to them, and as such to expand in wide circles.  This is the fourfold procreation of the earth under both forms in one.

210. Someone would of course ask here: If the earth does all this, why then the reproductive power in the plant and animal world?  And why must the plant, however it is formed, bring forth the peculiar seed for it's reproduction?  Why the bird the egg, and why the animal it's kind, and why amphibians their mushy roe, which are actually also eggs?

211. The answer to this question is of course not as simple as one would like to think, but nevertheless, for the one who can only look a little deeper, it is already present in the whole of nature in a completely pronounced way.

212. It is said right at the beginning in the course of this article that the earth is man and woman at the same time; as woman she does not beget, but only takes up the begotten and gives birth to it; as man, however, he merely begets and does not give birth to it, but the begotten kind and species must first be matured and born into which it was begotten by the earth as a man-being.

213. To see this more clearly, let us first consider a tree in interaction with the body of the earth.  An only reasonably thorough insight into this relationship, will certainly show the matter as clear as day.  Let us assume that the seed must obviously have been there before the tree on which it then reproduces, which is a correct assumption, because a seed can be produced more easily in the earth than a whole, fully grown tree.  One can also put the light seed everywhere, and a small force will be required to disperse the light seeds of often largest trees to all four corners of the world; and if light winds blow, carrying these light seeds, not even a mosquito will be offended by this act, let alone a larger animal, or even a human being.  How difficult and with what use of force would an operation be, and with what danger besides with already perfectly grown trees!  What would people say if suddenly such a large oak forest, brought about by mighty hurricanes, settled down over their heads and put it's roots into the earth?  And for such a forest, healthy acorns can be brought on a single wagon, can then be quietly put into the earth, about which certainly no man will lose his head, so after a time the acorns will slowly begin to rise very tender shoots above the ground.  Who has ever been hurt, who has gone through a forest, if an extremely light fir seed fluttered down on his hat?  But what kind of face would a person make if, instead of such a light seed, a perfectly grown giant fir tree fluttered down in front of his nose?

214. Already from these few examples it is easy to see for every reasonably person, that the seed must be there before the tree.

215. With animals, of course, the case is reversed.  There the bird had to be before the egg, because the animal's warmth already belongs to the hatching of the egg; but all the same the bird existed immediately as a bird, but in this first procreation period, also the earth laid the first egg, and the earth was thus the first general bird.

216. Once the first bird was born, it laid the egg, which was slightly differently equipped than the first, and gave birth to a second bird similar to it.

217. One can therefore also assume with the bird, as also with the amphibians, the first egg as the seed - and there again the seed was before the animal that came out of it.  Only if one finds a substantial difference between the quality of the earth's egg and the bird's egg, then the bird was certainly before the egg, which it laid, and through the same again, brought forth it's kind.  But it was not so with the seed of the plant; it was already born from the earth as the plant brings it back.  So it is also the case with all other animals; every species was first born from the earth already as a mammal, and received the ability to reproduce again by it's own procreative capacity.

218. We have taken a tree as an illustrative example to explain the begetting and birthing power of the earth; this explanation had to precede the present consideration above, without which the matter would not have become quite clear; But now, since we have made such a consideration, it becomes clear to you all at once, how on the one hand the earth begets as a man, and on the other hand gives birth again as a woman, and how it behaves to our tree mentioned as example sometimes as a woman, and sometimes as a man.

219. Let us assume that a seed which has ripened on the tree, is placed in the earth, then the earth behaves like a woman when it receives, and the received ripens and sprouts by it's own power; But when the tree stands there, it takes on the female character in relation to the earth, and the earth appears as a man in relation to the tree, and begets new seed in the tree for it's fertilization.

220. From this example, the masculine and feminine activities of the earth would be already partly clear, and it would follow from this that the earth, in order to accomplish that, must necessarily unite the two natures in itself.  But in this example, the earth and the tree interact; this is not enough, but we must also see this interaction in the earth itself.  But how will we achieve this?  That will not be so difficult.

221. You know that the earth has a south and a north pole.  These two poles always remain what they are with regard to the main effect of the earth, namely the one the south pole and the other the north pole, or the one negative and the other positive, or the one attractive and the other repulsive; which then has the consequence that two such unequal polarities can necessarily get along very well next to each other, because the one pole is the giver and the other, the receiver.  With this pole relationship, this interaction already strongly appears.  Originally, or in the outlet, the positive north pole is the receiver, because it absorbs all the nourishment for the earth-body, and the south pole in it's external outlet is the one, which absorbs nothing from the outside, but only puts everything behind; but in the interior, the north pole is the giver towards the south pole, and the south pole is the receiver.

222. Behold, there is already something emerging, how the earth's being appears inwardly through it's polar action alternately in it's two polarities, partly male and partly female.

223. Even more conspicuous is this reciprocal, always changing polar effect by the alternation of summer and winter, since half a year on the northern half of the earth is winter, while at the same time on the southern half, summer prevails, and thus in the next half year, reversed, which thus behaves and should also be understood as: the winter is the male part, and the summer the female part; The winter begets in the female summer and this then gives birth to what the winter has begotten.  Therefore, in the winter time, one half of the earth is male, while the other is completely female, and there also the otherwise female south pole appears male in relation to the north pole, which has become female, and therefore also reversed; But there is always the noticeable difference that the fruits of the southern half of the earth are sweeter, softer and fuller, but not as strong as those of the north, because in the southern part, the feminine precedes the masculine, while in the northern part, the masculine is more distinguished from the feminine, and this could be called etymologically so: In the north the earth is a man-woman, and in the south it is a woman-man.

224. From this representation, the dual nature of the earth is certainly already quite clearly evident; to the perfect view, however, it is still necessary that one knows that the earth changes it's nature through the day and through the night.  The night is always female, and the day male; What the day has begotten, the night gives birth to again in it's dark womb; according to this, every seed is begotten and fertilized by the earth as a male being, and is matured and born by the same earth as a female being.

225. That the earth really produces seeds for all kinds of plants and animals can be deducted from many phenomena on the earth's surface.  To these phenomena belong the original forestation of the mountains, like the moss and grass overgrowth of some former desolate steppes, on which nothing has grown for a millennium; Molds and sponges have not yet another seed.  Then to the phenomena explaining this thing belong those - if already somewhat more rarely, but on the whole nevertheless still frequently enough occurring kind - where it rained cereals and all kinds of grains, and especially does this matter explain the not rarely occurring fish-, snake- and toad-rains, and still other such phenomena, of which no so-called natural scientist can say - if he has only a grain of common sense - that some whirlwind has picked them up from the earth and then hurled them down again; Because there he would have to be able to prove somehow that on the earth such a place is found on which such beings have existed in not seldom a trillionfold number, and if he would also be able to do this, then he would do nothing less than to prove just the peculiar procreative power of the earth all the more conspicuously, how just the earth can bring forth such things from itself.  But how such phenomena actually happen, we will have a deeper look at, next.

The general succession of living beings (22 January 1847)

226. These occurrences seem to happen in such a way that someone could believe that they are, in a way, collections of certain whirlwinds, which, however, then united in the air into some kind of ball and then fell down again when the lifting force of the whirlwind had decreased.  But for an only somewhat deeper researcher, this explanation will certainly not be sufficient; For to lift frogs, toads and snakes, a tremendously strong whirlwind or even a most violent whirlwind would be necessary.  But if these more loose animal bodies were exposed to such a destructive fury of the winds, then they would firstly be torn into the smallest pieces before they fell to earth again, and with the survivors of such animals, it would have then surely it's wise ways; Secondly, such a whirlwind, in order to take fish out of, say, a whole lake or a morass, which often is several hours in length and width, would itself have to have an enormous diameter, and also an expression of force, which no mountain could resist, which, however, cannot easily be assumed by a naturalist; and thirdly, such a wind or such a violent whirlwind would surely clean out the water of the lake to the last drop, or even a whole morass in such a way that not only a loose grain of sand would remain, where then, if it rained down these animals, also water, mud and a lot of other ingredients would have to fall down, which, however, is usually never the case with these so-called amphibian rains.  However, these phenomena develop in the following way:

227. The earth, as a double being in some region, begets out of it's bowels a usually innumerable quantity of such eggs; these are very small and are easily driven out through the pores and channels of the earth; They are very small and are easily propelled out through the pores and channels of the earth; the further up they come, the more they are expanded by the nutrients they contain, which in the end makes them lighter than atmospheric air, and then, having reached the surface of the earth, they rise to a certain height in the form of dark mists like balloons, where they enter a strong electric current, and this happens easily, because they are propertyally attracted by it.  In this current they are then quickly matured and born, and that not infrequently in a number of many thousands of millions.  Because these little animals have then formed a propertyally heavier body from the air through the electric current than the air itself is, they can no longer stay in the air, but sink down to the earth; but, because they are nevertheless quite light, not so fast that they would suddenly burst through such a fall, and thus of course would be killed immediately, but they always come down quite safely, and can still live for a few hours after falling.  And because this formation is a leap over stages, and is not in harmony with the orderly progress of spiritual intelligences out of the earthly body, they soon pass away again from the apparent existence, are absorbed by the earth again, and are driven into the plant kingdom, whereby it is to be noted that such products then pass over into the formerly appearing animal stage earlier than if such animal stages according to the usual order must first pass through a whole legion of plant life; For one can say there: animal stages, because they already step into appearance like that from the earth immediately as animal beings, which, however, still have to take a step back into the vegetable before they can assume the intensive-animal character.

228. It is completely different with the original plant stages, which already enter the first existence like that; these must go through all plant stages, which stand in their line of progression, before they can be taken up into the animal life.  But since there is also an enormous difference between plants and plants, as there are noble and ignoble, good and bad, it also follows that especially the noble ones are so close to the animal stages and the noblest even to the human stage, that they can soon be included at least in part in the human being and for the most part in the nobler animal kingdom.  Of such plants one says: These have a short line of transition; but there are a great number of base plants; with them it takes a very long time until they are absorbed into the nobler ones, and there one says: These have a long line of transition.

229. The same is also the case with the animals.  But animals are produced directly from the double being of the earth, so also are seeds for plants produced freely.   This happens mainly in the tropical countries, like in the stony Arabia, in some areas of Africa and America; Today there are still large deserts and steppes.  These deserts have certain seed-bearing points for such seeds; there one will also find a luxuriant plant growth all around.  But where such seed-bearing sources are lacking, the earth remains desolate and empty.

230. So also the newly formed islands owe their plant growth to the seeds produced by the earth, and when these have reached a sufficient level of maturity, then also animal stages will begin to develop, however only up to the still very imperfect crawling animals and insects; The free natural transition does not reach further.  Then a higher force must step in, in order to create a corresponding animal standing on a higher level, into which the preceding levels can pass - and so not seldom upward to man, who, however, is never newly created, but is brought there in due time by colonization.

231. I think that this description will be sufficient for the inner thinker to see the procreative and reproductive power of the earth as a double being, and how these external phenomena take their origin in the aforementioned way mainly from the kidney of the earth, because in it, the general semen is formed and fertilized for further development in the previously described way.

232. With this, however, the actual active essence of the earth's interior is exhausted as completely as possible; and if this communication was about the unveiling of the earth's interior, then this earth's interior is unveiled in all possible brevity as well as possible and comprehensible to the human mind.  Since, however, the complete knowledge of the whole earth would not be served by the sole knowledge of the interior of the earth, we must pass from this interior of the earth, or from the innermost earth, to the second solid earth, and see through it a little, so that the outer earth will then become all the more easily comprehensible and understandable to us; for there is such a great quantity of phenomena on the outer earth, which the most learned explorers can never explain to themselves.  All these phenomena, however, can only be seen quite well and correctly when one knows their basis; therefore you must not imagine the solid structure as too simple, but as extremely complicated, and as occupying by far the largest part of the earth.  It is, in a way, the solid wood of the tree, which also constitutes the largest mass of the tree; and just as in the solid wood of the tree the most elaborate mechanism is attached, so this is also the case with the earth.  This solid part of the earth is therefore also to be regarded as a school, through which the beings rising from the innermost earth, first formed clumsily, get an actual coloring and shaping.  For this reason, this second solid earth must also be explored quite carefully, and we will therefore begin to wander through it a little in the near future.

The material and construction of the second Earth (23 January 1847)

233. This second solid earth consists of a very peculiar mass, which, like the wood of a tree, is almost the same throughout; only, of course, it is somewhat less intense toward the interior, but the intensity toward the exterior increases more and more, which is also necessary; for where it is a matter of bearing great loads, the strength must be great.  Towards the interior, however, where the polar forces act through the bowels of the earth, the density must decrease somewhat and be somewhat tough and yielding, so that it does not break under the enormous internal force, and the very palpable pieces of bowel do not suffer damage during their to and fro and up and down movement by a sensitive impact on the surrounding wall, which may be too solid; but towards the top, this second earth becomes extremely firm in it's artificial structure, which same firmness has already a full diameter of nearly 200 miles, which thickness is sufficiently strong enough to carry the whole third outer earth with all it's seas, countries and mountains with the same ease as the elephant carries a blanket spread over it.

234. What kind of material does this second solid earth consist of then?  It will be somewhat difficult to explain this material to you, because nothing similar can be found anywhere on the surface of the earth, nor can it be, since the constituent parts of each earth are quite different, which you can easily see by looking at a nut, where the outer green rind contains absolutely nothing of the hard shell, just as the inner core also contains nothing, and each, even if connected to each other, is nevertheless completely separate.  So it is also with the mass of this second solid earth.  It is neither rock, nor metal, certainly not diamond, and still less any gold or platinum; because if this mass were something similar, it would firstly not endure the inner fire that flows out of the intestines.  It would soon be melted and finally turned into cinders and ashes; just as little would it withstand the powerful passage of countless sources of fire and other destructive substances, would soon wear out and on the other hand weather in these passage parts, in which state it would then become incapable of further operations.

235. Is it perhaps a very peculiar bone mass?  Certainly even less that than something else.  It is most similar to the so-called asbestos, or rock wool, when together in solid mass; for this rock wool is almost completely indestructible in fire, as in all acids, although it can be dissolved chemically, and this is precisely the difference that causes the complete similarity between the solid mass of the second earth and our rock wool.  Something similar to rock wool exists on the surface of the earth, as a certain type of pumice, which is not found anywhere else but near the South Pole, but which type of rock is not yet found in any learned natural history collection, because no naturalist has yet come so close to the South Pole, and if someone would succeed in approaching this extremely dangerous point of the earth, he would have to dig very deep into the ice to get such a piece, and secondly, he would have to know beforehand where such pieces of pumice are located, otherwise he would dig a mine into the ice for nothing.  A granule of such rock would, of course, be worth more than a pearl weighing a centner, because of it's extremely brilliant colorful beauty and because of it's complete indestructibility; but this most precious dung of the earth is kept so carefully hidden precisely in order not to blind the metal- and mineral-addicted world even worse than gold and diamonds.  This mineral, as said, is most similar to the mass of our second solid earth.

236. As far as the color of our solid earth material is concerned, it is more white-greyish towards the top, and would look like a pearl in the sunlight; further down, however, it becomes darker and darker, and has the most wonderful colorations, almost  playing throughout like a so-called golden pearl shell.  This material is also exceedingly heavy, and must be; for in it lies the main rotational momentum of the earth, which cannot be found useful for this purpose on the outer earth, which is more loose and spongy.

237. Now that we have uncovered something about the mass of this middle earth, we can proceed to it's construction.  The clearest conception of this second solid earth, as far as it's artistic structure is concerned, can be shown to you best and most expediently by a competent observation of the bone of a brain shell, also by the observation of an ordinary nut, and therefore show - because these objects stand up next to you like teachers - who direct your eye with a finger or pointing pen to the structure, in which structure and organism you then easily find that concept, which you then have to extend enormously, and only in this extension get the true concept of how artisticly and functionally this solid earth is built; Because you have to remember that it would be very wrong, if someone would claim, when he compares two similar things, that he can therefore already form a concept of it - but he must first find a concept through comparative observation.  Once he has found it, he must anatomically dissect and stretch it; only then has he formed an actual concept of the thing.

238. So now we want to get an idea of the artisticl construction of the middle solid earth; but how?  This will not be so difficult.  What the visible pores are in the bones, these are in this second earth widely extending channels, sometimes many fathoms in diameter, provided at various points with the most diverse kinds of closing valves.  In some other places, several channels intersect at one point; each of them carries it's own fluid up to this point, where all the fluids unite in such a point of union, or secondary center of gravity, to form a completely new mixture, and from there advance again in many further channels as one and the same united fluid.  All channels, however, are continuously provided with an innumerable number of closing valves, which open outwards and close inwards.

239. Why are these closing valves placed in the innumerable channels?  These valves serve to prevent the nutritive and vitalizing juices, which are expelled from the viscera in different ways, from falling back into the viscera because of their weight; for every pulse beat of the great heart of the earth, drives the diverse juices into the innumerable organs.  If these organs were not provided with a closing valve just where the juices entered, these juices, due to their weight, would fall back again; but as they rise into the organs, these valves open due to the pressure from below, and the liquids flow through.  However, when the impact lessens and fetches new material, the juices that have been pushed into the organs press back on these valves, and in this way block their way back by their own weight.

240. That such a large earth-vein must have several such closing valves in it's not infrequently several hundred miles long course, goes without saying, because otherwise without several such support points, the liquid in such a long tube would become too heavy to be lifted further by the pulse push, and by it's heaviness, would break through and destroy an only closing valve.  Large channels or large veins have, in addition to such end valves, large downward coils and separate pressure pumps, through which the pulse impulse is greatly assisted.  You will also find similar valves in all veins of the animal-body world. You may only look at an anatomical work, or also through a microscope at a wood fiber, then you will find a lot of such closing flaps along the tube.

241. Think a little about what has been said so far concerning the mechanism of this solid earth, then you will get a quite useful knowledge of things in nature; and when you have become somewhat familiar with this first mechanical representation, then you will understand the next by far more artistic opening of this mechanism, all the more easily.

The fortification of the fluids of the Earth (25 January 1847)

242. We have seen in the last communication how the juices are driven up from the interior of the earth through the middle, or solid earth.  The mechanism is, as you will have easily seen from the description, basically extremely simple, but at the same time completely functional in it's arrangement.  The juices, however, which are carried up by this simple mechanism, would soon lose their original force, which is substantially added to their essence, especially with a distance which not infrequently amounts to several hundred miles.  In order to remedy this easily achievable problem, help had to come from another side by means of an extremely ingenious mechanism, as follows: In the direction from north to south go countless extremely fine mineral threads, which from north to south are mostly purely iron-bearing, and vice versa those from south to north are platinum-bearing and sometimes also copper-bearing.  These threads are, as already noted, extremely fine, so much so that the thread of a spider divided into parts would yield ten thousand such threads, which is certainly a very fine piece of work. These threads do not run evenly in straight lines, but very curled, approximately like the comb of a saw, and at the same time in many other windings, especially in the areas where they brush against the veins and channels rising from the interior of the earth.  But this is also necessary, for it is precisely at these points that these conductive threads must have their most active effect.

243. These threads are not small tubes, but all different kinds of crystals, which are connected to each other like links of a chain.  Their position is as if you were to place several triangular pyramids on top of each other in such a way that the top is exactly in the middle of the lower surface of the following pyramid, and the iron-containing ones are directed so that the tops face north, and the platinum- and copper-containing ones have the tops turned south.  If you imagine this, you will have a correct picture of how these conductors are constructed.  This line must therefore be mechanically ordered, because any other smooth line, such as a wire, would lose the electro-magnetic fluid at a length of not infrequently three thousand miles.

244. The fact that smooth conductors lose their fluidity more and more with time, can be assumed by those who are more experienced in this kind of manipulation from the fact that an electric spark conducted over a long distance, no longer has the same powerful effect as in the vicinity of a conductor which first absorbs the electro-magnetic fluid either from a rubbed glass plate, or from several copper and zinc plates dipped in hydrochloric or sulfuric acid; This pyramidal line alone would not be completely useful for a conductor running several thousand miles, if it did not continue in it's own tube, which is formed by such a mass, through which no electric spark penetrates.

245. From this you can already see a little how elaborately this mechanism is woven; but little would be gained if these threads let the electro-magnetic substance change back and forth.  Therefore, at certain points, especially in the area of the ascending channels, there must be collecting chambers in which this substance accumulates; and when such a chamber is fully charged, it then acts on the liquid in the channel, giving it new power again.  This is the purpose of these countless collecting chambers, which are sometimes larger and sometimes smaller, and are also sometimes negative and sometimes positive, so that, if the substance in a rising liquid would be too violently heated by the positive electricity, the negative then takes the surplus into itself again, and immediately transforms it into it's own kind, or said in German [English -tr]: What the positive electricity heats up too much, the negative cools down again.

246. Another purpose of these now known conduction threads is to set in motion the many driving pumps in the canals, which driving pumps support the original driving force of the earth's heart pulse; without this support, this first force would necessarily soon have to slacken, if it had to deal with many trillions of centners at each impact, which weight the juices ejected with each pulse certainly have, even on the smallest scale.  By the above-mentioned pressure pumps, which are specially installed in the channels, the pulse force of the earth's heart is helped so much that it only has to struggle with a significantly lower weight.  But to explain the mechanism of such a pressure pump to you in more detail, would be a futile effort, and you would never get a perfect insight into the matter, even with the clearest possible presentation, because it is a too complicated work, into which only a spirit, but never the eye of the flesh, can contemplatively penetrate; Therefore, such elaborate preparations will be much easier and more comprehensible in the spiritual representation of the earth's body, than now in the merely material one.

247. In this way, we have become acquainted with a very elaborate mechanism in this Middle Earth.  For the full knowledge of this part of the earth's body, only a few things are still missing, then we will be finished with it.  This little consists of the so-called return- or reabsorption-vessels, through which - as in the animal body the blood through the veins - the excess juices, which are not yet completely prepared for the nourishment of the earth, return to it's heart, in order to obtain new strength and reinforcement there.  These receding channels are also provided with stop valves, which open only when the heart of the earth contracts.  If it expands again, these valves close and do not allow the refluxing juices to continue, but these valves do not close as precisely as those in the ascending vessels, being not so necessary; firstly, these return channels are narrower throughout than the ascending ones, so that the column of liquid contained in them does not hold so much weight; secondly, the liquid contained in them is also much more inert than that in the ascending channels, and thirdly, these above-mentioned valves only have to ensure that these channels are not completely interrupted during ejection, but only blocked; which mechanical device you can also find in the veins of animal bodies, as well as in the tubes of wood known to you, where, however, the return vessels occur between the outer bark and the wood.

248. That is now all that was left to say about our Middle Earth in material-mechanical respect; and since we are finished in this way with this subject, we will take ourselves next time to the third, or outer earth.

The crust of the Earth (26 January 1847)

249. After we have gone through the Middle Earth, we go, as already mentioned, to the outer earth - which in a way constitutes the skin or the bark of the earth.

250. This outer part of the earth has in itself the least mechanically artistic construction; but what it lacks in this area, is replaced by countless other formations - and in it, there is a certain kind of mixed abundance of everything in such a way that it would not be possible for any human mind to grasp and understand how and what all is happening on in this earth's crust.

251. In the former two earths, we found everything more simple, just as the effect together with the activity preceding it is in a certain way very simple.  One could compare the inner activity and the inner working to a very simple driving wheel, in which one sees nothing else than that it turns diligently and powerfully around it's axis; But if one then goes into the chamber where a very complicated mechanism is set in motion by the simple action of the first driving wheel, and where the rarest effects are produced by this many wheels and spindles, one is astonished when one thinks back that all this is accomplished by the simple driving wheel outside.

252. In the same way, the simple activity in the innermost part of the earth can be regarded as a simple driving wheel, by which, however, on our third or outermost earth, innumerable most manifold effects are produced.  Now you do not have to imagine the outer earth as separated by an empty air space or by an intermediate existence of a subterranean sea; but these two earths are as intimately and firmly connected with each other as the bark with the wood of a tree.

253. Directly on the solid earth, rests a still several miles thick perceptible skin of the earth, above which skin then follows the epidermis (upper skin) or the actual impalpable skin of the earth, in which the effects of the inner organic life of the earth only so rightly multiply; There everything is formed in itself as well as outside of itself, i.e. the seed, as it is constituted as seed in itself, is either freshly formed, as well as represented in itself in such a way, what once it's germinated outer form shall be; or for the seed, the power is prepared here, and separated according to it's kind, as it is suitable for the revival of the already existing seed both for plants and animals - from which it is absorbed little by little by the plant kingdom, as by the water and by countless small animals, and then used quite intelligently.

254. To such preparation belongs certainly also an infinite compexity first of all of the mechanical-organic construction of this part of the earth; but with that, very little  would still be accomplished, because all such mechanics would achieve very little or nothing at all, but the equipment of this part of the earth must have - in addition to the most wonderfully complicated mechanical equipment for the separation and distribution of the juices and forces rising from the innermost part of the earth - a second piece of equipment, infinitely more complicated, for the purpose of absorbing the very subtle influences from the outer infinite space of the world and bringing them to their right destination.

255. That this purpose would not be served by a simple device, you can easily imagine, if you only look at a single plant very carefully, what manifold parts it has, and what a multitude of each part must be present on a plant, such as spines, hairs, thorns, angles, fibers, threads, liquids, fats, and the like even more, and all this connected by an elaborate mechanism just to represent this single plant; but if already one plant requires so much, how much of such all-man-diverse equipment will have to be present in this third part of the earth, where it is about the formation for the first of the manifold and rich external minerals, then about the whole plant world, and finally about the countless manifold animal world.

256. A grain of sand, as surely the simplest mineral, is so artisticly put together that you would be turned around completely with amazement, if you could see it, how it is most artisticly put together in itself. There you would discover a quantity of the most different crystals, which are joined together in such a regulated way that the most skillful mathematician could never calculate them so exactly; but that is only the least.  If you would then examine these individual crystals more exactly, you would find that they are nothing but complexions of all animal carcasses, and that is of a kind of infusoria, which are however much smaller than that already far more advanced kind, which appears in the fermenting water drop; And if you would then examine these infusorial cadavers more closely, you would discover in each such cadaver, an innumerable number of atomistic little animals, which, during the lifetime of these infusoria, now glued together in crystalline forms, served as food and nourishment for these very infusoria; And if it would be possible for you to look at such an atomistic creature more with spiritual eyes than with the sharpest armed natural eyes, then you would discover in every such atomistic creature a Mignon-shell-globe, in which the whole universe appears on the smallest scale as illustrated.  If you put millions together in such a small crystal, which is made of  a 1000 infusoria, and the sand grain of a hundred such crystals, you will at least get a small idea of the highly artistic representation of this very simple mineral piece, or better: you will be able to show it.

257. What does it take, therefore, to bring about such a very simple little piece of mineral?  How artistic must the mechanism be in the workshop in which only grains of sand are manufactured, since in such a grain of sand must already be preceded by two animal generations, where each little animal possesses such an artistic organism that you yourselves could never have any idea of it's extreme artistry; for such a little animal has eyes, ears, other organs of sensation, and in addition has completely free movement; listen!  to represent this, already goes far beyond all human concepts.  Even more puzzling is the image of the universe in an atomic egg-shaped spherical animal;  in order to create a grain of sand out of all that, certainly requires a most artistic reproduction mechanism in our outer earth.  But how much does it take to form other minerals, to give them the certain property and form, and what does it take to form the many most different plants, and what does it take to form the countless many animal species, for which the number: one million is too small!

258. From this only very superficial description of the matter, you will easily understand that here a property description of this most complicated organism of formation is almost purely impossible; and if we really wanted to describe the matter propertyally, then a thousand writers would need a trillion years netto.  And who would have to inform himself about such a work, would have to live a thousand billion years, in order to read such a work at least once in such a long life; in short, the ridiculousness of such an undertaking must be clear already at the first sight.  Therefore, in the consideration of this outer piece of the earth, we will emphasize only very superficially and in general, that which can be explained more closely by some external phenomena; Everything else, as already mentioned, will be easy to understand in the spiritual part, and one minute will be more fruitful than a full million of earthly years.  Thus following, just something about the special arrangement of this outer earth.

The feeling skin of the Earth (27 January 1847)

259. As far as the tangible skin of the earth is concerned, it is crisscrossed by innumerable canals, and between these canals there are again a lot of large and smaller collecting places or containers for all kinds of liquids rising from the interior of the earth; also again such containers, which take up the retrograde juices, and then lead them back into the innermost part of the earth through the already known return canals.  These containers, like the lakes on the surface of the earth, have different shapes, but most of them are egg-shaped.  The main purpose of these is that the juices that have reached them, enter into a kind of fermentation, through which they are separated again as if chemically, and then, separated, are passed on again for certain purposes.  These containers, however, are not to be confused with those large underground water basins, from which drinkable water already comes to the surface of the earth, and which basins in some places can already be reached with the so-called artesian earth drills.  These large water basins are all situated in the unfeeling earth's crust, while the aforementioned earth-juice containers are all situated in the earth's feeling crust; - but what purpose these containers serve, we will also be able to see thoroughly in the spiritual part.

260. That would be one property of this earth's crust; another consists in a column-like support, on which the whole upper, unfeeling earth's skin rests together with it's seas, lakes and mountains.  These pillars are first based on the solid earth, and from there they pull themselves up to the surface of the earth like a skeleton; they are not as firm as the stones on the surface of the earth, but they have more of a cartilaginous firmness, which is connected with a significant degree of elasticity, which is also necessary - because not infrequently, between the feeling and unfeeling skin of the earth, those gases are formed, which are already known to you, which create quite significant hollow spaces, often raise the outer earth crust significantly, and then not infrequently separate them locally, and thereby cause earthquakes and violent hurricanes.  If these aforementioned supports were very firm, the surface of the earth and even more it's inhabitants, would soon be destroyed; but because these supports are flexible, nothing can happen except that some local grains of sand, sometimes some molehills, and sometimes some masonry snail shells of humans get some small leakage on the surface of the earth.

261. These flexible supporting pillars finally become firmer and firmer in the unfeeling earth's crust in the same way as the solid bones of animals finally run out into the cartilage, and thus vice versa, as the cartilage becomes firmer and firmer and finally passes over into the solid bones.  These solid bones of the earth are then already visible here and there on the surface of the earth as primary rock under the name primary limestone, also granite, sometimes also quartz.  These types of stone, the further up, the more mixed, thus also the more impure, coarser, harder and more brittle; Their extensions are usually the high primitive mountains, which differ in all parts of the earth's surface quite clearly from the other later formed mountains by shape, height and mass.  The other mountains are later formations, whose way of formation is already known to you, and how under these mountains, as well as other lands, there are subterranean water basins, which again, as you will already know, are supported by their own pillars, i.e. the ceiling above these basins, so that it does not naturally collapse somehow, and thereby turn a large piece of fertile land into a lake, which has already happened here and there.

262. Now it only needs to be mentioned from where the sea initially gets the main food.  First of all, it gets the main nourishment from the many juice reservoirs in the tangible skin, which, in a way, form the actual urinary bladder of the earth; then, however, the sea also gets an extremely significant increase, which is extremely necessary, from the last discussed large water basins, through all the large rivers and streams, because the liquid rising from the actual urine bladder of the earth is too salty, and without admixture of the sweet water, would soon change so much into a solid mass that where the sea is now, nothing but sky-rising salt-mountains would arise, which would acidify the air over time so much that no living being could exist there; at the same time, however, this would also cause the dangerous disease of urine blockage in the earth itself, by which the earth would very quickly fully ignite and then completely die, and in such a state would no longer be suitable for carrying any living being, as little as the polar ice would be suitable for procreating and then sustaining a living being.

263. Now we also know that.  We have already touched the realm of the fossils previously; so for the natural observation of the earth's body, nothing remains to us but the air, which completely surrounds the earth up to a height of ten German miles in three main different spheres; and so we want to pass through this outermost part of the earth and finally, when we have reached the ether, we want to swing over on it's wings of light, into the spirit-world.

The nature and composition of the air (29 January 1847)

264. The water of the sea, as also in the lakes of the mainland, form a kind of compressed air in which animals can live.  But this air belongs actually still to the earth-body itself, and indeed to it's outermost bark; Therefore it cannot be counted with the atmospheric air, but to the atmospheric air only that part of the water can be added which is found in fogs and clouds, as well as the free hydrogen gas in the air itself, even if it cannot be seen as fog or cloud.

265. What does the atmospheric air consist of in all it's parts?

266. The atmospheric air or the inhalation air, consists of a myriad of all kinds of air, all of which have the name gases or better, simple kinds of air.

267. Natural scientists are soon finished with the enumeration of the gases of which the atmospheric air consists; according to them, the air consists of a certain ratio of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and actual nitrogen gas.  With these four species alone, the actual atmospheric air would be very badly served, if it did not possess other types of air; and if the air did not possess such other types of air, which are not known to naturalists, then the growth of plants, the formation of minerals, and the animal world would look extremely bad.

268. Every plant sucks from the atmospheric air into itself the simple kind of air that suits it alone, and eliminates any other.  If this were not the case, then each plant would not have it's very own form, it's very own taste and smell after it's kind.  But if every plant sucks in only one simple kind of air corresponding to it's kind, then there must be as many simple kinds of air as there are consumers in their kind and manner.

269. But that this is really the case and must be, is proven already as clear as day by the smell of each individual plant, and even more by it's inner substance; just smell a rose, a carnation, a lily, a violet, then a henbane, and then ask yourself whether one flower smells like the other.

270. The smell of the rose will have a strengthening effect on the olfactory organs and sharpen the sight; the clove will have a contracting effect on the olfactory organs and weaken the sight; the lily will make the olfactory organs flabby and in time even have a nauseating effect on the stomach organs, which not infrequently produces a pain in the head.  The violet will have an exhilarating effect on the olfactory organs and even strengthen the brain, while the dirty yellow henbane will cause instant disgust and, if touched for a long time, dizziness and dilation of the visual pupil.

271. Question, can this alone be attributed to the four known simple kinds of gases, or can this alone be brought about by their possibly differently proportioned mixture?  Yes, if these four gases were really the four simple basic substances from which all things are finally formed, it would be a disgrace for the highly learned chemists that they had not long since produced gold, silver and diamonds from them in the greatest abundance; for between the four simple kinds, a lot of all kinds of quantity mixtures can soon be accomplished, and from each mixture, if not exactly gold, then perhaps some new plant, or even some new race of miniature oxen, donkeys, and calves, or something else of the sort, would have to emerge; But see, such a thing does not happen in spite of the most erudite facial muscle contortions of such heroes of wisdom, and nothing comes to light but at most some whitish dust, which can be recognized as small crystals when examined with microscopes, by which, however, it does not want to have said much, because such crystalline dust is produced by nature in the open without the chemical kitchen - even better and more diversely by far.  In autumn, you only need to observe a ripe plum or a ripe grape, or various tree leaves, and you will discover such dust as a so-called rime on the above-mentioned fruits and leaves.  Add a microscope and it will teem with the most beautiful crystals.

272. From this it follows again that there must be still more simple kinds of air than the four known alone. Thus there are also plants that breathe out such an extremely harmful air that animals and other plants must immediately die in it, just as there are other miraculous plants by which even the dead, if they have not been dead too long, could be revived; These two types of plants, the one extremely deadly, the other extremely invigorating, must nevertheless each, according to their kind, suck in a quite peculiar basic substance from the air, otherwise they would not become what they are.

273. But if this is undeniably the case, then it is again clear how many kinds of composition the atmospheric air must have in order to nourish the variety of created things in it according to their kind. But if the plants already need so many basic kinds in the atmospheric air for their existence, how much more different kinds of basic material must there be in the atmospheric air for the sake of the animals, so that every animal finds in the atmospheric air the inhalation material that suits it.

274. Each animal inhales the entire atmospheric air volume, but retains only that part of the inhaled volume which is homogeneous to it's nature; everything else is expelled.

275. I think, for the one who is able to think only a little more maturely, it will be enough with what has been said so far, to see how highly complicated the atmospheric air must be, so that in it, all the countless many most different beings find what corresponds with their nature.  But if we have understood this easily, it will not be so difficult to understand the innumerable and peculiar appearances in the atmospheric air in so far as everyone finds a difference in the nature of the appearances according to his sensory perception, and must say to himself: This phenomenon is similar to an earlier one, but it's form is different; and if this is the case, there must also be a strange reason that did not exist before.

276. And again you will see appearances which always remain the same; these will also surely have the always same reason.

277. Once on the earth there were plants and animals which, as is known, do not exist any more on this world-body at present; but in their stead, other plant- and animal genera have developed which were not present at that time.  Behold, these are phenomena, which are similar in certain relations, in others, however, very dissimilar.  The Mammoth has similarity with the nowadays living elephant, so the giant ox with the current smaller one.  These two animals have similarity in one respect; they belong to one and the same species, but they are very dissimilar in size and also in other formation.  Thus, there were once giant trees, as already mentioned at the beginning of this communication; also at present, especially in the tropical countries, there is still a multi-stemmed tree species, which has a resemblance to the former largest tree, but is nevertheless no longer what this tree once was.  There is a big difference both in the size and in the design.

278. All these phenomena are caused by the fact that the former gigantic species have not found the food corresponding to them in the atmospheric air any more, so they have finally died out completely.  So there would be a basic air substance no longer there, which was once there; but for it, another came into being, which was once not there.  Such a reason lies also mostly in the not seldom newly appearing diseases, both for plants and animals, with which the physicians also make such a face, as the chemists, if they endeavor to make gold, and in the end win a lump of very strongly stinking dirt instead of gold.  It is true that similarities can be brought about; thus, newly developed diseases can also have a similarity with diseases that existed before; but if one compares the artificial gold with the natural one, there will be a difference like between 1000 and 1.  In the same way, if one wants to cure a new disease with the same medicine that cured a previous similar disease, one will cut oneself tremendously; because this new disease is the result of the lack of the raw material in the air, if it is consumed for some reason and as soon as it has not been produced again, and then it should be difficult to find a medicine that would contain the lost raw material in itself, by which the new disease could of course be lifted instantly.  But since this matter can be of the most essential use to mankind, if it is brought into better knowledge, we shall speak of it more substantially next time, and take a look at the causes why certain basic substances in the air are lost either wholly or in part, and sometimes others take their place.

The effect of light on the air (29 January 1847)

279. In order to understand even more thoroughly that in the atmospheric air there is an innumerable quantity of basic air substances (or as the scholars of the world call them: propertya), one must be led to where one reaches this insight and in a certain way irrefutably sees for oneself where these propertya come from, and what the reason of their origin, their existence, is - and also their cessation.

280. It is not difficult at all for him who has only some good will and is not a diplomatically grounded scholar, which diplomacy hangs before his eyes like the cover of Moses, only not for the same reason, so that he does not see and understand what the simplest man can see, perceive and understand with slight effort.  Whoever - I say it again - has only a little good will and no cover before his eyes, will grasp it with his hands, that these countless propertya in the atmospheric air are not taken out of the air, but, like every thing, have their most efficient reason.

281. Look up, how innumerable are the stars in the distant spaces of the infinite ether, which has nowhere a beginning and nowhere an end!  Man is completely enchanted when the shimmering light of all the millions of stars falls into his eye; and how sad he is when, for example, sometimes a few cloudy nights spoil the glorious sight of the starry sky.

282. Is this not an effect which so pleasantly inspires the human mind?  Yes, this is all the effect of light from those distant regions; and it is light that forms the atmospheric air, this great world-eye, around the world-bodies, as it is only light that forms the eye in man and makes it related to him; for if the eye were not light, it could never see the light.

283. When man looks at the starry sky with his eye, with this small sun in his body, his eye itself becomes a small globe in which billions of suns circle and central suns throw out their primal light into endless distances.  A whole infinite creation then carries the eye of man, and the shining and reflection of the suns in the sun-related eye of man, causes the blissful sensation in the soul about such wonder, how the greatest finds itself in the smallest, and recognizes itself as what it is in itself.

284. Who can deny that?  At the most, a truly blind person - or a person like there are many of them now, to whom a stinking tobacco tent in his stinking mouth is more important than the whole starry sky - which he only sees in his own wall mirror when he looks at how his tight garment, for which he still owes the tailor, looks, and how his disgusting tobacco tent looks compared to the tight garment that he still owes.  But of such human larvae is not spoken here; they are actually on the world, as the flies are on a pile of dung; their treasure is the dirt, because they themselves are dirt.  Such people, of course, do not look at the stars, and have no eye for My works!

285. But people, as there are still many of them, who often lift up their eyes and secretly say to themselves: "Oh Father, in Your great kingdom there are innumerable dwellings!  Such people will certainly not miss the above-mentioned effects at the sight of the starry sky, and will never be able to deny that the light of the stars has a powerful effect on their minds through their eyes.

286. But if the light of the stars through the eye of man in the most rejuvenated degree, already produces such a decisive effect, how much stronger will be the effect of the starlight through the great eye of the earth on the earth itself; for the atmospheric air is on it's surface, where the ether rests on it, a shining mirror, in which every star is already depicted very significantly large.  The image is now led completely to the solid surface of the earth, and that in more and more concentrated light-power according to the known optical principles.  The effect of this concentrated light, or this concentrated light itself, is in itself such a very simple propertyum in the atmospheric air, because it acts on the parts in the earth and on the surface of it that are suitable for it, either dissolving or contracting.  Now you may only count the innumerable stars, if you can, then you will immediately have also the innumerable simple propertya in your atmospheric air.  Everything that is physically present on the earth and in the earth, is all mutual effect of the stars, and that because I, the Creator, have arranged the great world mechanism that way.

287. Astronomers on earth have already made two quite important observations.  According to one of them, formerly existing celestial bodies have completely disappeared; then also the property on the earth caused by them must have disappeared, and with it, those beings which could enter into physical existence through it.

288. Another discovery of astronomers is that light from very distant stellar regions will arrive on Earth for the first time either now or sometimes only after many years; According to this phenomenon, then also new propertya must appear on the earth, and according to them also new formations on the earth, which work either favorably or unfavorably for the already existing beings, depending on whether the star, from which the propertya originates, is a good or an evil one; for there are good and evil stars, and according to them, there are good and evil plants, and good and evil animals.

289. So there are also double stars, which cover each other at certain periods of time; of these usually one is of a good, and the other of bad nature.  If the good one is in front of the bad one, it cancels the effect of the bad one; if both shine side by side at the same time, the bad influence of the bad star is softened by the good one; If the bad one comes before the good one, it completely cancels the effect of the good one, and on that part of the earth over which such a star stands in the zenith, a bad effect will soon be felt, which will show itself either by bad weather, or by the misgrowth of some plant species, or by diseases of animals and people.

290. The coverings of the stars by planets also have a bad influence, but sometimes also a good one on the earth; and from this standpoint, the old sages also determined the now fabulous regiment of the planets - which is not as empty as the new scholars who only calculate with numbers – imagine.

291. Also old predeterminations in the weather lore had their reason in this consideration, about which is now even laughed at; nevertheless, the old wisdom still remains the same.

292. In the same way also the comets and other light-meteors, even if they last still so short time, exert a noticeable influence on the earth, just as not less the light change of the moon, and especially perceptibly the light duration change of the sun; because who does not feel the difference between summer and winter, he is to be pitied certainly in the highest degree.  That even the light, even if it lasts for only a short time, certainly exerts a powerful influence on some thing on earth, is proven by lightning, which certainly lasts for the shortest time, and which, as is well known, kills the crabs, if they have not crawled into their mud chambers.  From what has been said so far, it will be clear to those who have only a little, but somewhat better insight, where the many propertya in the air come from, how they are caused, and what they themselves necessarily cause.

293. But now that we have gone through this, and have thereby become acquainted with the first and lowest circle of air, we can now leave this circle of air and swing up into the second, from which we will recognize the phenomena as they appear every day in the most varied cloud formations, and there we will also see why the air in the higher regions is purer and healthier than in the lower ones.

The twelve heavenly constellations and their effect (1 February 1847)

294. Among many other things you have read, you will have found in some old calendars, that the so-called twelve signs of the heavens have some influence on the vegetative power of the earth, just as it is here and there somewhat mystically-prophetically included that such signs of the heavens, as also with them the planets, have influence on the birth of animals and humans, and that with humans, even their future is reflected in them.

295. Nowadays, the peasants still hold it in high esteem, especially when they sow and harvest their fruits.

296. Thus it is said: in Cancer, in Scorpio, in Libra and in Aquarius it is not good to sow, because the fruits are then likely to perish then sooner, before they begin to germinate - and many similar rules, from which also so many well-know to you, bad weather-days are derived.  That such things are still present among people today, admittedly in a very distorted form, is certainly not to be doubted; Farmer's calendars are still today weather prophets, and show every day, which celestial sign influences it, and that every month in a double way - firstly, how the moon passes through the celestial signs, and secondly, under which sign the sun is, and in which it goes.

297. Behold, there is really something in the matter, but of course not in the very contaminated way known to you, but in such a way as was made known to you in a very graphic way in the previous communication.

298. The moon runs through it's orbit correctly within 29 days, which certainly runs in very narrow circles under the so-called twelve celestial signs, and it must happen that the moon comes to stand in this way during the course of it's orbital period quite naturally little by little under each of the twelve celestial signs.

299. Exactly the same is apparently the case with the sun, although there actually only the earth is the moving body, and wanders through the twelve celestial signs.  Nevertheless, it appears as if the sun moves by one celestial sign approximately monthly; therefore also in the calendars in each month, another celestial sign is indicated.  By this moving away under these main constellations, it happens naturally that by the moon as well as by the sun, some stars of these constellations are continuously covered by these two heavenly bodies.  By this covering then naturally for a short time, the influence, which the above stars in the constellations exert on the earth body, is interrupted; According to the principles mentioned earlier, a change of some kind must be felt on the earth's body, especially in those objects which, due to the influence of these stars, have some kind of similarity with these stars, because their existence requires a property feature which originates from the light of these stars.

300. This effect, however, cannot be of any duration, because these stars are never covered by the two celestial bodies for a long time; but another situation occurs, from which, however, a very perceptible influence on the earth comes.

301. This situation of the above-mentioned twelve constellations, is that less known fluctuation both of the earth in it's course around the sun, and especially the fluctuations of the moon, which hardly once in many hundred years takes again perfectly that same course, which it has already gone once before; Through these fluctuations, the zenith position of the above twelve celestial stars is changed quite naturally, and this change then lets very perceptible and sensitive changes come into effect on earth.

302. To these changed situations are added the constant changes of the planets in their positions, which hardly in a thousand years come again completely into that position in which they have already once exercised their influence on the earth.

303. In addition to these situations, which are to be particularly observed, the eruptions of the solar body are to be taken into special consideration; through them, the light of the sun is weakened, and cannot act on the earth with the same disintegrating power as when it gives its full light to the earth completely without those eruptive blemishes.

304. The effects, however, originating from the above-mentioned phenomena, are not so much perceived in the lowest region of the air, as only in the second, which, however, only begins at an altitude of sometimes five, six, or seven thousand feet above sea level.

305. One will say here: This second air region should also feel those effects in itself, which appear in the lowest air region in an innumerable existence.

306. It should be said, however, that such a statement would be even mathematically incorrect; because the rays of those extremely many very distant stars are still too little condensed at this height, therefore cannot cause there yet those propertya, which they certainly cause about 1000 fathoms lower, which can be easily deduced from the fact that from such a height at night time, one cannot see stars of the 4th, 5th and 6th magnitude with the naked eye, even less those of the 7th, 8th and so on, while everybody with healthy eyes, especially at the sea coasts, can see stars even of the 7th and 8th magnitude with the naked eye on a clear night.

307. Why can it not do this on a mountain seven thousand feet high, and still less on higher mountains?  Because the incoming rays from these very distant stars are still too little condensed; the angle of entrance is still too acute for the eye to perceive; it also has too few light-bodies to produce any effect, and the higher it rises, the more this theory will be confirmed.  Therefore it happens that on such heights, the vegetation decreases and in the end even ceases; one does not believe that this is only due to the sun's rays, which, of course, the higher up, the more sparse they become.  The sun acts only indirectly; it supports the light coming in from the stars, and it does so with the same light that it has taken from the same stars; it is therefore only a supporter, but not a sole donor.

The Earth’s atmosphere and precipitation (3 February 1847)

308. That the sun is easily understandable only the supporter, but not the so completely actual self-giver of the light, is easily illuminated from the fact that the sun first takes up the light from the innumerable suns on it's shining surface, and then throws it out like a united light into the wide ether spaces.  This united light of many stars, which is thrown out, meets everywhere also those rays of light which fall directly from the stars on this earth, then unites with these rays of light, and then falls together with them on the earth.  Therein lies the support, and the sole sunlight would be very dull if the light of the stars did not work with it; just as the sole light of the moon would be very dim if it were not supported by the sunlight, as the latter is supported by the starlight.

309. That one light can support the other, however, is proven to you by several lit lights in a room, which obviously spread a greater brightness than a single one.

310. At the already known altitude of the mountains, however, this support cannot be of such effect as in the lower situated region, because, as already mentioned above, the rays have not yet reached the sufficient density, which is due to the fact that the circle of air around the earth is a lenticular round transparent body, as it were like a large burning glass, in which the ray of sunlight, when it is passed through it, does not immediately get the burning intensity behind the glass, but only at that distance which is equal to half the diameter of that periphery from which the focal surface of the focal glass is taken; but the beam always comes closer together behind the focal glass, and therefore also becomes more and more effective, until it finally reaches it's fullest force at the focal distance.  The focal point of the large air-lens would be of course only in the center of the earth, where however never a sun ray reaches; but nevertheless the light ray, which falls on the surface of this large earth-lens, becomes within itself, towards the earth, as it approaches, the ever denser and more effective focal point. Objects like the mountains, come then already more into the less dense part of the light rays, than the low-lying valleys, and especially the coastal areas of the earth; therefore, the rays from the more distant stars cannot yet have any perceptible condensation there, and therefore do not yet exert any influence on the vegetation, or in other words: These rays of light do not yet form any propertya at such altitudes; therefore also those different plant species, which need such propertya, do not progress at such altitudes.

311. For this reason, however, the air at such heights is always increasingly purer in itself, which is basically quite natural; for the less mixture there is in a liquid, the purer the liquid must be in itself, just as a man always becomes purer in his heart, and fresher and stronger, the more he has banished from himself the many kinds of mixture of all kinds of passions, desires and needs.

312. But because at such heights, or rather, in these regions, the rays from the smaller stars, as even those from the sun, due to their low concentration, cannot yet have such an effect as lower down, such a region of height is, in a way, a transition point from the earlier non-effect, to it's increasing effect; or at such heights, the rays begin to concentrate, partly by their own concentration, and partly by the reflection, or those returning rays, which bounce off the earth's surface again.  Through this radiation and counter-radiation, certain evolutions are caused in the light, which in itself looks like a kind of wave. If this surging continues for a time, it also causes a propertyum for the reason that this surging is already a chemical process of light, according to your learned way of speaking; and this propertyum, which is of course a mixed variety, first appears as a high mountain fog, and if this chemical light-process is not interrupted by something, cloud masses will soon appear from the fogs in this high altitude region, which gradually become more and more dense and finally even fall to earth in raindrops, or in winter time, also in snowflakes.

313. That the rain and all these things falling from the air originate from the light, is proved by so many phenomena on the earth's surface, especially in the tropical countries, where not infrequently a rain falls which covers everything with a phosphorus-like light gleam on which it falls; even the surface of the sea often shines so strongly as if it were completely glowing, even objects which are moistened by the sea, shimmer like musty wood in the forests.

314. No less, the snow has it's own light, and clearly shows that it is a product of light.

315. In this way, seen from a natural point of view, the fog and cloud formations in our second air region come into being, whereby, of course, the mutually polar acting power of the north and south poles, which is especially active in this region, must not be disregarded; for through them, these new formations are saturated with telluric electricity, and only through this saturation do they receive that condensation, through which they are then supplied to the earth-body as a nourishment for it's plant- and animal world.

316. The saturated clouds, which have thus absorbed the telluric, usually get a dark coloration, while the unsaturated pure ones look much whiter and also lighter.  This double type of clouds then forms an opposite polarity among itself, where the saturated dark one presents itself as negative, and the unsaturated pure white, as positive.

317. It is self-evident that the negative must always draw the short straw.  For what is heavy, and always becomes heavier, must fall down; therefore also people who saturate their hearts with too much earthly negative silliness, and thereby always weigh it down more and more, and thereby also make it denser, more opaque and more unsuitable for the light, are not skilled to ascend into the kingdom of light, but thereby make it more fit and more suitable for the fall into the kingdom of darkness.

318. A common phenomenon on such heights is that people who take the trouble to climb to such a height, usually become very cheerful and happy on just such a height climbed and easily forget all the troubles they had to fight with in the depth.

319. At the same time, most of them get a strong desire to eat and drink, and only at such a height can they enjoy food without any stomach problems, which they would not even be able to look at in the depths.  The cause of this lies only in the greater purity of the air, and has a great similarity with the condition of the blessed, who may also enjoy everything, and nothing will harm them, because in the pure, everything is purified more and more, and the harmful can no longer become harmful there, where it no longer finds any further nourishment due to the lack of the propertya necessary for it.

320. This would be a sufficient representation of the second air region, which rises above 10,000 fathoms above sea level, and of course becomes purer, the further upward.  Next, therefore, we will go to the third air region and see what happens there and what this air region is useful for.

The eye of the Earth (5 February 1847)

321. The third air region rests on the second one as if someone would pour a very pure ethereal oil over pure water, where this oil then does not mix with the water, although lying just on the water surface, not impairing the purity of the water surface, but on the contrary, gives this mirror a doubly beautiful shine.  This third region of air is also like an ethereal oil; it is, in a sense, the lard with which the two lower layers of air are larded, and at the same time it is the ethereal salt which salts the lower layers of air, thus making them palatable to animals and plants.

322. All fragrances come down from this third region of air, where they are brought down by the light and salt (i.e. an ethereal salt) to be conducted into the plants themselves by the electricity accumulated near the plants, giving them the ethereal oil, and with it, the most manifold fragrances.  In some plants, this oil can be detected in very small, highly transparent resin globules with the naked eye, but very well with a microscope.

323. In a nutshell: the smell, the taste, and the manifold beautiful coloration, especially of flowers and fruits, are mainly due to this third region of the air; for the taste, the smell, as well as for the most part the beautiful coloration, are purely ethereal substances, and can therefore only have their origin from where they are closest to the ether, from which all these countless ethereal propertya-substances originate.

324. These property etheric substances take hold of each other in this third region of the air, and in a certain way form a fluid, which, however, finds it's chemical relationship in a certain way in the continuous various rays from the innumerable stars, unites with them, and comes down to the earth, and substantially fills those plants or animals which have a corresponding relationship with the various basic light-propertya- substances.

325. This third region of air also corresponds to every plant, namely to the outer part of it; this outer part of the plants is always the bud, the flower, and also the fruit, as well as the leaves and the electricity-sucking tips on them.  All these parts of the plants have an ethereally pure appearance.  This is equal to the third region of air.  For usually it is extremely delicate, subtle and tasty, in some plants, of course, it also smells disgustingly; this disgusting smell alone is only a consequence of the predominance of the inner earthly juices, which in a certain way cannot be surpassed by these pure heavenly substances.

326. In animals, the substances of this third region of the air are still more conspicuously united; but of course they are here in a certain way already second hand, therefore not so purely ethereal as in some plants, but the marrow in the head, which is usually absorbed from the air by the hair, and especially the most pure liquids in the eye, especially those under the first cornea, as well as the cornea itself, are absorbed from the air by the eyebrows and eyelids, and then conducted into the eye; and therefore this third region of air is similar to the eye in a certain way, and similar for the reason that it has this purpose for the whole earth in addition to the purposes already indicated above, which purpose the eye has with the human beings and with the animals.

327. This third region of air is therefore also so quite actually the eye of the earth; because if the earth would not have such a general seeing faculty, also no being on it would have one; because the thing is quite natural: what somebody does not have, he cannot give; but if one has it, one can give it, just as: where there is nothing, emperor and death have lost it's right.

328. But not only the earth has it's eye in this third air region, which is spread around the whole earth, but also every plant has in it's parts corresponding to this third air region, a visual faculty or in a certain way an eye, through which it receives the light into itself.  The fact that the plant certainly and definitely has an eye, or rather a peculiar visual faculty, is quite understandable from the fact that most, indeed almost all plants, turn their calyxes towards the sun in order to suck in the light from it; This truth can also be recognized from the fact that a plant which sprouts in a dark cellar, drives it's germ exactly to where there is an opening for light, and when it has found this, then it no longer bends it's head back, but continually pushes it more and more towards the brighter light.

329. Some might ask, why does the earth need a big general eye after all this?  What does it see with it, and can it get an idea of what it sees?

330. Then I say: Everything according to it's kind; the earth continuously sees the whole infinite space around itself, and this general view produces in the earth itself with all spirits dwelling in it, a general corresponding conception, from which every single spiritual being draws it's intelligence, namely that for the outer world.  But this would be impossible without the general great vision of the earth.  The earth as a body, of course, knows nothing of what it sees in it's general being; and it would also not be necessary to give the earth it's own self-aware knowledge, because it is, as we will hear in the later spiritual part, not an individually independent being, but it is an endlessly multiple being, and consists of countless individual intelligences.  But it is these intelligences which need the earth's great general eye, just as every man and every animal would see nothing with his own eye without this general earth's eye; for it is through this very eye that man sees the sun, the moon and the stars, and it will be clear that man could not possibly overlook the great sun with his small eye, if the great earth's eye did not first take a small picture of the sun, and only then feed this to the human eye.  And so nobody sees the sun, or the moon and the stars, as they are there in their peculiarity, and in their far distance, but only their images from the surface of the great general earth's eye, whose surface, as already noted once, is even more shining than the purest water surface, and therefore very suitable for the reception of the images of the great surrounding world-bodies.

331. According to this property of the earth, there have really been foolish astronomers, who assumed the sun to be at most ten miles away, and considered the sun to be a meteor, which easily circles around the earth within 24 hours; But they were led to this foolish opinion only by the appearance, according to which the image of the sun seen by you really does not stand out much further from the earth.  But this picture is not the reality, but is only a small picture of that great sun, which are situated more than 20 million miles from the earth.  At the same time, however, this eye also takes up images from the surface of the earth-body and leads them further to the other world-bodies, just as the other world-bodies also lead their surfaces through their general eye to the general eye of this earth.  From this property, especially in the tropical countries, the so-called mirage appearances are to be explained, and in the tropical countries, because there this third air region sometimes even lowers itself to under some not even very great mountain heights.  Also, the balsamic scents, which are not rare in tropical countries, especially on the mountains, are because of this third region of air which sometimes descends so low; for there you would not be able to exist because of the fragrance.

332. What other properties this third region of air has, what phenomena are still evident in it, and how it is sometimes seen from the earth, we will soon make some observations about.

The nature of fire (6 February 1847)

333. This third region of air, which, as already mentioned above, is the purest and therefore the most transparent, resting like an ethereal oil on the second region of air, has, in addition to the already mentioned properties, also this very special one, that it ignites extremely easily by some disturbance; but it is especially easily inflammable at those places where some body, e.g. a meteorolite, enters it's region, and sort of cuts through it over a considerable distance.  This ignition, however, is of a very peculiar kind, and that because no burning takes place.  It is a glow, but no burning; to explain this glow and this very special kind of ignition will be somewhat difficult for your understanding, but nevertheless we will try to make the matter as clear as possible.

334. In order to understand this particular act, something more detailed must first be said about ignition, or about the nature of ignition in general.

335. What is ignition actually?  Some people would say, of course, that if you put combustible objects on the fire or expose them to great heat, they ignite and burn afterwards; but no-one will go too far with this explanation, for the simplest kitchen maid knows that wood and other combustible objects ignite when they are put on the fire.

336. But what is the fire, which is in itself the ignition?  This can no longer be explained in any physical way, because that which is actually fire always already reaches into the purely spiritual; whether good or evil, that is all the same here.

337. In all matter there are spirits; if these are stimulated in any way, they ignite, or they come into an ever greater zeal, in which their activity and their expression of power increases.  In such a potentiation of zeal and power, there is then also an exceedingly vigorous movement, which follows one another like exceedingly rapid oscillations; Through this movement, matter is destroyed, the great zeal tears everything apart into the smallest atoms.  The spirits finally become afloat after the complete defeat of matter, and seek their freedom in the appearance of the rising column of smoke, and matter remains as ashes.

338. Therefore, the ignition is an excitation of the spiritual in the matter, and the continuation and the more and more powerful becoming of the excitation is the act of burning.  The glow of the fire lies in the exceedingly strong and fast movement of the spiritual, and the propagation of the light from the fire is also an excitation of the same spirits in the whole matter, as in the whole circle of air.  This is the act of igniting and burning.

339. But mind you, here on earth this usually happens through the agitation of even more dishonest and impure spirits; therefore the fire usually looks dirty and reddish, in a certain way still spewing fierceness and anger.

340. However, there can also be another ignition, namely through the zeal of love; however, this ignition is not destructive and corrupting.

341. Something similar to such an ignition is the re-radiation of the sunlight from the surface of the water; by the sunlight of love the peaceful spirits of the water are also very excited, but they destroy nothing in this excitement.  It is true that the whole surface of the water is ignited, and sprays far and wide the rays again from itself; but still nothing burns thereby.

342. In the same way, when the ray falls on a mirror, it ignites it; but there is no act of burning, because there is a stimulation of the good-spiritual.  If, however, a good-spiritual sunbeam of love is directed in a potentiated way to bodies which still have unethical spirituality in them, then it also ignites with the act of burning.

343. Now look, since we have discussed the act of ignition for you as comprehensibly as possible, it is now easy to explain the ignition of this etheric air-content in the third air region, when this is disturbed by a body in it's usual rest.  A meteor falling or flying through this third air sphere, naturally tears the air apart; thereby this air gets a hollow space because of the usually very fast movement of such bodies. This hollow space, however, forms a mirror surface, in which the light rays of countless stars are concentrated at that moment as in a concave mirror, or even better, as in a cylindrical mirror, and this ray reflex has, seen from the earth, the appearance of a fire; but it is by no means a fire, but merely the reflecting above-described effect of the starlight in the newly formed air cylinder mirror.

344. This phenomenon in this third region of air is therefore a very special property of this third region of air, because the same phenomenon cannot occur in the lower regions of air, because in them, the air is too heavy and collapses too quickly behind a body cutting through it, while the very light air of the third region collapses only gradually, for which reason a long kite-like tail can still be seen behind such a flying meteor.

Appearances in the third region of the air (8 February 1847)

345. All such phenomena, however, must not be regarded as completely similar, since among the luminous meteors there are also really some which ignite in such a way that with the ignition, a burning really takes place; but in spite of this, the ignition of such meteoric bodies nevertheless originates from the third air region, whereby, however, the act of burning occurs only when such a meteor of a larger diameter reaches the second, or sometimes even the first air region of the earth, and has a very fast movement.  Because a medium-fast or already more approaching a strong retardation movement, does not cause the combustible ignition.  A meteor must travel at least four to five German miles in one second if it is really to ignite combustibly; if the movement is slower, there is no ignition with associated combustion.

346. As a special phenomenon in the ignition, or even better in the glow of the meteors falling through the third air region, it is to be regarded that especially the head of such a meteor glows the most.  This glow of the head, as long as it cuts through the third air region, is quite homogeneous to the glow of it's tail; It is a concentrated ray reflex, and that because the solid body, which is also usually round, naturally separates the light ethereal air around itself, and especially at the front part of the head forms an air shell, which makes a shining surface like a concave mirror around the body, which receives the light from the luminous world bodies, and then sends it further down to earth; and if someone would throw a round stone very violently into pure water, he could make a small image of a similar appearance, because even if the stone is black, one will see it advance under the water with a completely white head. This whiteness of the head is nothing other than a water concave mirror formed by the rapid advance of the stone, which absorbs the rays falling into the water more concentrically and throws them back again.  For this very reason, the foam of the water also appears white, because the water bubbles are, in a way, like concave mirrors, which absorb a lot of rays in themselves and then let them radiate again in a more concentrated way. What the water shows here, the shining of a meteor shows there, namely nothing other than a concentrated reflex of the light.

347. However, when a meteor with a larger volume descends into the second air region, it often really ignites due to friction in the heavier layer of air.  If the movement is very fast, such a meteor can even come down to earth really burning, but this happens extremely rarely.  With a retarded movement, which is easily explainable in the denser air region, the extinction occurs soon, and the body falls down somewhere to the earth.  However, even a larger meteor moving very fast would not ignite if it had not been saturated with the very easily combustible ethereal air of the third region.  This ethereal air is then the actual combustible essence of such a meteor, when it has reached the denser air region.

348. This is now the whole of the special appearance in our third region of air, and also including the special characteristic of this very region; it is now only a question of showing how this air and the appearances occurring in it are seen from the earth.  As for how the meteors are seen, no further explanation is needed; but there are other phenomena that arise from this air, and these we must also touch so that we then know everything that belongs to the material part of the earth's body.

349. You will have often seen such completely white, fluffy so-called lamb clouds.  These clouds are extremely delicate and so transparent that they allow even the light of the stars to shine through as if almost completely unclouded.  These lamb-clouds are the highest that occur above the earth's body; these clouds are formed by a certain kind of marriage of the pure ether with the third region of air; They are actually no clouds at all, but only wave-like movements on the highest surface of the third air region, which are caused by the fact that certain light-beings begin to approach the earth through the wide ether, which light beings originate from the solar bodies in a way already known to you.  Since these substantial entities already have a certain measure of weight, they produce a wave-like movement themselves by their impact on the easily excitable surface of the third air region, which movement lets the incoming sunlight pass through no longer directly, but with some refractions; and this variable refraction on the waves of the third air region then causes just that appearance, which can be seen as white, finely woven lamb's wool clouds.

350. The fact that after such phenomena usually thunderstorms like to occur, is quite clearly caused by the arrival of foreign guests, who are asked by the spiritual earthlings in a certain way, from what country they come, and what they are doing here?  With such questions there are always some frictions and negotiations, how such new arrivals can find a place here in a way harmless for the earth.  If the new arrivals are willing to submit patiently, which is seldom the case, then the lamb clouds are not followed by a thunderstorm; but if this is not the case, then orderly power is justly used, and then that has to submit which should have submitted voluntarily before.  This would be again a peculiar phenomenon from this third region of the air, and also as it is seen from the earth.

351. Finally, however, there is another one, which is probably seen less frequently, but is nevertheless very noteworthy, because it is, so to speak, a purely spiritual phenomenon, which can nevertheless be perceived with the fleshly eye.  This phenomenon appears only in extremely warm days, and is visible in a kind of white-blue stripes; These stripes are a moment of the blessed spirits, where they meet socially in a certain way, and enjoy themselves in peace, and then further discuss what they will do, and how the offices will be submitted to new spirits for administration.  On such a day, the earth is almost deadly quiet; not a leaf stirs and not a cloud of the usual kind can be seen, and the earth is oppressively hot. But this state never lasts long.  If this session is interrupted in some way, then one notices movements again, and especially when new spirits are put in charge of the air, the mountains, the seas, etc., then it is not seldom the case that the new brooms sweep cleaner than the old ones; therefore, after such phenomena, there will soon be a lot of all kinds of winds, and the air gravity gauges will be diligently set to 'variable', and with such a phenomenon, there will be no constant weather for quite some time.

352. These above described white-blue stripes are therefore nothing other than in a certain way calmly gathered spiritual armies, namely on the surface of the third and purest air region, which can be seen in this now described way even by the fleshly eye of the human being.

353. Spiritually trained people, who has dual vision, would see more than just white-blue stripes; but such people have become even rarer in this time as the diamonds in the northern regions of the earth where they also are - but as said, extremely rare, when everything began to be modeled from iron; and when they do occur, they are small, unsightly, and thus of no particular value; or there are now desperately few Pauls and Petruses left.

354. With it, however, also the natural or material representation of the earth is at an end, and we will therefore next have our contemplation on the spiritual earth.

PART TWO

THE SPIRITUAL EARTH

The formation and purpose of matter (9 February 1847)

355. In the contemplation of the spiritual part of the earth we will, in order to instruct ourselves thoroughly, make a retrograde movement, and will not rise from the depth into the height, but from the height into the depth - which is quite in order, because one must not turn from the inside to the outside, but from the outside to the inside, in order to arrive at the actually spiritual, which is the deepest and the innermost in every thing.

356. It has been shown to you only too often that within the material, there is always the hidden spiritual, and how the actual visible matter in and for itself is basically nothing else than caught, bound and fixed spiritual; nevertheless, also here for a more thorough knowledge of it, some explanations shall follow.

357. You can look at whatever matter you like, but you will not find that it appears as completely solid; but all matter is divisible, because it consists of parts, and between these parts there are still little spaces, which are called pores by the experts of nature.

358. About the division of matter, no scholar is yet clear, and no-one can determine into which finally smallest parts matter can be divided.  Just take, for example, a granule of musk, place it in any place in a large room; in a short time, all the areas of the large room will be filled with the scent of musk, and one may leave such a piece lying around for many years, it will neither lose it's volume nor it's weight noticeably, and yet in every second, many millions of particles must detach themselves from this piece in order to continuously fill the wide rooms of the chamber with the musky scent.  A great number of similar examples could be given; only this one is sufficient for our matter, in order to see that there is certainly a definite determination about the finite divisibility of matter.  But if now it is shown that at least for your concepts all matter is divisible up to a nearly infinite minimum, then it is more than clear on the other hand that matter must necessarily be composed of parts; but who pulls these parts together and sticks them so tightly together that they finally look like a simple mass, which is sometimes more, sometimes less solid?  See, there is already the first stage on which the spiritual begins.

359. These endlessly small parts are originally nothing but only My - the Creator of all things - power of imagination; this power of ideas takes on shape, and the shape receives life from the Life of the Creator.

360. The Creator gives the newly animated form free from Himself, it's own light out of His own original Light, and with this light, which is alive, it's own intelligence, through which the newly animated form recognizes itself and becomes aware of itself as an independent being.

361. When the form has thus recognized itself, the order - a law of all existence - is given to it; with this order the innermost fire of the divinity, a spark of eternal Love; from this comes forth the will; now the newly revived form has light, self-knowledge, self-awareness, order and will, and can arrange it's will according to the order, or also act contrary to this order.

362. If a new creature thus acts and moves according to the order, then it will be strengthened like a tree and will appear as a perfectly free being in the great space of creation for eternal continuance, because all it's being is created out of Me, who surely am and will be eternally; and therefore man is a creature, because all his being is created our of Me, and his lot can be no other than My own, because his is drawn out of Me, as if someone draws water from the well, the water in the vessel is the same as the water in the well, and has the same purpose as the ground water in the well, from which it was drawn.

363. But if such a new being or creature with it's free will, does not follow the given order, then it naturally goes towards it's downfall or it's dissolution, which can be easily understood quite naturally.

364. If someone puts a plant in the ground, but does not give it moisture and sunlight and warmth, what will happen to the plant?  But suppose the plant had a free consciousness, and could take water, light and warmth, but it would not want them; what will become of it?  It will wither and perish.

365. Or someone wanted to be life-realistically portrayed by a painter, but never wants to turn his face to the painter; what kind of image will that end up being?

366. But it cannot be indifferent to Me, the Creator, whether a being, which was not merely conceived by Me like an image in the idea, but was created in the above-mentioned way out of the fullness of My divine essence, exists only for a time or eternally.  The first would obviously have to be able to destroy a part of Me, which is impossible; therefore, once it is created, it can only be created for eternities.

367. But such a creature can operate against My order, and that is just as much as to cease to be for Me in a certain way; for he who is not for Me, is against Me.  In this way, however, an opposing force and power potency would form next to Me in the course of time, which would oppose My free activity, which in other words would mean nothing else than that I, the highest perfection, would have to be imperfect Myself in order to tolerate an imperfection next to Me.

368. In order to control this highest evil, a creature, which does not want to conform to My given order, is immediately captured, and is fixed to a point and to a place; and behold, this fixation is what you know, see and feel as matter.

369. In the endless many particles of matter lies the endless intelligence of the newly created, but are now basically imprisoned beings, whose intelligence can never perish; but it is fixed, and turned away from the sun of the spirit, until it has reached that maturity, like a mirror, which receives the light of the sun until the sun turns it back and makes it blind for everything else, and is finally only able to receive the light of the sun.  Towards the outside, of course, the mirror becomes more and more dull, and it's matter becomes looser and more porous, but this matter becomes more and more capable of receiving the image of the sun in all it's dissolved parts, even if highly rejuvenated; and this is actually the good transition, that such a being begins to receive the divinity in all it's parts, and not only in one single part. And so it is not enough that someone says: Lord, Lord! - but he must have absorbed the Lord into all the fibers of his life; only then is he ready to return to the place from whence he came.

370. For this reason, all matter must finally be dissolved again into the most minute, so that there is no particle left that would not be able to take up the image of the eternal sun; and in this taking up of the eternal archetype is then again the new creation, in which the endless intelligences of a being, which had been imprisoned before, but have now become free again, seize each other again, go back into the first archetype, and become again what they should have become already in the original beginning.

371. From this preliminary guidance it will surely be clear to you that in matter, there cannot possibly be anything other than only spiritual; and we can now wander over and into the spiritual earth on well-enlightened paths.

The spirits of the uppermost region of the air

372. Let us first turn to the uppermost region of the air and see what spiritual beings are at home there and how they rule and reign.

373. In this region there are already purely perfect spirits, and all were formerly physical people on the earthly body.  They already enjoying continuous light, for it naturally never becomes completely dark at such a height; but in the spiritual nature, there is already a continuous, uninterrupted day; For this third region already attests to a third, quite purely spiritual stage, while the second region is not yet pure, and is exposed to very frequent turbidities; still more, however, the first or lowest air region, in which, as it were in the first stage, good and evil undulate among themselves like cabbage and turnips.

374. We now know that the purest spirits of this earth are at home in the third region, but why?  What are they doing there?

375. No spirit that passes from this outer natural earth, however perfected, into the spiritual one, can immediately ascend into the actual great kingdom of heaven, and this not, for the sake of it's final perfection, because something still remains in the earthly body, which it can only absorb little by little; Only when he has absorbed into his being the last remnant of what belonged to him, ennobled and spiritualized, can he leave this region and enter a real first stage of the Kingdom of Heaven.

376. The spirit in and for itself as the original principle of life out of Me, certainly does not need anything out of the earthly body for it's perfection, but it's formal entity, which is the soul, this must unite again in itself up to the last atom, what was once given to it out of the endless fullness of My idea forming it. This given consists of the endless many particles of intelligence, which naturally cannot be made agile all at once when the human being dies.  There are parts of his body and propertya, which he breathed in and out during his life, also all waste of his body, his tears, also other ejections of his body, even his clothes, his dwelling; In short, everything that he has at some time produced and done by his power, all this must be absorbed by the psyche in time as a kind of purified psychic property, so that the spirit then has in itself a complete contemplation and through this contemplation, a clearest recollection of all that has happened with his complete being, and how the whole long way was constituted, on which he has reached again his most primal perfection.

377. But the spirit could not get this kind of special recollection, if everything would not be taken up into it's psychic being, which originally belonged to it's being, and which it had acquired on this long, circular way.  That is why it is also said that all the hairs on the head are counted, and only he who walks according to My teaching, gathers; but he who acts otherwise, scatters.  So the spirit must still wait a while until all that is his has been absorbed by his being.

378. But how does the spirit recognize its own?  That lies already in the eternal order.  As every grass finds it's property from the endless propertyal mixture exactly, the spirit finds it's own even more exactly.

379. But what does the spirit do in the meantime?  He acts according to the laws of love, and thus rules in this region, and causes by his presence and by his loving action that this third air is there, and he firstly arranges and organizes the ways for those who come up as newcomers into this region, and assigns to them a place and activity; then he instructs the already purer spirits in the lower region; and when there is friction and turbulence, he descends as a peacemaker, like all of his kind, and works energetically.

380. But when foreign spirits from other world-bodies arrive here, he tests them, and if he finds them capable, he leads them down to earth on the right ways, is present at the procreations through his influence, and helps such newly arrived spirits on the way of the flesh of this earth, and then also sees to it that these spirits are carried out exactly those testing ways in the flesh, which ways they have decided to walk elsewhere to become children of the Lord.

381. In this third region, the so-called guardian spirits of people, well known to you, walk and live. However, these pure spirits are not yet the sole rulers, nor can they be, because they still lack the perfect knowledge in many things for the above-mentioned reasons; Therefore, perfect angelic spirits are constantly above and below them, who always give these spirits the right instructions what they have to do and to arbitrate.  But for the spirits of this third region, this very third region is a glorious paradise, where they have everything that can ever please their hearts in the love of God.

382. There are marvelous regions, which, however, depend on the nature of the spirit; for there every spirit already becomes the creator of it's own grounds and the region in which it is at home.  This region is exceedingly rich in fruit, and rich in all things;  the spirit enjoys everything there in abundance, and hunger for anything, is far from him; And, see, it is precisely in this enjoyment that the spirit gradually absorbs all that still remains of it's essence on earth; and these fruits and the regions are formed kind of in a reflective way ascending from earth in this third region psychically property, and the spirit recognizes them as what is it's own, and absorbs them into it's cognition, and only then comes out of this cognition into a formal sight of what is it's own, and then also enjoys it and absorbs it completely into his being. When he has absorbed all this, and he owes nothing more to the earth and it to him, then he has reached his complete solidity and can be taken up to the higher perfection into the kingdom of heaven.

383. However, there can also be spirits who still have some things belonging to them in other world-bodies for reasons already known to you; these then also ascend to the spheres of those world-bodies from where they either got their main propertyum or where they once already lived physically, in order to also fetch there what belongs to them; But all this on the way of love, which alone is the attracting principle; and all this must happen through free choice, in which every spirit strives to gather in itself what is Mine and then to return it to Me completely in it's great love for Me.

The dwelling and bliss of the pure spirits (11 February 1847)

384. In the bringing back, and indeed in the perfect bringing back, lies precisely the former perfect, most perfect and all-perfect degree of blessedness; but it is not demanded or required of the spirit with regard to the bringing back of all that belonged to it's being, that it should bring back, in a certain way, on it's own account, what was given to it originally and during it's whole journey.

385. Whatever concerns his body and it's predecessors, in general everything property, he receives in the orderly chronological order without his doing; but it is different with regard to his ability to take up again everything that once belonged to his being.  About this ability he will be called to account for in a certain way, and that because every spirit can and should acquire such ability from the precepts of pure religion. Whoever does not want to be active, and buries his talent, and prefers to settle for what is of the flesh rather than what is of the spirit, must then ascribe to himself when he is judged by the Word that was given to him from the heavens as a faithful guide as to how he should gather life again and bring it back to where he originally came from.

386. That is why the already purified spirits have to stay in this third region for a longer time in order to absorb their psychic propertys, or to put it more in German [English - tr], because they have to wait in the third region until their earthly things have decayed in a certain way and have passed over from the decay into their soul; This is not to be regarded as a punishment, but as the same necessity as the duration of the life of the body on earth, which must also last a certain time, shorter for some, longer for others, so that during this lifetime, the spirit may gain time to develop and manifest itself more and more in it's essence.

387. Who could claim that someone has to give an account of the time he has spent on earth in the body; for this is a necessity and lies outside the sphere of will of the spirit, just as no-one will have to give an account of how long his hair has grown or the nails on his finger, just as not about the pulsations of his heart and about how often he has drawn breath; for all this is, as I said, a necessity.  The account, or rather the judgment, lies only in the active will; everything else is indifferent and is completely in order, and gives itself freely, if only the will was brought into order according to the pure knowledge of My divine will.

388. If sometimes such pure spirits stay in this third region for several hundred years, they not only lose nothing, but they can only gain; because they firstly do lose nothing at all, they are extremely happy and blissful.  But as far as their ever-increasing intelligence is concerned, this is obviously a constant gaining, and the more they gain there, the more perfectly they will return to their finite and eternal destiny.  If they have only a little business to manage, and have made it their own to administer it properly and wisely, they will one day be all the more fit to administer great things, where they, as angelic spirits, will have to exercise their power spiritually not only over individual parts of a world-body, but with one glance over whole world-bodies, yes, over whole worlds and sun regions, and from there through and through into matter; and this certainly requires more than just monitoring individual areas here, and that under the direction of the angelic spirits, to whom this entire earth is entrusted to monitor from the center, up to the sun.

389. Yes, My beloved ones, while you see little or nothing with your eyes, there are great things going on, and it is like a wise man once said: Between the earth and the sun there are things going on of which human reason had not yet imagined.

390. These pure spirits not infrequently descend to the second, and sometimes also to the first region; but mainly those places on earth are their visible places of abode which, because of their considerable height, are perpetually covered with snow and ice; and therein lies the reason why such regions have, as you like to say, a magical, soothing and at the same time exhilarating, strengthening and calming attraction for almost every human being.  Whoever is sad of heart and full of restlessness in his mind, let him go to such a height in My name, or at least go near it, and his mind will be poured over as with a strengthening balm.

391. While the mind in the lower regions always becomes duller, more heavy and suffering, similar to the feeling of a climber of mountain gorges and caves, the feeling of one who has climbed to such a purer height becomes more and more cheerful, and whoever comes up there may exclaim: 'Lord, it is good to be here'! But then I say to this, it is not yet time for you to stay here.  But I nevertheless say:

392. Go gladly to the mountains.  For I also, when I walked in the body on earth, often went on mountains; on a mountain I was transfigured; on a mountain I drove the greatest tempter away; on a mountain I preached the kingdom of heaven; on a mountain I prayed, and on a mountain, I was crucified! Therefore, go gladly to the mountains, for not only your spirit, but also your body will gain more from them than from a hundred pharmacies.

393. In this way, however, we have also passed through the third spiritual region of the earth, and only a few things remain to be mentioned about it, and these few things consist in the fact that the new arrivals of the pure spirits initially reside where they dwelt on earth during their lifetime; but when they have already become more perfect, then their sphere of action extends over all points of the earth; The strongest, however, guard the polar regions, and the softer, gentler and weaker ones the tropical regions of the earth, and those who are very activ,e guard the sea, the lakes and the rivers; and the beginners are entrusted with larger or smaller mountains to watch over, and everything that is there.

394. You may also note that the female spirits mostly supervise the plant life, and also exercise influence on the entire vegetation of the earth's surface.

395. Now that we also know this, we can already descend into the second air region, where it is already much more colorful than in the third, peaceful region; next then, to the second region.

The spirits of the second region of the air (13 February 1847)

396. In the same way as in a human being, there is a transition from the purely spiritual into the spiritual, in the same way there is also a transition between the highest and the middle region, and the two regions behave like soul and spirit.  The spirit acts into the soul, and can penetrate it, but the soul can never step beyond the barriers of the spirit, but must be there to be penetrated by the spirit, while the spirit is not there to be penetrated by the soul; but the soul can be taken up by the spirit where it itself becomes spiritual.

397. In the same way also the spirits of the second region can pass over into the third, if their souls or in a certain way their substantial bodies spiritualize more and more and become completely one with the spirit.  The soul for itself as a compendium of innumerable substantial particles of intelligence, is therefore also stuffed with all kinds of drives, which it contains as propertya in itself.

398. If here and there one or the other propertyum becomes more prominent, then all other propertya incline to the point where such a propertyal eminence occurs.  Such an inclination then causes some passion in the soul; But this passion can be exchanged with another one as soon as some other property point of intelligence of the soul appears as outstanding, and in a way overpowers and outshines all other property points of intelligence of the soul, and makes them inclined to itself.

399. It is easy for everyone to see from this description how many a soul, in which the spirit is not awake, is driven from one pole to the other by innumerable passions and desires.  But what appears in the soul concentrated in one being as in one point, is generally the case in our second region all the more, because there live only souls in which the spirit is not yet completely awake.  One soul has this main instinct, another has another, and millions of souls have millions of different inclinations and instincts; one wants to fight, another to have rest; one seeks nothing but the secrets of creation, another botanizes; another again makes continuous journeys, and so each of the millions has an instinct of a different kind.

400. What a colorful turmoil of souls must therefore come together in this second region, and what innumerable, most diverse phenomena must be brought about there, which phenomena must finally pass over, as it were condensed, into the natural world visible to fleshly eyes; and so it is.  All the most diverse cloud formations, and still an innumerable quantity of other phenomena in this middle region, originate from it, and there no day and no night brings completely again the same in the form, what was already once there.

401. Just look at the cloud formation once a day and draw it; you may well compare the new cloud formations with the one you once drew every day for a hundred years and much longer, and you will never see it again in the same way as it was once there.  So you will also discover a lot of other phenomena, which always remain the same according to the type, but never according to the form, and there is not one snowflake completely like the other, and no raindrop is the same size as the other, and when it hails, compare once two hailstones, whether they are completely similar to each other.  There will be a difference both in shape and in weight.  Ice will indeed be ice.  But the way in which the ice is formed is just as unequal as the passionate forms of the soul-beings are unequal.  But this can already be seen on this earth's surface with still living people.

402. Just look at the houses in a city; they are all the same in kind, they must have walls, windows and a roof; but you will not easily meet any two houses that are completely similar to each other, one is a little higher, the other a little lower, one is colored this way, the other that way, and so an innumerable amount of differences.

403. This difference in design comes from the different inclinations of the soul of the one who built one house or the other.  So also every man has a different garment, and no tailor makes it the same as another.  And so there is also a great diversity in other artistic products of people; everyone who has learned to write, has a peculiar script that has nothing in common with the other, since certainly no stroke fits the stroke of the other.  The design is therefore different everywhere, even if the type remains the same.

404. Or let several equally skilled painters paint one and the same object; each of them will hit it, but the way of representation, i.e. the form, will be completely different everywhere.  Or give ten composers one and the same poem, and let each of them set music to it in his own way; then it will be quite striking how each of them has found a completely different melody for the poem.

405. All these differences in the formal representation, lie in the innumerable different propertya- points of intelligence in the soul.  Depending on the predominance of one or the other of these points, the way of acting of the soul is also directed.  So there is a different wind blowing all the time; There, new phenomena appear all the time, and what has already existed never finds a perfect repetition, especially there least of all, where the producing intelligences are not under any positive judgment, which is just the case with the souls of man, because they have to work their way back into the original freedom; but there is a difference between a soul that has left and a soul that is still living in the body:

406. The soul in the still living body can wander through a lot of passions, and so the human being has almost every day another one; today he feels and thinks like this, and makes himself this or that resolution; tomorrow this is as if wiped away, and he already acts again according to another intellectual substantive-propertya soul emphasis.  Today someone is generous, every poor person would have it good, if he would come to him today; tomorrow a miserly emphasis appears in place of this liberal one, and tomorrow every beggar is repugnant to the today generous one, and he even regrets his previous day's liberality.

407. But with the separated soul it is different; with it, usually only one main passion appears, and dominates the soul always more and more, and pulls gradually all intelligence particles into it's area; therefore also Paul says: As the tree falls, so it remains lying; which does not mean that an isolated soul is in a certain way incorrigible, but only that it remains trapped in one of it's main passions until this has in a certain way consumed all other propertya intelligence particles, which then causes a great poverty of the soul, and this then passes over into a state of dying, where it is as if completely naked and in night and fog.  Only in this degradation can the spirit become free and begin to penetrate it's soul, and this is then the transition from the second to the third region.  But before this state has not occurred, the spirit cannot spread and cannot penetrate the soul, because it's propertya are still too material and therefore still too unspiritual.

408. Since in this way, a multitude of differently tuned souls come together in the second region, where each of them carries it's main passion within itself, and lives and works according to it - then, according to this easily comprehensible principle, it is exceedingly easy to see that the phenomena, which have their origin in this diversity of souls, must also appear very differently in form.  Therefore every lightning has a different zigzag, therefore every cloud and every little cloud has a different shape and movement; therefore winds criss-cross, and for this very reason soon a cloudburst, soon a downpour, soon hail, soon a downpour of dust, soon large, soon medium, soon small snowflakes, and a thousand similar phenomena more, occur exceedingly frequently, especially in the tropical regions and in the polar countries of the earth.

409. This, then, is a necessary general introduction; next, we will consider the matter more propertyally.

The activities of the spirits in the second region of the air (15 February 1847)

410. Here the question can be raised right at the beginning: Is the spirit being of this second region good or evil, and is it ascending or descending?

411. This question is just answered sufficiently clearly by some special considerations of the spirit being in the second region, and everybody will be able to find out easily what is either good or bad about it, and where it goes.

412. This second region is most like the earthly life of people on this surface of the earth; there is a continuous running to and fro, a gathering of like-minded people, war, murder, capture, defeat, passing through, stealing and robbing, doing evil, doing good again.  All this can be had in this second region; it is the real battleground of the spirits; hence mountains, which are mostly in this region, usually look highly destroyed, like a fortress that has withstood several years of siege.

413. Already the sight of these heights sufficiently shows how quarrelsome and militant it is in this region; however, there is also a freedom like nowhere else; and that because precisely there is the preparation place where the spirits are prepared either for heaven, but sometimes also for hell; For the soul and spirit of every deceased person comes immediately after death into this region, in which he lives on just as he lived on earth; he enjoys full freedom and naturally seeks out his equals there; There are then united gatherings, and where several are once together in an association, plans are soon made as to how this or something else could usually be achieved by force or by cunning.

414. Among such associations there are also traitors who betray a plan of their association to another more powerful association; when two associations or sometimes even several come to know each other's plans through the traitors, there are already armaments going on which can be seen in the natural world as ever increasing cloudiness.  It does not take long and the fierce armies move out against each other; unfortunately, above them are the all-seeing mighty peace-spirits; These descend, capture the fierce armies so completely alone and throw them down to earth, where it then takes a while until they have, so to speak, picked themselves up again and gathered strength and courage, in order to return again little by little very quietly to where they have been thrown out and down like a bad guest from a host, which, however, does not appear in the spiritual sphere in the same way as it appears here in the material world, but so, as if here such a true riffraff is caught and bound by the police station, and then locked up in a proper arrest.  The detention is the matter in which they are recaptured, and the police station is the peace-spirits from the third region.  When after such a strong rebuke the spirits humble themselves, and through this humiliation are brought into the position to be able and to want to pronounce My name, and to seek help, rescue and salvation in this name, then such spirits are immediately welcomed by the peace-spirits in an extremely friendly way and are led straight into the third region, and there, of course, they are also initially accommodated in this region, where they then already live continuously in contact with these pure spirits and from there ascend higher and higher according to the degree of increase of love for Me and My order.

415. Such an act can also be seen from the natural world, namely in the not infrequently occurring phenomenon of the disappearance of clouds from the firmament; where, on the contrary, when evil gatherings are in the offing, clouds suddenly begin to form freely on the firmament, especially around the tops of high mountains, where previously, the purest air could still be seen.

416. This appearance is due to the fact that such spirits always become more and more passionate, whereby they materialize more and more in the same degree, the more combined and crowded together the evil passions rise in them; for all matter is most distant and farthest from Me, and is in itself nothing but the imprint of the most perverse passion.

417. Accordingly, when a spirit is again captured by the passionate nature of it's soul, it moves away from Me; and the more it moves away from Me, the more clumsy and material it becomes, until at last it even becomes visible in the material world under some material form corresponding to it's passion, where he then soon is thrown down as too heavy for this second region like a captured coarse-material body by his own heaviness, which is according to the will of the peace-spirits, as it is according to Mine; because My will is the actual heaviness of all bodies.

418. That such spirits then often remain completely material, and out of their own evil will prefer to inhabit heaps of dirt, the filthiest animals and ugliest plants, rather than to humble themselves, is testified to by many examples at all times, and good management must be applied here, so that such thrown down devils does not throw itself in it's malice on noble fruits and noble animals; for if that were to happen, fruit and animal would be destroyed.

419. The previous year's potato plague has a completely similar origin; if sometimes grain and wheat fields suddenly become gangrenous, then this is again a fruit which materially came to light through the possession of such evil spirits.  Not infrequently, such fiends also throw themselves over all kinds of animals, and soon there is a kind of epidemic among them; Even the fish in the water are not spared from them.  Thus, the actual plague, as well as other epidemic diseases in humans, are usually a consequence of such evil spirits, which take possession of the human bodies and by this possession, destroy the body in one way or another, which destruction is easily followed by natural death, if such property means are not applied in My name, to which such devils must give way.

420. Now you already know many things about whether these spirits are good or evil, and where they go, and how.  But so that you also understand quite obviously how such spirits with their intelligence can let themselves be banished into seemingly dead matter and how they take possession of it demonically in a certain way, we will make more property observations about this in the near future.

The possession of matter by spirits (16 February 1847)

421. Of course, it is difficult to imagine that in a raindrop, in a snowflake, in a hailstone, or even in a little cloud, one or more spirits should be gagged and pressed together in a certain way, and in such a volume they should get a weight by which they can easily fall down or be thrown down; but a closer description will make the matter quite clear to you, and will show you how the matter is possible.

422. You should not think that the spirit with it's soul is crumpled like a sheet of paper until it finally looks like a somewhat clumsy ball.  That is by no means the case; The human form of the spirit remains intact, only the soul, and also not it's form, but it's essence, are compressed in the region of the heart, and then come into appearance in this compression, depending on whether it is more or less violent, under the above-mentioned meteoric formations.

423. So you don't have to imagine that in a hailstorm, some whole spirit with it's soul falls down crooked, but only it's material desires; these are finally pushed together by the peace-spirits of peace because of their material sensuality, and become material and heavy.  But since these are a living member of the spirit and it's soul, then the spirit with it's soul itself is pulled with this it's newly formed material emphasis where this must take it's necessary direction because of it's material quality.

424. In order to present the matter still more clearly to you, we want to present a picture which you can easily understand; think of a human form which would be assembled from the so-called gold-beater's sheets, as it were, to an air balloon which could be filled with hydrogen gas just like another ball, and if it were filled, it would have a human form, and would surely ascend immediately into the higher regions of the air.  If, however, this balloon-man, filled with hydrogen gas, would suddenly get a compression of the hydrogen gas, then a possible water bulge would naturally become heavy and, due to it's weight, would naturally fall down to earth; but since it is not outside, but inside our balloon-man, who has lost the necessary expansion due to this inner compression of the hydrogen gas, then this balloon man with his heavy water bulge, will also be pulled down to earth again.  The form of this balloon-man has lost nothing, except that it has shrunk here and there and has become leaner in a certain way, but could no longer maintain itself in the high air region because of it's newly formed center of gravity; but when on the earth below, i.e. on the material ground, the compressed water bulge dissolves again into the previous gas by a new heat, then the balloon-man will rise again.

425. Behold, this is - although quite material, but nevertheless correspondingly representing the spiritual - a quite well-fitting picture, from which you can see how the spiritual man whose soul is a spiritual balloon-like outer form, condenses in his inner being, thereby becomes heavy, and takes his direction from his height to real matter, where, however, this material condensation of his sensual desires is soon dissolved again by the fire of his love awakened in humility, and he then, more humbled, ascends again generally to where his being's appropriate place is.

426. Very evil-minded people are often condensed to stones and fall down as such, where the dissolution takes much longer than if this condensation enters the material existence only under the appearance of meteors mentioned above.  Some, however, are kept for long even under the above appearance, which are brought to fall over high mountains and especially over the polar regions of the earth; only these must be already very particularly evil-minded spirits, in whom much arrogance prevails, which naturally already carries the infernal in itself.

427. What happens to the spirits after such lessons, will be shown more clearly by the follow-up, but for now it is enough that you get as clear an idea as possible of how and why behind the natural phenomena that are visible to the fleshly eye, there is always something spiritual - so we will soon make several considerations about this how and why.

Nature spirits and human souls (18 February 1847)

428. Rain falls to the earth in drops, sometimes smaller, sometimes larger, as does snow; the same is found with hail, where sometimes only tiny grains fall down, but sometimes they are as heavy as a pound, and on high mountains sometimes even as heavy as a centner, and usually in an exceedingly large number, which may sometimes be so large that it would hardly be pronounceable.  Then we can ask: how, if every drop of rain, every snowflake, or every hailstone draws a spirit with it, where does such an immense number of spirits come from?  And when it rained and snowed and hailed in Adam's time, from where did the spirits come then, if no-one died on earth from the number of people?  But who would look at the matter from this point of view, he would have to fall into a far greater error, than about the size of the whole earth.

429. As far as the spirits of the deceased from the earth are concerned, they can participate in such results, which have to be exercised on those spiritual beings, which first start the migration through the flesh. Therefore, when it snows, there are always spiritual potencies in the snowflakes, i.e. newly arriving spirits, which associate with the souls liberated from the earth and begin to join them in the journey through the realm of natural phenomena.

430. These are therefore not spirits of deceased people, but they are in a certain way new arrivals, or if one would like to say still more characteristically, they are new emergences from the long sleep of the earthly matter.

431. But also spirits of deceased people, which do not want to put up with the progressive order, can be pushed back in the same way, which the new emergences have to go.  The new ones, however, remain in the earth and have to go their certain way there; the spirits of the deceased, on the other hand, return after a short period of humbling, which can already be seen in the natural world.  For when it rains, the rain penetrates into the earth and is eaten there by plants and animals, as well as by minerals; but here and there, either during the rain or after it, one can see whitish mists rising and moving upward, especially in higher regions.  This is of course the smallest part of such a rainfall, which rises again in these mists back to the heights.  But this is also that smallest part of the spirits, which come from deceased people, compared to the large part of those spirits, which arrive newly.

432. In appearance, there is no difference at all; but in the manner in which the appearance is effected, and how the spiritual being binds itself to the appearance, there is an exceedingly great difference.  In the case of the newly arriving spirits and new spiritual emergences, the spiritual as well as the psychic is still completely enclosed in matter; Matter is not an inner center of gravity that comes to appearance and pulls down the spirit, like the water blob in our balloon-man; but the spiritual as well as the soul is still very fragmented, so that hardly in a million raindrops, snowflakes or hailstones the essence of a single spirit and it's soul is completely sown into the earth; Whereas with an already complete spirit, it is a completely different case - since with him, only his material desires and inclinations are pressed together in such a material form into one, and then for a short time share the very bitter lot with those spiritual potencies which under the above appearances, begin the great circle to their becoming free.

433. It would be very difficult to determine in which raindrop or in which snowflake a natural or an already all-natural spirit fell down, because the outer appearance is the same; but that approximately can be considered as something, if either the raindrops, snowflakes or even hailstones are bigger and weightier. In such a large hailstorm there is not seldom a humiliated spirit, which has already gone through it's earthly course; but what the smaller phenomena are, these are all so-called nature spirits, of which there must of course be an unspeakably large number, because they are not as a whole, but come to earth divided into an infinite number of spiritual-property particles, the same as never a whole soul with all it's spiritual propertys emerges from earth, but always divided in the highest degree, and why then actually so divided?

434. This division has a doubly important reason: The first lies in the original spiritual being itself, where every spirit has divided and torn itself to infinity by it's desire to become great; And the second reason lies in this, because by this very division, such a primordial spirit has quite naturally weakened itself to the last drop of it's strength, due to which weakening it could then also never carry out it's arrogant plans.

435. Such a scattering of the spirit is similar to the Babylonian confusion of languages; as the peoples had to scatter there, so a spirit had to scatter it's concepts, so that it could never grasp a full thought, still less any plan.

436. For this reason Satan is still today most eagerly endeavoring to recapture in the individual human beings and spirits his own archetype in one, in order to thereby attain that power which was his own in the beginning.

437. But so that he can never reach this power, he is divided and scattered through the whole creation, and his spiritual was turned into material, from which now the soul of every man emerges, into which soul a new spiritual is breathed, so that from every such part, a whole being emerges.  This being is like the original being, which wanted to rise above God through it's hope or expansion of ideas, but thereby in a certain way broke itself apart and split into infinite parts, so that nothing remained of it but it's ego, and with it, it's fundamentally evil will; But all his abilities, all his ideas and innumerable conceptual perfections, have been taken from him - and these are just now, which continually reach the world bodies, and for the most part are already present banished in the world bodies themselves, and thereby divide into soul and spiritual, since in the soul, the given I and the self-awareness emerge again from matter, and in the spiritual, the knowledge of God is implanted again into the soul, without which the soul, like the plant without rain and sunshine, would soon wither and die.

438. In the plant, as you know, the spiritual life emerges first; this cannot progress if it does not receive spiritual nourishment from the air.

439. From this it is obvious how and why so many spiritual things come down to earth in the phenomena described above; and it can also be easily understood that it is not necessary for the multiplicity of these phenomena that so many people must have already lived on earth, but it is evident that very many will still live on it.  But when once all spiritual and soul-things of this earth will be exhausted, then in the place of the natural, a perfect spiritual earth will be established, which will no longer consist of banished, but of free spirits and souls.

440. That the earth now consists of only banished souls and spirits, is not only shown by the daily recurring meteoric phenomena, but it is also shown especially for those simple people who have the ability to see spiritual and psychic things, those often countless armies of water-, earth-, mountain- and air-spirits, which have still been seen at all times by one or the other.

441. The learned world, of course, does not see such things; but it also does not see many other things that would be even closer and more necessary to it than to see such spirits banished in the earth's matter.  But whether belief or non-belief among the worldly scholars, the primeval things still remain as they are, and the bird can master the air today as it did ages ago, although it never took the strict examinations in aerostatics at a Parisian university.

442. Thus, even today, there are still a lot of very simple people who, in their simplicity, see more and often know more than a whole learned faculty.  There sure are also better scholars, who at least do not doubt this; but still only a few can see it.

443. To this we can add many useful observations, from which it will be very easy for us to have an overview of the whole of the rest of the spiritual world at a glance.  Following, a few more observations of this kind, and some interesting things to think about.

Air spirits, mountain spirits, and wanderer spirits (19 February 1847)

444. The little mists that develop here and there, especially on high stone mountains, soon above one or the other rocky ridge, are - if no rain has gone before or also no snow and the like - mostly nature spirits, which do not come from deceased people, but can become human souls and spirits only after some time.

445. These spirits, which so readily rise into the air, and sometimes even cover it completely, are the so-called air-spirits, which already enjoy more freedom than the firmer earth-spirits, but nevertheless in this their free state, must be most carefully supervised by the pure peace-spirits, otherwise they could easily do some great harm.

446. These spirits are seldom seen by people, and the spirits also prevent this most carefully, because they have a great fear of everything that is called matter, but especially from  those with whom they sense a strong perceptive faculty; this very fear, however, also instills in them a kind of hatred against matter, in which they were imprisoned for so long, for which reason then a careful supervision of these spirits is very understandable; because every spirit, if it once got rid of the matter, is not to be brought near matter at any price.  Even the spirits of dead people have a great disgust for it, although a perfect intelligence is present with them; How great is the shyness of those spirits towards matter, who only a few moments ago, by special admission, have arrived at the required freedom from the bonds of the hardest imprisonment, in which they pretended to be perfect, without going through the fatal and tediously long way of the flesh.

447. Such a desire is granted to them, but usually they do not keep their word; for these spirits, out of disgust and hatred for matter, either become vicious and vengeful, or they gather together by the millions and want to escape into the vast infinity.  The malicious and vengeful ones are captured again and brought down to earth under the above meteoric phenomena, where they are immediately instructed to work in the plant regions; but if they do not feel like it, they are driven into the phenomena of water, into streams, rivers, lakes and seas, where they then, as you already know, not seldom do their manifold mischief.  But if they have become extremely wicked and have united with the harsh spirits of the sea, it can even happen - and happens quite often - that such wicked patrons are driven back into the bowels of the earth, which is a most unfortunate fate; If, however, these spirits are industriously engaged in the operation of plant growth, they can either enter the path of the flesh, or after a certain period of service - which can extend up to two hundred years at the longest and somewhat beyond - they can return to their previous free state, in which free state they can then inhabit either the air, the mountains, the earth, forests and sometimes also lakes and rivers.

448. This kind of spirits then has a perfect intelligence; they are extremely knowledgeable in the things of nature, and can see and hear everything that happens on earth and what is talked about there.

449. These spirits can even deal with people and sometimes render them decisive services, only everyone must beware of approaching them in anything; for there they easily become embittered, and can do significant harm to the one who had embittered them, and that because, although they inhabit matter, they are nevertheless mortal enemies thereof.

450. Areas in which they prefer to live must be remote and quiet; in such an area it is also not advisable for anyone to shout loudly, to whistle, still less to curse and scold, because thereby the spirits still trapped in matter, could be stimulated and become rebellious, which could then bring harm to those who have already become freer in their concepts.

451. In order to prevent this, they try to frighten the hikers in such areas by all kinds of phenomena, so that they will want to vacate such an area as quickly as possible; they are especially hectic in the tunnels and shafts, where they have often caused the greatest accidents for those working in the mountains.  Here and there a sudden collapse of shafts and tunnels, evil air in them, often sudden floods, disappearance of metal veins and other such crazy things, are all the work of such spirits; just as on high mountains also landslides and great snow avalanches are mostly accomplished by these devils.

452. If these spirits are sometimes benevolent to people in some way, or at least do not intend to do them any harm, they usually appear in a dwarf form, either in a very dark, gray, blue or green color.  This small form indicates that they lower themselves to the people in order to do them good, because they in some way pity the banished spirit in them; But when a man then behaves improperly against such spirits, then they not seldom grow to a tremendously gigantic size, in which form it is then no longer good to stay near them, and without invocation of My name, certainly not.

453. But that such spirits do exist, has already been stated in the last communication; the only question now is whether such spirits will also pass through the way of the flesh or not?

454. If they show themselves very useful and active on earth, the flesh can be forgiven them on earth; but for this they come either to the moon or to another planet, where they must nevertheless accept an incarnation and also usually accept it more willingly, because the incarnation on the other world bodies, is usually more fleeting and easier.

455. These spirits are then usually called wandering spirits, in that they move from one planet to another, in with which wandering not seldom also spirits of deceased people join their cause - to which especially the so-called natural philosophers and astronomers profess - to whom these wandering spirits, which were not incarnated on earth, usually render desirable services; For the spirits of the deceased could not see anything on the other world-bodies without the help of these wandering nature spirits; but these nature spirits help them to the way into the people of other world-bodies, and make that such spirits can then see the things on the foreign world-bodies through the eyes of these people.

456. When such nature spirits get tired because of the lengthy journey, then it usually happens that they return to the earth again, and then put up with the difficult incarnation, without which the childhood of God is never to be thought of; For everyone who wants to become a child of God, must also go the way of God from A to Z, for which reason - as has already been made known to you - spirits from countless other world bodies penetrate to earth to go through the incarnation of the Son of Man; For as there is only one God, one truth and one life, so there is also only one way to Him, from which it is not a necessary consequence that therefore all inhabitants of other world-bodies must make this way in order to be blessed in their kind; just as there can also be an innumerable amount of other healthy nerves and fibers in a human body without them being nerves and fibers of the heart.

457. Through this contemplation and memorable introduction, everyone will surely already find his way quite easily in the second spiritual region; next, therefore, only a few memorable little historical tales, and then quickly down into the first aerial region.

About witches and witch trials (22 February 1847)

458. There will hardly be a person who has never heard of the so-called witches; for it is not so long ago that the courts still held witch trials, and under this name transported a large number of the most innocent people from this world into the other world with the most painful death.

459. But how did mankind come to witches?  We want to answer this question with a few little stories.

460. In earlier times, when people lived much more simply than now, there were often those who had the so-called second sight and lived naturally in both worlds.  People in this time could easily get there if their food were simpler, but the present complicated food is mostly harmful to them.  With this fare they so bungle and stultify their nature that in itself, the soul becomes entangled and agglutinated like a bird under the spindles of glue, so that it cannot possibly attain to that agility and dexterity in which a free upward and outward flight would be possible for it.

461. What, then, was the diet of those earlier plain people?

462. The food consisted mostly of pulses, which were cooked very simply, softly, somewhat salted and then never eaten hot;  so was also simple bread, milk and honey also an ancient simple food, with which the people mostly reached a very high age, and were continuously in possession of the second sight until the last moment of their lives.

463. Everyone can enjoy wine moderately now and then, but never so much that he would feel intoxicated.

464. Meat dishes should be eaten only at certain times, and never more than seven days in succession, very moderately, and always from freshly slaughtered animals, and there the meat of fish is better than the meat of pigeons, the meat of pigeons better than that of chickens, and the meat of chickens better than the meat of lambs, and this better than the meat of goats, and this better than the meat of calves and cattle; as among breads, wheat bread is the most useful; however, of the foods indicated, never more than one with some bread, as well as fruit should always be enjoyed only moderately and always of the best ripeness; likewise, some root fruits, but only one at a time.

465. With such a diet, the body would never reach that heaviness in which it becomes sluggish, sleepy and cumbersome, so that then the soul has to work over it's head and neck to keep such a cumbersome machine in motion, let alone that it should occupy itself with something else besides such work.

466. See, such simply-living people, as already mentioned above, there were many in former times, and especially simple lived those people who had erected their dwellings on the mountains.  These people constantly had the second sight, and had a natural contact with the spirits by day and night, and let themselves be instructed by them in the most manifold things.  The spirits showed them the effects of the herbs, and also indicated to them where here and there one or the other noble or base metal lay hidden in the mountains, taught them also how to get the metal out of the mountains, and to make it useful for all kinds of useful things by smelting and forging.

467. In short, there was seldom a house on the mountains that did not have it's own house spirits, which belonged to the house just like other household servants; therefore there were also a lot of wise people, especially on the mountains, who lived in the greatest familiarity with the secret forces of nature, namely with our spirits; or these forces or spirits were, so to speak, almost always at their disposal.

468. When people from the lower regions, as well as from larger villages, markets and cities, came to these wise mountain people, then they must of course have noticed a lot of things that were uncanny and mysterious for them, and especially when often evil-minded people wanted to take up a dispute with such a mountain dweller in some matter; because such a fighter surely got some - for him incomprehensible - so-called Merks' oaf, of which he of course could not think anything else than this was taught to him by the incarnate Satan, or at least by his accomplices.

469. What was the consequence?  The thus shrewd marketer, villager, or city dweller immediately went to his local clergyman, who at that time was usually either even more stupid, or at least more mischievous than the plaintiff.  There masses, processions and exorcisms were ordered - of course for cash - which always had to amount to quite a considerable sum, if not the entire property including house and yard of the in any case bewitched, if not already thoroughly demonized plaintiff.

470. If the plaintiff has satisfied his clergyman in this way, the case was reported to the secular court; this then went with all kinds of consecrated anti-hex and anti-devil apparatuses ordered by the clergyman to the house where the plaintiff was supposedly bewitched or demonized.  This secular court then usually captured the entire population in a horrible way, and often led them straight to the burning pyre without further interrogation, and took all the treasures including house and land, but of course after firstly a seven times exorcistic consecration in the seizure, for which consecration but of course again had to be paid for quite handsomely.

471. In later times, it was often done even worse, because in the end, anyone who was seen in a black coat except for the clergy and who could walk faster than anyone else, was considered to be a devil - and it only took a somewhat malicious accusers, and the black-clad man was brought before the witch's court; until in the present newer time, the natural scientists and chemists have finally brought it about that the exceedingly stupid mankind has begun to realize that their "alleged witchcraft" is a "most very barbarous stupidity".

472. But they went from one extreme to the other, and forgot the proverb: In medio beati; for as wrong as it is to - as a natural man - want to be all about spirits, so and even more wrongful it is to banish the whole spirit-realm and to declare it null and void.

473. Of course, it cannot be denied that in this earlier time, people sometimes got into conflict with evil spirits, with whose help they sometimes caused some local damage; but just these evil ones always had a very efficient control, and were very efficient disciplinarians on their good neighbors, who knew on a hair's breadth what some evil one had in his evil mind.  But in those days, as now, the clergy took no account of this, and everything, whether angel or devil, had to go into the fire; for there they did not see whether it was good or evil, but only whether it brought in something.  If the plaintiff had no fortune, and the alleged sorcerer also none, then it was: leave it in peace!  Only if one or the other part sensed some fortune, the matter did not go so well and peacefully; it was then with these witches almost as at present with the funerals, where with the rich all possible ceremonies and prayers are performed, and the poor must be content merely with a Pater Noster and requiescat in pace [rest in peace]; and if the poor can pay nothing at all, he may be content merely with the consecrated earth.

474. Doesn't that also mean practicing sorcery?  Ah, no!  It means that the poor will go to heaven without any trouble; only the rich will have to sweat a little before the gates of heaven are opened to him.  Oh, that will make for some pretty comedies in the spirit realm!

475. Everyone considered these ways of acting honorable and legal, while they are spiritually much worse than all previous witch trials; for their reason was usually ignorance, but here it is pure greed, and a witch trial out of greed is much worse than one out of ignorance.  And what is such an exegesis other than a witch trial, through which one still thinks to exorcise away many a devilish thing about the deceased.

476. I think that this thing is clear; therefore, another few little historical accounts, and then continue!

About magical mountains

477. The fact that in earlier times people with clairvoyance certainly lived on the mountains and had contact with the spirits is still evidenced today, if not much else, by the peculiar names of the mountains.

478. In your country there are a lot of such mountains, which still contain in their name what happened in former times. In Carinthia, in Tyrol, in Switzerland, in Savoy, on the mountains of Germany and everywhere where there are mountains, there are a lot of them from whose names it can be easily gathered what once happened on them. Thus your Schöckel is already such a mountain, which has it's name from there; because according to an old national language, the word 'Schögeln' meant: weather making; But it was also said of a man who performed some of the arts of nature, something like today's pickpockets, that he was a Schögler; people who danced on the rope and otherwise made tremendous leaps were also called Schögler. This word Schögeln is an ancient Asian word, after which the magicians there are also called jugglers, jogles.

479. In the German language, there is still a word in use today, but admittedly somewhat obsolete, which is derived from this word, namely the word Schock, e.g. a Schock of people, or a Schock of sheaves. A certain group of people was called a Schock because one usually believed that there was a person among them who knew a little more than the others, who was therefore certainly a Schögler, and the crowd therefore took the name Schock from him; Also, the people on the mountains were usually seen together in groups, which is quite natural on the mountains, since it would not be advisable for single people here and there to undertake work for which firstly a single man's strength would not be sufficient, and secondly, even if it were still sufficient, something could happen to the worker, where he would then have no one to help him.  In this earlier time, however, the inhabitants of the valley immediately thought, when they saw such a small group of people on a mountain and, by chance, some small cloud above the mountain, that these people were already engaged in sorcery and would definitely begin to make weather.  On this Schöckel of yours, this was the case in former times, as still now, except for weather making.

480. This mountain was inhabited far earlier than the valley areas, and it's first name was 'Freitauer'; But when in later times the valleys were inhabited by more effeminate people, the valley dwellers soon began to suspect these mountaineers of being sorcerers, and the name Freitauer soon changed to Schöckel or Zauberberg, and there have been times, hardly a hundred years ago, when this mountain was still so notorious, that no honest Christian dared to climb it's highest peak, because everyone who had some Catholic-Christian sense was warned against the Schöckel witch in the most urgent way.  For this reason, it's highest peak was deforested in order to take away the hiding places of the Schöckel witch, so that she could not hide when she was shot at from all sides by means of consecrated powder.  The fact that no weather ever came from this, and even less that a witch has ever inhabited the Schöckel, hardly needs to be shown to you in more detail; But that in earlier times this mountain was inhabited, as it still is, by many so-called mountain spirits, with whom the old inhabitants of this mountain not infrequently had quite natural contact and were therefore much wiser than the valley dwellers, you can assume without doubt, just as you can assume that this mountain was once a volcano, and that it's weather holes are nothing but craters that have remained open.

481. But like the Schöckel, a lot of mountains of Styria have their mysterious names, which the space of this communication would not allow to discuss. So the Raxalpe is of similar origin; for the word Rax is in a way apostrophized from Racker, which is in a way half-devil.  The 'dead woman' has already in it's name the most efficient characteristic of what this mountain once was, namely a ground full of witches, by which once a woman, who was intercepted by them, but did not want to submit to their will, was turned into a stone.  With this transformation, of course, she was also dead.

482. In later times, a hermitage was established lower down, in which a woman was once found dead, and several other such legends are attached to this mountain, which of course have as much truth in them as the lie itself; but the reason of the suspicion and the bad naming of such mountains is the same as it is already given in the whole course of these enclosed memorable histories.

483. Thus, the high Schwab is also extremely famous as a magic mountain; it's name comes from a descendant or emigrant of Swabia, who existed as one of the most famous magicians in this region, and did his mischief there, until the nearby pilgrimage site (Maria Zell, ed.), which you know well, put an end to him.  Thus also a devil's stone exists; to explain this further is unnecessary.  The preacher's chair is of the same origin; for there, Satan incarnate is said to have once preached the rules of conduct to the wizards.

484. So the Grimming is also of the same suspicious reputation; but especially suspicious was the rather far and wide stretched Tragelgebirge, which forms the border between Salzburg, Upper Austria and Styria.  This Tragelgebirge was in a way the college for all sorcerers and wizards of all of Styria, Austria and Salzburg; - The name is still very suspicious today, and no inhabitant of Altaussee or Ramsau, for example, can be easily persuaded, especially if he belongs to the so-called lower class of people, to go to this bare mountain range, except for hunters who, of course, wisely no longer think anything of witches, but all the more of the fat chamois that are so very much at home on this vast mountain range.

485. We would bring together at least a few hundred such mountains in Styria, but we want to be content with the ones mentioned so far, and next we want to look at a few more mountains of Carinthia, Tyrol, and also one from Switzerland in the above historical respect, which mountains still played a very extraordinarily mystical role about a hundred and twenty years ago.

Mountains with infamous names

486. In a region of upper Carinthia, not far from the Drau River, there is a mountain called the High Staff. This mountain dominates with it's peak the Drau valley almost from the border of Tyrol to Klagenfurt, i.e. to the vicinity of this city; at the same time, the so-called white lake leans against it's foot on the southwest side.  It has a height of 8000 feet, and from it's top surely everyone who has climbed it enjoys the most enchanting view. This mountain was once extremely notorious, and was, so to speak, a main gathering place for the witches and their masters, of course, according to the legend of the still living countrymen, who inhabit this mountain around on all sides. It's foothills had received the still leading names from it's former magical fame; One of the foothills to the north is called Goldeck, one to the northwest Siflitz, one to the west Bärenbuck, one to the south the Silver Grave; the vertical rock of the highest peak is called the High Clearing, and a wall lying somewhat below it, the Lower Clearing, just as the saddle between the high and lower staff is sometimes called the Witches' Ride and sometimes the Devils' Ride.  So there is also from this very saddle a bare stone ditch, which is called the Devil's Slide; also another ditch, which slopes towards the west, is called the Wild G'jad. These names and several others that follow this mountain, such as:  Witch's Leap, Devil's Ride, Werewolf's Nest and many more, sufficiently indicate the reputation in which this mountain once stood; but apart from all these site names, just the name Staff is enough to see that this was a main magic mountain.

487. The word staff was an expression used by these earlier mountain dwellers to denote the quality of an extraordinary thing.  Extraordinary, however, was with them that which served both for the elements, as there are: Air with it's phenomena, and water with it's own, as well as for humans and animals, served as a point of reference; for which reason, in later times, this mountain was given a new name, which only translated the first in a certain way into a more modern German.

488. The new name was and still is Landschnur, from which name the French staying there later made Landjour out of it.  Therefore, in this old mountain language, the word Staff denotes a kind of court, and Hochstaff a high court, and that because every unauthorized person, not initiated into the magic mysteries of this mountain, was immediately judged in the most terrible way, of course by the sorcerers, if he dared to climb this mountain only so high, where the forest region ends; For such a guest was suddenly seized by invisible hands, and in a flash, as the legend goes, carried away to the highest peak; there he was tormented by likewise invisible forces for several hours in the most painful and cruel way, and with thunderous voices was coerced to join the witches' league; if he did not want to do so, he was thrown from the highest point, which was therefore called the high clearing, to the lower clearing, but so magically that he was not killed.  On the lower free space, the most enchantingly charming sylphs would come to him and intoxicate him with the charm of their form; if he surrendered to them, he was immediately lifted up again to the high free space and there initiated into their mysteries.  If, however, he did not want to be intoxicated by the sylph's allure, then he either came onto the Devil's Slide and had to make a terrible journey down into the valley, during which journey, of course, all limbs, as you like to say, completely lost all glue.  But if he had shown half a will at the Sylphid stimulus, he was placed on the Goldeck, where he was dazzled by the enormous wealth consisting of masses of bright gold; and if that was not enough, he was led southward to the region of the silver tomb.  This was actually not a grave, but a fairy-like most beautiful area of this mountain, which so enchanted this newly acquired that he now could no longer avoid joining the witch's alliance at all.

489. Of course, all this is mere folk tale, and mostly of the people who inhabited the lowest valley area.

490. The wiser mountain dwellers, who not infrequently had to endure a shameful punishment because of the stupidity of the lower valley dwellers, knew nothing of all the witchcraft, but they did know of the spirits that inhabited this mountain abundantly in all directions, as is rarely the case with any other mountain.  Why then exactly this mountain?  The reason why such beings often take possession of one mountain more than another is different; partly it depends on the location and on a certain height of the mountain, partly on the content of such a mountain, but mostly on a rather free position, according to which a mountain is cut off from other mountains from all sides in a certain way, so that the spirits of other mountains, which are often of an evil nature, cannot easily reach these spirits, and cause disorder among them. But mainly such a mountain is taken possession of by the above-mentioned spirits for the reason that, as a result of it's free position, it affords a charming view to all regions around without restriction; for these spirits also all have the ability, if they wish, to look at the natural world; and in that they are also used for the so-called making of weather, If the spirits of the mountains have to keep a watchful eye on the neighboring mountain spirits, they prefer such mountains where they cannot be limited in their watchfulness by anything.  Such spirits, of course, are already accompanied by more perfect spirits, who control and guide them; but in spite of this, no spirit is deprived of it's own individuality, it's free activity and the joy connected with it.

491. This would be a main famous mountain of this country.  A second one is the Unholde, which was even more infamous than the Hochstaff; for the names, which still stick to this mountain today, as well as it's almost mystical wild-romantic-grotesque design, are more than telling proofs of it's former magical fame.  We only want to mention some names of it's foothills and it's premises, which will sufficiently teach us, how it should have looked once with this mountain, but naturally it never looked thus.

492. The highest peak of this mountain is called the High Stadl, i.e. as much as a high place and a high dwelling, in which the witches spent winter and summer.  A side peak of this mountain is also called the Lower One, and a peak rising above it is called the High Clearing.  A clearing is a place where quite innocent people were recruited to become magicians in the way described earlier.  Immediately below these two clearings, is a rather extensive place where the new arrivals had to learn magic; this place is still called Zaubrad, or the Magic Place.

493. Above this magic place, more to the south, rises another rocky peak under the name: Ruhdnik; this was the place of rest for the new students of magic. Below the Ruhdnik, even more to the south, there was a large open space called Gerlize. The word Gerlize in the silly magic language of that time meant 'a place of the most exuberant joy', and at the same time also a place of the magic game; Therefore, even today there are several springs towards the rock walls of the high stables, which only emit a jet of water at exactly ½ 12 o'clock, of which only one has survived until now, and is still called Halbzwölfuhr-Bründl [The half twelve hour spring -tr].

494. Even more south of this place rises the still today's so-called high Truth, whose name hardly needs a closer description concerning the former meaning.  Above this high Truth comes the so-called red wall, also called blood wall, and to this renegades or traitors of the magic are said to have been hurled by the devils.

495. Again above this high red wall is the so-called Dreihexenspitze [Three witches' peaks], according to the current language also Dreihexenköffel, which was continuously inhabited by the three worst witches, who had to keep watch there.

496. Above this Dreihexenspitze rises the rather steep ridge up to the high Stadl under the name Hexenstieg [Witch's Rise -tr], which, as already noted, rises up to the highest peak, where the Stadl or castle of the Witch King was.  North, parallel with the highest peak, runs a rocky ridge ten fathoms long and three fathoms wide; this now has the name: Hohebrüstung, but in former times it was called Hexentrui. Trui means: drive; there they were driven out into the free air, and had to seize the mists, which rose from the top, name Deuwand (translated into newer language: devil's wall).

497. More to the north of the Deuwand is the Deudreispitz'; still more to the north the Evil Sieg, and still a little more to the north the high Siebenwand [Seven Wall -tr], also called the Hollow Spitze, which should have been inhabited by the very worst spirits.

498. More south of the high Stadl is a very steep peak under the name: the Damned Bay, in more recent times also: Sandriß [Sand Tear -tr]. Even more to the south, but a little lower down is the Teufelsgalgen [Devil's Gallows], and from there a little more to the southwest the böse Weib [Evil woman -tr].

499. From this name it is quite clear in what fame this mountain range once stood; already the sole name: Unholden [Unfair -tr] sufficiently shows the once known character of this mountain range, which ruled partly Carinthia and partly Tyrol, and also a capable part of Welschland.

500. That there is nothing else behind these legends than what I have already explained to the clearest view, is self-evident.

501. Just this Hochstadl is also such an exposed mountain, and therefore a favorite abode of such nature spirits already made known to you, who have become more free, and who were in already known conflict with the country people living at the foot of this mountain; But the fact that the name of this mountain and it's foothills is linked to many a sad witch-inquisition story, hardly needs any further discussion; for on the Drava, the witchcraft execution site of the old Flaschberg dominion can still be seen today, the name of which already contains a sufficient description of what was once perpetrated here.

502. There are a lot of similar mountains in Tyrol; the Gantspitze, the High Evil Ring, the Evil Stone, the High Helmet, the Brenner [Burner -tr], the Oetzer, the Vintschgauer Hochkuppe, the Wurmserjoch [Dragon's Pass] and the like are several more notorious ones; In Switzerland, the well-known Wetterhorn [Weather Horn -tr], the sinister Achhorn, the high Mönch [Monk -tr], the Wöllerhorn, the Pilatusspitze, also the Bernhardsberg, the Teufelsbrücke [Devil's Bridge] and many similar, lone mountains of the same caliber.

503. But the mountains of Savoy are the most notorious; for there, according to popular legend, the highest heads of the evil spirits were at home, and not so long ago, every Savoyard was regarded with such contempt that he was hardly considered higher than the animals; just as not so long ago the inhabitants of the Pyrenees under the name of Chacots [Scorned/mocked -tr] were despised by the Spaniards more than the meanest dog.

504. Now that we have sufficiently explained the existence of the spirits in our second region by these little stories, and now see how it is in this second region, we will immediately go down to the first region and see how it is there spiritually.

The first, lowest region of the air

505. The first region, which is naturally the lowest, occupies the very place where the natural atmospheric air, in which plants, animals and humans live, rests above the surface of the earth; the spiritual is so closely interwoven with the natural, that a wise man would obviously have to say:

506. In this whole lowest region of the air, I find nothing but spiritual; only what is fixed by the spiritual action either momentarily or successively, that alone has the appearance of the natural under the formal appearance; at the very foundation, however, everything is nevertheless completely spiritual.

507. Why do we say spiritual here, and not complete spirit?  Because in this region the spiritual - thus also soul- - individual property intelligences must only gradually take hold of each other, unite and find themselves again conscious of themselves as a complete and singular being in a whole, perfectly spiritual form.

508. How is this actually to be understood?  I tell you, it is easier than you think.

509. Everywhere a certain center is given for the complete unification of all the spiritual propertys.  This center is the actually most closely bound original Spirit, or the Love-spark out of Me; this powerfully draws to itself all that which is of it's nature, and no matter how scattered this may be, it will attach itself precisely to that spiritual center to which it belongs, and becomes, even if of the same quality, different in every center.

510. One example will make the matter perfectly clear to you.

511. Consider, for example, the education of one or several men in a school.  A hundred pupils have one and the same master; they learn from the same books, they all learn to write according to one rule, and, being considered afterwards as people who were educated in this school, there will not be two who have the completely same way of thinking, not two who have the same writing and such differences more, and yet the spiritual educational propertyal food was the same; but each spirit of these pupils drew exactly from this general instructional food, his own propertyum pleasing to it, without the teacher having contributed anything in the least for this purpose.

512. From this example it can be seen quite clearly how each spiritual center finds it's own characteristic exactly from the infinite multiplicity of intelligence-propertys, just as the central soul-property given in each seed, finds and draws to itself from the same water, the same air, the same earth, as also from the same light, exactly that which belongs to it's essence.

513. Thus the spiritual intelligences concentrate around the spiritual center peculiar to them, or they flow to where their spiritual center is, gather at an intelligent form, and adapt themselves according to the basic nature of their spiritual center, which usually takes place in man, because the actual spiritual center is given again only in the form of the human.

514. The word is also an excellent example to illuminate this matter.

515. A word is given, and this word, as it is given, draws to itself at that moment all that is necessary for the fulfillment of it's concept.

516. Let us take the word 'commandment'; this word is a center, but it momentarily draws to itself everything that it needs to be a commandment, and it also unites it immediately in itself.

517. But that - in order to complete the concept of commandment itno one from the multiple concepts - it is something extraordinary, and by no means such an easy task as one would think, is self-evident; for what belongs to a commandment?  First of all, a wise commanding being who has a great insight into all things, why he gives a commandment and to whom.  Secondly, there must be a free being, gifted with much insight and with it, bound willpower, so that it can accept, understand and keep the commandment.  What does it take to create such a being, and what qualities must the Creator have to be able to create such a being?  Thirdly, the commandment must also be sanctioned; what does it take to be able to sanction a commandment wisely, justly and efficiently?

518. Behold, what an infinite number of concepts and basic ideas and forces is connected with the single concept commandment, so that someone could say: Yes, if this word commandment includes all this as peculiar to itself, what then remains for another no less meaningful word?

519. The main explanation is that each word forms a certain spiritual center, and draws to itself from one and the same number of concepts, and unites them for itself in it's own special way, so that the same concepts must qualify in this word for something quite different from what they qualified for in another earlier word.

520. It is not necessary to add a lot of words or concepts to make this matter even clearer than it already is, for you can do that for yourselves.  To the concept of love, virtue, humility, God and the like, belong just as much as to commandment, and what becomes a commandment in the commandment, becomes love in love, virtue becomes virtue in virtue, humility becomes humility, and God becomes God in God; just as the same elementary plants become clover in the clover, turnips become turnips, grapevines become grapevines, and so on.

521. If you have only somewhat grasped what has now been said, you will easily understand, even grasp with your hands, that this lower region is actually and in a certain way the reproduction and reunification workshop of the isolated spiritual and psychic into one complete spirit, and has the highest similarity with all that which appears here before everyone's eyes in the vegetative and productive appearance, where everywhere - as everyone can convince himself of - a singular whole is represented by an endless number of particles; In short, here is the place for sowing, it is the field where in each spiritual seed, a very peculiar association of ideas is gathered into a form; or it is the gathering place of a fully scattered soul around a given spiritual center.

522. Since you have now understood this safely and easily, it will be easy for the next communication to move further in this sphere.

The governing spirits of the lower region of the air (27 February 1847)

523. Wherever a great business is carried on, however it may be arranged, there must be managers employed in the business, who order and direct everything, and keep the machines in order, and measure the forces in them; without such directors, whatever work would either not proceed at all, or only very badly.  So it is also in our lower spiritual air region.

524. It is true that this is actually only the gathering place, where isolated and scattered spiritual intelligences gather around a spiritual center in a kind of instinctive way, because they recognize this as their own.  This gathering, however, would turn out to be extremely clumsy and lumpy if it did not take place according to a fixed order; it would be just as if someone threw all the building material for a house on top of each other.  In this way, stones, lime, mortar, wood, shutters, roof tiles, and everything that belongs to a house, would come to lie together in a heap; but what a difference there would be between such a heap, and between a properly constructed house, where each material takes it's proper and artistic place.

525. But as it is the case with a house that is to be built, once the material is available, so it is also in the spiritual respect in our lower sphere of construction.  There is material in abundance, intelligent-soul-propertya and spiritual centra in abundance; but the material, even if in each particle rests it's own living intelligence, cannot build itself into a perfect human being, and that not because each individual intelligence also recognizes only in itself a single one from among the innumerable many.  When the innumerable intelligences necessary for a being are first united under one form and in one being by the spiritual master builders, only then can such a being gradually also reach a general knowledge overlooking all order, which, however, can only happen gradually, as your own experience teaches you, according to which, as you say, no scholar has ever fallen from heaven, still less a wise man.

526. But what does learning mean?  It means nothing other than awakening the individual intelligences of the soul and then connecting them to work together.

527. The more such intelligences a person has awakened in himself by diligence and zeal and united them with each other, the more learned and the more knowledgeable he becomes; but this learnedness is far from being wisdom, for wisdom is an awakening of the spirit, which, once it has been fully awakened, penetrates all the innumerable intelligences of it's soul in an instant, awakens them, and unites all in itself into a perfect God-like knowledge.

528. It is the same as if someone were led into a large art museum in pitch darkness.  Even if someone leads him around in it, and lets him touch and feel the art objects, and explains to him the felt object so clearly, the person led into the museum will still have a very dull idea, and that only from a few objects of the museum; for where there is an innumerable wealth of art, how much of it can be touched in a short time by the person brought into the museum and how many art treasures can be explained there. Certainly, the person who is introduced to the museum, will say to his professor: "Sir!  If there were only light, then we would very easily be able to view many things with a glance, which we recognize here in the darkness with difficulty and uncertainty with our coarse sense of touch.”  This man is right, for the spirit in man also asks questions, and thus a man who has been instructed out of the darkness of the museum, is a scholar.

529. But when the sun suddenly rises for someone who is in this museum, and the museum is thoroughly illuminated in all rooms, will he still have to grope around in order to recognize the objects?  Oh no, he can see them at once, and views everything that is in the museum, and not only in part; and if the objects of the museum are well arranged, he will easily recognize the main purpose of the art objects displayed in this museum, as well as the property purpose of each individual object.

530. See, the first education is equal to the mechanical learning, and from this learning as much as possible, the self-creation of the objects in the museum is then usually the erudition of the people of the world.

531. Wisdom, however, is the second; it sees the endless many at once in the clearest light, which learnedness only partially grasps in the night.

532. From this, however, it is evident that the orderly combination of all the soul particle intelligences belonging to one being, is by no means connected with that general cognition which is necessary in order to organize and connect the individual soul-intelligences around a spiritual center in our lower region of existence in such a way that in time, a perfect cognition can really emerge from it.  It is therefore also understandable that our above-mentioned soul intelligence particles cannot order themselves; but such beings must always be present, which have to watch over such order of beings and to lead it.

533. But who are these builders?  That will be very easy to guess.  They are first of all the angels as the highest leaders; therefore there are very often and very many angels in your region.

534. As the supreme leader of this great business, I Myself am No 1, who surely cannot be far from you, in that I Myself exactly here ignite and light one light after the other for you in your art museum, and there, where I stay, there are quite a lot who like to be around Me, and have always liked to be around Me.

535. But for this very reason, there is a great conflict here; for where heaven develops it's greatest activity, hell is no less active.  But it must also be so here; otherwise no free movement between these two polar points would be conceivable.

536. But how angels under My guidance and other good spirits under the guidance of angels continue the above-mentioned building of beings from the plant to the human being, that will be the subject of our next consideration.

The activity of the spirits in the interior of the Earth (1 March 1847)

537. You have already seen in the natural representation of the earth how the earth, as an organic living being, takes it's food, digests it within itself, and then conducts the nutritive juices through innumerable organs out to the surface, and how, on the other hand, the coarser indigestible excrements are conducted towards the south pole.  This nourishment or food of the earth, as you now easily understand, is only material in appearance, but spiritual in essence; for an innumerable number of spirits and spiritual propertya of a better kind, are continually penetrating into the innermost part of the earth, where the worst spirits are usually banished.

538. This penetration of the better spirits into the innermost of the earth-being, has a multiple purpose. Firstly, the souls and spirits of evil people will be judged there and, as you like to say, will be exposed to an eternal hellish captivity; For such mutineers against the divine order must be kept in deep and firm custody, so that they cannot disturb the divine order again, since before such incarceration, many thousands of attempts at reform, have remained fruitless.

539. A second reason for this penetration of spirits and spiritual propertya into the innermost part of the earth-being, is that in this innermost part, there are spirits again, which, as you are accustomed to say, have already paid a fair price for their rabies in this captivity, and have been very strongly provoked, and again have a most ardent desire to reach freedom; Such spirits are then freed from their imprisonment by the entering better spirits on the proper ways, and led up to the greater freedom, where they are then again used for activity, and must there first - because there is still something evil in them - take care of the poisonous plants, as also of poisonous animals themselves, and arrange the psychic primordial propertya necessary for growth, and thereby give to such a poisonous plant or poisonous animal that form and constitution in which they must continually duly appear.  If such spirits then do well, they are led to the management of better plants and animals; If, however, they do not do well - since they often get out of hand - and instead of passing the harmful propertya into the plants, they immediately pass them into the animals or humans, which then causes epidemic diseases, they are taken away from such business again, and put into closer confinement in the earth, where they have to deal with the formation of metals and stones, which work is naturally much harder and more tedious, and a liberation from such a state can only take place when such a spirit, after very many years, has carried out his assigned business faithfully and for the benefit of the redemption of souls trapped in matter.  So this is again a reason for which the better spirits go down into the interior of the earth.

540. Another reason is that the imprisoned primordial souls are freed, and as propertya - admittedly still very strongly divided in appearance - they are led up to the surface of the earth by all kinds of fluids, and there they are guided on their path of redemption through the stages of the plant- and animal kingdom known to you according to the guidance of the spirits supervising and directing this business; For in the earth there are imprisoned spirits everywhere, which have either already gone through the way of the flesh, or which have manifested themselves without this way as complete spirits, which spirits have already been made known to you more closely.  There are earth-, mountain-, water-, fire- and air-spirits. Besides these two kinds of spirits, however, there is still an innumerable quantity of soul-propertys, which must first be made free, and then collected and arranged into a being, which corresponds to them at every stage of their ascent.

541. Since such spirits and soul-atoms are worse the deeper into the earth they are - must be led with even greater supervision, and especially with the soul-particles which come together from all over the earth's surface, only the purest are used for the completion of the actual soul, but the coarser and more evil ones are chosen for the formation of the material bodies.

542. So also the human body consists of pure soul particles; but those that make up the body are still coarse, bad and dishonest, therefore they still have to come into the earth again, decompose there, and from there only then rise out of decomposition in the way already made known to you, in order to prepare themselves for the completion of that being to which they once belonged bodily, which usually, as already made known to you, happens in the third or uppermost earth-spirit sphere, through which then, of course, every pure spirit becomes perfect only when it has absorbed all that is in it again, which absorption is the so-called resurrection of the flesh, and justifies the saying of Paul, who says: "I will see God in my flesh.”

543. That the spirits in this first region have to work over their heads and necks, is self-evident; for this reason, times of rest have been arranged on earth, in which such busy spirits have rest and recreation, i.e. they do not have so much to do as in a time of activity.

544. Such a rest period is the winter, which of course lasts much shorter around the equator than towards the poles; therefore, the more towards the poles, the weaker spirits are employed, just as in the higher regions of the earth, and the lower down, the stronger the workers must be, which the products also show quite graphically.

545. Now you already know some of how angels, spirits and also nature-spirits are active in the formation of the beings; but because these activities are connected with exceedingly great difficulties and combinations, so we will still have so many things to say about this very point, until the matter becomes completely clear to you; therefore next time, more in this sphere.

Substance and matter, power and material (2 March 1847)

546. A so-called moral saying, admittedly somewhat bad and not quite correctly describing the matter, reads: Memento homo, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris [Remember man, you are dust and to dust you will return -tr].  This saying, in the word dust, indeed also denotes a total dissolution of the body, but it is incorrect in it's meaning, because everyone understands by dust those crushed earth and stone particles which the wind easily picks up and carries into the air.  It can also mean the even finer sun dust, which is admittedly somewhat finer than the road dust.  If the body were dissolved into such a dust, it would be of little help to it and it's soul; for the very finest dust, which can still be seen in the natural world, is nevertheless always matter, and cannot unite with the soul and the spirit as long as it still remains matter.  Better than dust would be: property soul atom; such an atom is no longer material, but substantial.  But between matter and substance, there is a sky-high difference.

547. In order to grasp the whole thing quite properly, you must know this difference exactly.  Take a magnet, what is visible of it, that is matter; But what attracts or repels in the magnet, is substance.  This substance cannot be seen with the fleshly eye; the eye alone is not the sole guide and announcer of the existence of soul- or spiritual things, but man has other senses which are closer to the soul than the sight, which is approximately the outermost sense of man.  Hearing is already deeper; the smell and the taste even deeper, and completely united with the soul, is the feeling, or the sense of touch.

548. If someone then brings two magnets closer to each other, he will soon feel the mutual pull, and that is enough to draw the conclusion also for his external senses that there must be a special, even if invisible, force or substance in the magnet, which causes such a pull.

549. Here everyone easily notices the difference between matter and substance.  Also with a so-called electric machine, everybody easily distinguishes the material from the substance.  The glass pane, the friction pads, the metal conductor and some more bottles, are matter.  When the machine stands still, nothing that approaches the machine feels any movement; but if the machine is brought into movement, then the substance resting in it and in the air is excited, and if someone approaches the machine, he immediately feels a pulling at his hair, and if he approaches even more, he will also see the substance in crackling sparks, which sometimes sting significantly, and if they are stronger, cause muscle spasms.  Such an electric spark, although visible in the material time and in the material space, is however no more matter, but soul-like substance or force, which rests in the matter; if it is excited, then it expresses immediately an all-pervading force, to which no material obstacle can be opposed as inhibiting.

550. Here you have again a good example of matter and substance.  Consider the gunpowder you know well, which consists of sulfur, salniter and coal dust.  The grain is still and falls, like any other matter, from the height into the depth; but there is a lot of substantial force bound in the grain.  If this substance is excited by something similar to it, it tears it's prison into atomic pieces in a flash and then enters the sphere of it's freedom.  Fire is related to this substance and is therefore the means of it's excitation; there it also shows itself as a substantial force to which no obstacle of nature can set barriers. Thus, the substantial force is also present in water, which is excited by a high degree of heat.  If someone wants to imprison this force, it will break every enclosing vessel, no matter how strong it is, and then expand in it's freedom.  So there is also a substance in almost every matter; it only depends on how and by what means it can be excited in order to manifest itself.

551. The natural scientists, these not seldom very vain natural fools, have discovered certain basic forces in all matter, as there are the attracting and repelling force, of which the attracting one was assumed to be known as the cohesion or gravity, and the repelling one as the centrifugal force.  In addition, the elasticity or the expansive force, the divisibility and the penetrability of matter have been treated in a very learned way and have also been classified among the basic forces of matter; if only these learned natural geeks, as living beings themselves, had taken only one step further, and had given a place in their fascicles to the all-controlling and all-fulfilling life force, they would have long since made a quite enormous step forward in their knowledge, and would not have had to weigh and dissect dead forces, which is utter nonsense, But they would have had to deal immediately with that basic condition of all existence, in which they would have recognized themselves and all matter from the correct, only effective, true point of view already for a long time, perfectly and easily; But in this way, which is actually the most stupid and ridiculous thing, the living grope around in nothing but dead forces, and in the end they even want to prove that the living force is a mixture and composite of nothing but dead forces!

552. Oh shuddering nonsense above all nonsense!  In which logic can an acting force be regarded as dead? Can there be anything more nonsensical than to submit a dead reason to certain apparent effects, which would be just as good if one assumed no reason at all for any effect; For dead is in certain respects still less than nothing, and only a thing can be regarded as dead - and that as long as it has been banished from some sphere of action; and man's soul and spirit can be dead, if they have contracted through the bad application of their trial of freedom the proper necessity to go again into that captivity, in which they are cut off from any effective work.

553. But if in and at the matter working forces are discovered, then they are not dead, but alive and intelligent; because without intelligence in one or the other certain kind, an effect can be thought just as little as without force.

554. But as the force can be recognized from the effect, so also the intelligence of the force can be recognized from the always uniformly ordered planimetric theory.  Does not the growth of grass and the growth of every other plant proceed according to an inner planimetric theory, which can be easily recognized by anyone who has ever seen a plant?  The same is the case with decay, and with all phenomena, to which forces must be submitted, from which everyone can easily draw the conclusion:

555. Where nothing but effects are seen, there must be just as many forces as effects; and because all these effects are organized and planned, there must also be just as many intelligences as there are forces;  and from this conclusion it becomes understandable that matter consists of pure souls - thus intelligences - which can be temporarily held by higher forces and intelligences according to order and necessity.  But when the time of detention is over, the individual intelligences awaken and reunite as original substance in that being in which they were originally formed out of Me, the Creator; and this reunification is then partly the work of the intelligences themselves, and partly, however, of the higher spirits already known to you.

God’s work through spirits (3 March 1847)

556. Therefore, if someone has understood the matter only a little, there can be no matter at all in the most actual sense, since matter itself is only an effect of the forces, which effect appears in a kind, condition and form, and just by this it can be recognized in itself that the acting forces do not work without intelligence; because wherever in a thing or in a being a certain form, kind and quality can be discovered, there also nobody can deny the intelligence of the force working in it.

557. Of course, a pious pilgrim, for instance to Maria-Zell, will make the remark and say: "Our dear Lord does all this; why should there be other intelligences?  That is certainly quite right; for thus says the Lord: "Heaven and earth, and all that is in them, I have made, and - take note - still make; but if one goes too far with this making, then I would have to make many things in the world, which I have not actually made, and also do not make now; but have left such making to humans, so that they would also have something to do.  Of course, they do it only with my power given to them, and I do it therefore indirectly, and that is also as much as if I had done it.  But just as I let countless things be done by the hands of humans, I also let those things be done by the power of love and wisdom in My angels and spirits on earth, as well as on other world-bodies, which cannot be done by humans.

558. People can build houses and prepare clothes and make tools, but they cannot make matter.  They cannot make grass, bushes or trees, and just as little an animal; but the thoroughly living spirits and angels can, because they are equipped for the purpose with that power out of Me, to be able to accomplish such things in My name.

559. But how individual intelligences can and do work in one and the same way, other intelligences again in another way, and all this under the direction of higher spirits, we want to show in several easily comprehensible examples as clear as day and tangibly.

560. Consider once a spider; in this little animal you will find two united intelligences.  The first is the recognition of the food it likes; to use this food in itself for a double purpose, namely for the nourishment of it's animal being, and for the preparation of that sticky juice from which it spins it's web, that is just the one intelligence.  The second intelligence is the spider's peculiar art of pulling the thread out of itself, attaching it to small hooks, and spinning, or rather weaving, a web, then covering this web with a pearly, sticky sap in order to catch those animals that give it new food.  From this way of acting, everyone must see that the spider must obviously have an intelligence; and the intelligence is the same thing that naturalists call instinct, admittedly somewhat incorrectly, because instinct is, in a way, an inner drive to have to carry out a certain task in a certain way.  But what the scholars call instinct, is no longer intelligence of the animal, but already direction or guidance on the part of higher spirits; for it is obviously two different things to possess a certain skill and to carry out a certain business according to this skill.  But with the possession of such ability, the necessary execution is not yet connected, but added to it, another instinct must come, and there the possession of such abilities and skills in a being or in a psychic property is just the intelligence, while the need to be active according to such inherent intelligence, is not laid down in the being itself as an instinct; but this is necessary guidance from higher and more perfect spirits, which, for example, indicate to our spider the place, where, and the time when it should put it's peculiar skills to work; for if this were not the case, a spider would either never spin at all, or continue to spin, and would not even spare the face of man, and spin a web over his eyes, which, however, is never the case; but it must spin where it is compelled to spin, and where it's propertyity is expedient, if it connects with the propertyity of the matter there, and gathers it into itself for a higher life.

561. Thus also the silkworm spins it's thread, and that because it collects in itself from the food and from the free propertyum in the air those intelligences, from which it then achieves that skill and in a certain way comes to that insight, to first prepare in itself that tough juice from the food taken to itself, and then to spin this juice around itself like an egg, when it has reached the right maturity.

562. Here, too, it is exceedingly clear that the ability to do such work and the need to do such work at the right time and in the right place, are essentially two different things, just as it is certainly two different things if someone among the people is an artist, either a musician or a painter.  The musician always has within him the ability to play a concerto or another piece of music, just as the painter has the ability to paint a piece; but does the musician, because of such artistic ability, play one concerto after another day and night, and does the painter never lay down his brush and his paints?  Behold, although both artists carry the same ability in themselves all the time, the sound artist will produce something from his permanent artistic ability only on a given occasion; just as the painter will paint a piece only when someone has ordered such a piece from him, or when he imposes upon himself the duty to paint one either for sale or for his own pleasure.  The first is here the same as the intelligence of the artist, the second however a request from whatever side to put such intelligence into the work.

563. But if people already set up directors for larger productions of the artistic abilities of individual people, who set the time, for example, of a concert, determine pieces and then conduct them, how much more necessary are directors among such innumerable artistic intelligences, where it is a matter of the preservation and expedient continuation of entire worlds!

564. Since this subject is of utmost importance for your clear understanding in this matter, we will continue very significantly in this area.

The impressions of matter on the soul and spirit (4 March 1847)

565. You may go through the animal world as well as the plant world, even the mineral world, and everywhere you will find an independent intelligence, but beside this intelligence, also a need.  This independent intelligence can be recognized not only from the different characteristics, but also, what is especially important for psychologists, from the impression that the different things and objects make on the human mind.

566. On whom can the impression be made?  On a human being, and only on his soul and spirit.

567. But how must the human being be constituted so that he is receptive for impressions?

568. He must be alive and completely intelligent; and so that everything can make an impression on him, he must already unite all intelligences in himself, i.e. in his soul.  So he must be alive and completely intelligent.

569. Question: how then can a dead cause or a dead thing make any impression on man; for the impression is an effect.  But how can a dead thing or a dead cause have an effect?

570. How can a dead being call forth it's visual likeness in the living being?  Wouldn't this mean to cheat life and consider it a fool, if one could seriously be so foolish as to claim that death as an object can awaken a death again from the life of another object?

571. But if there is talk about revival, how can a dead thing be revived if it is dead?  The term death presupposes either a complete lack of essence or at least a complete lack of effect of a being, which is basically one and the same; because no being at all can certainly make an impression on nobody, because it is not there at all, just so also a completely ineffective being, because if such a being would be able to make an impression on somebody, it would certainly not be completely ineffective, because the impression is certainly an effect.

572. But from this it follows that all that which makes any impression on the human soul must not be dead, but must be intelligently alive in so far as to excite in the living soul it's equally living intelligence-propertyum, The first thing is that the soul is able to see it as something similar to itself and to bring it before the eyes of the soul to a contemplative conception, which conception is then exactly the above-mentioned impression that any thing or cause has made on man.  From this it also follows that there is nowhere a death in the physical world itself, which some better naturalists have already dimly discovered; but what the short-sighted man calls death, is only a transition from a less intelligent form into a higher one, where the intelligences are already united many times.

573. Certainly, various feelings take possession of man at the sight of masses of stones.  Yes, the stones are dead, they say; how then can they evoke a feeling in the living soul?  Should the dead images evoke the same images alive in the soul?  Such an assertion or assumption would be even more incomparably stupid than if someone wanted to claim that if one holds seeds above a calm water surface in which they are reflected, these reflected seed images will begin to germinate in the water, and indeed drive roots out into the air and let fruits ripen below the water surface.  But this would not even be so stupid; for then the object that is reflected in the water mirror would not be dead, and it would be more likely to assume that it would be able to produce something living of it's kind through it's image in the water, than that a completely dead object would be able to produce a living idea in the living soul.

574. Groups of stones and rock masses, however, cause living feelings in the human soul, which are sometimes full of charm, sometimes full of enthusiasm and full of admiration; these living feelings should surely be caused by  the dead stone?  Then I also say:

575. He who has ears, let him hear; and he who has eyes, let him see what the living Spirit speaks to the living spirit!

576. These stone masses have come forth just like the most living cherub from the almighty eternal power of God; how could the eternal primeval life of all life create dead - say - dead stones?

577. I as the original Creator can sure fixate the endless fullness of My ideas - thus says the Lord - and can hold the living intelligences as if it were single thoughts in the apparent matter of stone, and make them gradually free and in the fullness and glory contemplative to Me, the Creator, and to those who are out of Me, so that not all endless fullness of My ideas float as if a whole unchangeable picture before My eyes; For it is precisely in this material creation that the Creator locks up for Himself the endless abundance of ideas, and through the freeing and dissolving of matter, presents them to Himself again like individual thoughts to His divine contemplation.

578. If, however, the Creator has bound His ideas and thoughts, which are certainly not dead, in the appearance of matter, in a certain way like the bookbinder binds a book, then there must also be life in the stone, thus a large quantity of intelligences, which are found again in the living human soul, which has already taken it's living part of it, in order to regenerate itself in a certain way as alive again in the soul.

579. Behold, this is the characteristic which radiates from every thing or cause into the living soul of man, and this characteristic stems from the living intelligent forces which are held in matter.

580. This characteristic attests to the free intelligence by which each thing in it's kind is in a certain way self-conscious of one or more abilities and skills; in addition to this characteristic, however, it also attests to a necessity, such as, for example, that the stone must be solid, the plant must grow and bear fruit in this or that form, and the animal in it's kind must be and do what it is intended to do.  This need does not lie in the matter; but this is a work of the perfect spirits to whom such business is given.

581. But how the spirits carry out such business here in this region, we will illuminate in the following by certain kind of dramatic representations and narrations as clearly as always possible.

Guardian spirits in the kingdom of nature (5 March 1847)

582. You know how at certain times gardeners and farmers scatter seeds in the soil, and that soon after, each seed scattered in the soil begins to swell, finally bursts open at the place where the germ is located, and a small white-greenish point comes out of the seed; That is the germ.  Almost visibly, this germ tenderly grows more and more, and where previously only one spike was visible, now two, three and more leaves are unfolding, and the plant continues to expand, gaining strength and power, and soon the flower buds are visible; From hour to hour, they become more and more exuberant, finally burst open, unfold, the blossom appears, and in it's calyx, the new fruit already sits like a young bee in it's cell, and is first nourished as an infant by the ambrosial scent of the flower; and when the new fruit has attained just strength through this heavenly food, it receives it's nourishment from the trunk and it's life from the light.

583. Behold, such is the natural course during the growth of a plant; for the growth begins with the first insertion of the seed into the earth, and ends with the ripening of the fruit.

584. The seed itself would have as little power to look for it's own nourishment as a newborn child, even less than a child in the womb, if there were not spirits, who would give to those spiritual intelligence propertys that direction, through which these propertys have to go to the certain point, where their own sphere of action is assigned to them.

585. In order to see this quite figuratively, let us now take a grain of wheat; the grain of wheat has the following intelligence propertya in itself: First, particles of love, i.e. the actual nutrient in the grain of wheat;  a second propertyum is the spirit, or actually spiritual substrate, by virtue of which alcohol can also be obtained from the grain of wheat, as from other fruits; Another property is the carbon, which is immediately visible when burning, therefore it often happens that if too much of this property rises in a stalk, the seed already from the field becomes gangrenous and finally black.  Another property feature of this grain is the sour and brewing substance, by virtue of which a tasty beer can be made from this seed, just as from barley, oats and corn.  Another property feature is the ethereal sulfur, which is responsible for the combustibility of the seed; and yet another property is the oil substance, according to which a quite tasty oil can be drawn from the wheat, as from any other grain.  Another substance is the sugar substance, which is very abundant in the wheat seed kernel; and yet another substance or propertyum is the gummy mucilage, according to which the so-called starch flour can be obtained from this seed kernel.

586. Then, in the seed, there is a good portion of the purest and simplest hydrogen gas propertyum, which is a main component of the wheat stalk, as well as of all other plant genera; for this substance or propertyum continually fills the hollow tube of the stalk, and keeps it upright; Without this substance, the stem could not grow upwards, and thus the hollow stem is a balloon tied to it's roots in the earth, which maintains the flesh of the plant as long as it has not acquired it's own necessary firmness.  But once this has attained it's necessary firmness, then this propertyum is drawn more and more into the ripening and maturing seed, and is kept there as a basic propertyum, in order to be present in the next sowing as the first main thing in the business of growing in just measure.

587. From this enumeration of the propertya in our wheat grain, we have seen how many different basic propertya must be present and active.  But how are they led?  By spirits employed for the purpose, whereby however always a subdivision of the spirits occurs, which have their business territorially over themselves.

588. The lowest kind of spirits has only about one field each, approximately as the natural fields are divided among the people on the surface of the earth.  Such a spirit has the necessary wisdom and power, and directs the individual propertya merely with his will, and this will is like a judgment for the released soul-propertya.  This spirit knows exactly the propertya in the seed laid into the earth; it knows how much of it is present from the earth, and how much down from the stars, and in what kind and in what proportion.

589. When then the seed is put into the earth, he breathes his will over the field, which will, homogeneous with the certain propertys, seizes these propertys and compels them to their determined place.  There they flow according to their intelligence directed to this point, and there they begin their business in the form of infusorial animal-like beings, for which they possess intelligence and the appropriate power.  There they form the roots, the tubes; others again rise into these roots, and nourish or enlarge them; others again rise through the roots into the trunk; seize there the equals and kindred in the order of their intelligence, and one kind forms the tubes in the trunk, the others form valves, pumps and vents; again others and purer ones rise through these tubes, and form leaves in the order and form of their intelligence.  Again still purer ones rise higher through the tubes, and form the bud, the flower; and the purest and by this act itself most purified ones, form the fruit, and the even spiritual central intelligences unite in the fruit to the germ, and enclose themselves with a tissue, through which the outer and not yet so pure intelligences cannot penetrate.

590. If the ripeness has been caused by this activity over time, then this field's spirit has also done it's work, and leaves the rest to the people, and something thereby to the nature spirits, which then cause the decomposition, or better, the further dissolution of those parts which do not belong to the fruit, so that these propertya can rise then in the next period in a freer form.

591. Now think of as many such spirits, as many fields and as many different plant genera as there are; each one gets a certain genus on a certain territory and has to take care that this genus continues in the same condition and form.

592. The slightest inattention on the part of such a managing spirit results in a misgrowth and a misharvest, which is sometimes not uncommon with spirits, because they do not have a directed but a completely free will with regard to their work, which is necessary, because in a directed will, there can be no power.  Therefore, if people are to be chastened with a bad harvest, nothing more or less is needed than to entrust this business to more lukewarm spirits who do not care so much about it, If these spirits, which watch over the vegetation, do not bring the properly delivered soul-propertya in the right order and number under the roof, the unoccupied ones immediately rise to the second region, unite there to self-beings and to nature spirits, then cause bad weather, bad miasms, and all this has a bad effect on the plant growth.

593. But so that this happens as seldom as possible, and only in a few places, these spirits again have a higher and more perfect spirit over them, which already has a much larger territory to supervise.  Such a spirit is, as it were, like a lord of the manor, and already has many things under him.  Imagine the individual spirits like subjects, and the one who is over them like a lord of the manor, and you have a pretty much correct relationship; or like there is a lord who has various businesses in his district, and is privy to each individual business; his workers each do only one; but he overlooks them all, and distributes the work to them according to their talents.

594. A lord of the manor or such a lord of his district, however, does not reach over into the district of another; but so that an equal order may prevail in all districts according to the nature of the districts, a spiritual governor is again placed over the district lords, who in a certain way already overlooks and directs a whole country in everything.  This is already a spirit from the third region; but you know that several countries make up a kingdom; an angelic prince watches over it; but over all kingdoms, the Prince of princes watches, as He also watches, what no spirit can do, in every single property; and it is therefore that the eye of the Lord sees everywhere what is there and happens.

Minerals, plant, and animals (6 March 1847)

595. The plant kingdom, about the origin of which we have just spoken, is in a certain way the transition point from the mineral and the ether, which descends from the celestial bodies into the animal kingdom.

596. In the very foundation of the matter, however, there is neither a mineral nor a plant kingdom; because both the mineral and the plant kingdom is in the most actual sense also a kingdom of animals, and each mineral consists of as many so-called infusoric animal genera as individual soul-property intelligences are discoverable in it for the spirit of wisdom, which is certainly something unthinkable for the ordinary intellectual man; but if someone possesses only something of the true wisdom and cleverness of the spirit, it will not be too difficult for him to find out in every mineral as in every plant the intellectual psychic basic propertys, namely by the way as it has been shown so far.

597. Would you be allowed to discover all possible properties in a mineral or in a plant, you will also find just as many basic propertya, each of which is very peculiar, and therefore only fulfills a certain purpose in the mineral with one intelligence.

598. But in order for a mineral to become what it is and should be, the various propertya belonging to it, must unite as if in one, in order to represent through this unification, precisely that mineral which must be represented in accordance with the order.

599. In order to see this quite well, we will proceed to an example.

600. Let us assume iron; how many propertya will be necessary for the production of this metal?  By enumerating the individual properties of this metal, we will see what is needed to produce it.

601. First, iron is heavy; what causes this heaviness?  Through a property that rises from the innermost chambers of the earth; therefore, even though it is bound to this metal here, it still directs it's intelligent pull to where it has been banished for so long.  In this property it has, as it were, it's love downwards.

602. Furthermore, one notices the characteristic of hardness in the iron; this propertyity, which stands alone, contains in itself the vital intelligence of complete selfishness, and thus hardness and incorruptibility against any surroundings.  This property is like the gravity from below.

603. Furthermore, we discover in the iron a supple flexibility; this is a propertyum or a soul-intelligence, which, tested in many ways, carries in itself compliance.  This property is therefore already more powerful than the first two.  They lose nothing in their peculiarity through the presence of this property, but nevertheless they must conform to this property, which contains a humble docility; Therefore the iron becomes all the more flexible and pliable when it is heated, and this pliability and flexibility of the iron in the heated state corresponds all the more to willing humility, because humility and the will become all the more pliable the more they have been tried or tested by the test of fire.  This propertyum is still from below, but it is already of a good kind, because it conforms, since it has learned to conform through many trials.

604. Another characteristic property is the dissolvability; for you know that iron can be dissolved by acids, as by fire.  In this property lies the intelligence of being free, which property takes all the previously named ones with it, when it has found the support in it's intelligence to make itself free and to become free.  At the same time, this property corresponds also in natural respect to the centrifugal or expanding force, which, if it had no limitation, would expand into infinity.

605. But so that this does not happen, we immediately discover another characteristic beside it, or an intelligence propertyum, which in a way contains the unadulterated stoicism in itself.  This, therefore, wants to be reduced to the most minute.  This propertyum is therefore the controller for the former, and limits it in its' thirst for expansion; on the other hand, the former centrifugal propertyum also controls this latter centripetal propertyum.

606. Again we notice another characteristic of this metal; it is the slight glowing at the fire; this is a propertyum of anger in the iron, which is usually dormant; but when it is excited, it appears most powerfully, and devours all former propertya, and puts them into it's state.  These propertys, which we have listed so far in this metal, are all from below, and would not represent the actual iron for a long time, if they were not saturated with the nobler propertys from the stars.

607. But how can one recognize these propertya?   Just like the earlier ones by the even further enumeration of the various properties of this metal.

608. When iron is grated, it gives off it's own metal-acid odor; this odor is a property with an intelligence in which active love already expresses itself; for just as in all acid or in the actual oxygen the air of life known to you is present, so it is in spiritual terms the active love which, as you have long known, is life in the most actual sense.  This property is the main unifying principle of this metal; for it not only permeates it completely, but also surrounds it like an atmosphere of it's own; hence the smell of iron.

609. Another characteristic of this metal is that it shows a great readiness to receive electricity.  The cause of this is the same property in this metal; it is the intelligence of mobility, and with it, the thirst for social union.  This propertyum is likewise not like the earlier ones a firmly bound one, but like the aforementioned, only one that penetrates and surrounds this metal; but since it is nevertheless more or less related to the earlier propertyums, it holds with them a kind of standing quarters, and is constantly endeavoring to make them free, and then to win them over for itself.  It usually occurs in the appearance of rust, which rust, as you will have often experienced, in time turns all the iron in on itself, and gradually dissolves it completely.

610. The rust in itself is not the actual electric property, which remains continuously free; but these are the other earlier propertys already connected in a certain way to this free property, which strive, each in it's kind, to become equal to this property.  Behold, this property is therefore also from above.

611. Another characteristic is the shimmering or shining of the iron, namely in a whitish-gray color; this propertyum contains the concept of rest; only in rest can everything balance itself out; and when everything is balanced, then an equal surface appears, and this is receptive to light, like the surface of a mirror.  This property feature is inherent in all iron, but it is not firmly bound to it, but unites with it only when the surface of the iron is cleaned, polished and then smoothed.  If, however, it's parts, which have entered into the greatest uniform rest on the surface, were disturbed by anything in it, then this property would already be gone, and if not completely, then at least partially; But from this it also follows that the soul of man in it's completeness is only capable of receiving light when it enters the rest of it's spirit; for the spirit is the main principle of rest, for which reason even the ancient sages desired nothing but rest and light for a soul in seclusion.

612. In order to find all the properties in this metal still further, and thereby to indicate the way of this important work still more, and to make the animal kingdom in the mineral and plant kingdom quite clear, and how then the animal kingdom emerges from this, we will pursue next the sidereal specific properties of iron still further.

The composition of intelligence properties in living beings (8 March 1847)

613. When the metal iron is hammered, it becomes elastic. This elasticity is also a propertyum from above, and is identical with an orderly will-power which does not change from one day to the next. If this power is deflected by any available means, it will immediately revert to it’s former direction. This property force is one of the most widespread in the lower air sphere, and penetrates every atom of the air; that is why the air itself is elastic in the highest degree.

614. Even though this power comes from above, it penetrates the entire earthly globe, and it is the main reason for all movement within and upon it. It is the actual principle that causes movement and elasticity in all bodies. Only in fire does it wane, because it is set into a too great activity – but this most important power cannot perish. When red-hot iron seemingly loses it, the elastic power returns as soon as the iron has cooled off and is hammered again.

615. This propertyum is related to the light, because it consists of pure light atoms; According to the form it is spherical, or even better said: This propertyum is carried in an admittedly extremely small and highly transparent vesicle, which penetrates into all pores of the matter; If, as in the case of iron, the pores are rubbed and closed by hammering, so that these elastic propertyal bubbles cannot escape when this metal is bent, they immediately make their powerful presence felt when the iron is bent, and do not let it rest in the direction in which it was bent, but immediately drive it back again in that direction which is most corresponding to it's pressed position.

616. Several naturalists have called these atoms of light “ætheric light monads.” The designation is correct, because the term “monad” signifies “the valence of one of a property kind.” Since this propertyum originates from the light, it is highly peculiar, particularly in its intellectual sphere. It loves rest and seeks it with the greatest persistence. And for the reason that the very principle of peacefulness lies within itself, in every restriction and oppression, seeking the previous state of rest, it exerts the greatest moving force, which nothing can resist when it has been brought out of it's equilibrium by something.

617. Behold, this is therefore again a new propertyum - that is, a new intelligence in this metal, and it manifests itself in the apparently dead metal in the same way as it does in plants and animals; but from this it again follows that iron cannot possibly be a dead body, since one and the same intellectual force is active in it just as it is in animals, if it is excited by the right means.

618. In what does this property consist, then, so completely? In a small spark of light, incomprehensible to you, in the aforementioned bubble; this small spark of light is a psychological intelligence of persistent will, and remains quiet in it's little dungeon as long as it is not offended by any push or pressure; but if it is offended, then it awakens in it's shell, and breaks open it's walls, as the air does the walls of a bubble when it comes into it.  If the pressure or impact is only slight and weak, it's existence is evidenced by a tremor, from which the sound usually originates.  If, however, the pressure or impact becomes more violent, it tears it's shells and sparks forth as brightly shining sparks of fire; hence, in fire, too, this propertyum appears freely and destroys everything that comes in it's way.

619. I think, now that you have become acquainted with these propertys and have seen that they are really present in this metal just as they are in the plant- and animal kingdoms, what is to prevent us from assuming with just cause that animal life is also present in the metals and other minerals as well as in the animals themselves?  For the individual intelligences are always the same, whether in minerals, plants or animals, only with the difference that in minerals, only very few intelligences appear united, while in plants, and especially in the more developed animal kingdom, a far greater quantity is already present; Where the mineral counts about 8, 9, 10, at the most up to 20 intelligences, there are already many thousands with some plants, with some animals many millions and millions of times millions, and with the human being, countless amounts from all stars and from all atomic particles of the earth.

620. The more or less, however, does not exclude the animal life in the minerals, and that not because firstly, these intellectual propertya reveal themselves in all kinds of living animal forms to the armed eye of an explorer, and because secondly, these intelligences in the metals and minerals are the same to a hair as in the animals.

621. If you had such a microscope, which would magnify the objects about six million times, you would discover by means of this microscope in a single drop of water, an enormous number of the rarest animal forms; These forms are nothing but carriers of various individual intelligences, which continually meet in hostility, seize each other, and seemingly destroy each other; but in their place, a new form soon takes it's place, which absorbs all the earlier ones and, as it were, consumes them; when such a form has saturated itself sufficiently, it comes to rest and sinks to the bottom.

622. But when then an innumerable number of such figures have come to rest and have sunk, then they adhere firmly to each other in the rest as most related beings, and behold, out of it an apparently dead matter becomes for your eye.  But it is by no means so; It is only a trapped number of individual intelligences, which can be dissolved and come to life again, and combined into another form, which work, as you already know, our already very well known spirits perform in exactly the same way as we have observed them in their activity in the plant kingdom.

623. And after we have thoroughly gone through this introduction, we want to go to the animal kingdom and see how the spirits work there.

The Composition of Intelligence properties in living things (9 March 1847)

1. It is sometimes not unnecessary - in order to make what follows all the more vivid and comprehensible - to recall what has already been said; and so we also want to mention something about the different quantity-ratios of the property intelligences from the three realms.  It has been said above:

2. If in matter, or in the metal or mineral kingdom, 10 to 20 intelligences occur, then in the plant kingdom they occur a thousand to a thousand times a thousand, in the animal kingdom on a higher level, a million and a million times a million, but in man, they go into the indefinite.  That this is really the case, we want to show more closely by a comparative example.

3. You can make iron glowing hot, reforge it, take away what used to be in front and weld it on backwards, and other such changes, and the iron will remain iron afterwards, as it was before; it is the same case with all other metals.

4. Stones are already somewhat closer to the plant kingdom, and also already have more propertya than metals, and indeed the more common they are, the nobler and richer in property respect; therefore, if they are destroyed, they cannot easily be restored to their former complete state.  They remain as crumbled parts of an earlier complete larger stone of still the same matter; but they cannot be joined by the fire like the metals to one and the same material mass; because fire already puts them into a completely different state, which never resembles the earlier one.

5. The cause of this phenomenon is the plurality of property intelligences, which must already take hold in a greater order than in the metals; and if this order is disturbed by anything, by which or whereby several intelligences have recommended themselves, then matter no longer remains the same as it was before.

6. Take only one limestone in it's raw and then in it's burnt state; in it's raw state it may lie in water for a 1000 years, but it will not only not dissolve, but only become firmer, because several propertya unite with it in the water.  But throw a burnt limestone into water, and it will dissolve into a completely white mush in a few minutes.  The cause of this phenomenon is that a certain number of propertys have escaped through the fire, which previously gave the stone density and strength;  if water is finally added, then several more propertys are released, and the few that remain, lose the necessary cohesion, and then fall apart as a mush.  When the water is removed from the slurry, some of the propertya that have become free, return to the slurry and cause it to regain greater strength, which is why it is also used as a binding material in masonry.

7. From this example we have now seen that bricks cannot be manipulated in the same way as metals without losing their former properties.  This is even more the case with clay, which, once it has been baked, completely loses it's former property; for a well-baked brick never becomes clay, still less a so-called clay slate.  But even more than clay, loam is heathy; for a loam cake placed in the fire burns up almost as well as peat or hard coal; only this is understood of pure loam.  Loam, however, can still be softened by water and kneaded into various forms, and also remains loam, which is also the case with the clay.

8. But what a completely different case it is already with the most ordinary plant; there is already such a fixed order that it may not be displaced anywhere by an atom without harming the nature of the plant. The reason for this is that in the plant of the simplest kind itself, all the propertys must already be present in a well-ordered manner, which are otherwise to be found divided and separated in the whole mineral kingdom.

9. Let us take, for example, a moss plant, or even a sponge that grows from today to tomorrow; what is in the root cannot form the stem, and even in the root there is already such a firm order, that if a propertyum which is active in the root at noon, would be most active at midnight, would cause such disorder in the plant that it would wither and die.

10. Therefore, gardeners - if they want to move their trees well - should remember exactly the direction under which a small tree with it's roots and branches used to stand; for if they reverse this order, the moved tree will either progress with difficulty or not at all, and this because there is a significant difference between the northern and southern propertyas.  Conifers are particularly susceptible to this problem; if they are not properly aligned heavenwards, so they wither.  The same is the case with grafts; a graft from a northern branch grafted onto a southern branch of another sapling, will always wither because the propertya are not homogeneous.

11. But from this you can see with what great accuracy the order must be handled with regard to the position of the propertya; For every atomic-size particle of a leaf already has another property, which, although it has the greatest relationship to it's neighbor, is nevertheless not completely the same as it's neighbor, for if this were not the case, a leaf could never be constructed, and whoever would doubt this, should only try to cut out an equally round particle from a leaf and attach it to an equally large cutout of the same leaf, and he will convince himself that there will never be a connection.  Yes, I tell you, there is already such a great order that no human wisdom can ever comprehend it in it's fullness, as long as the spirit of man dwells in his mortal shell; and the further out into the extremities of a plant, the more abundant is the number of intelligences, and the more immovable it's order, which is just not yet so developed in the branches, especially of young trees, hence these can also be translated, or grafted into one another.

12. But if already with the plants such a great order must be handled, so that they become what they are supposed to be, as different institutions of redemption, namely for the freeing of soul intelligences, how great must then be the order, where the plant kingdom passes over into the animal kingdom.

13. In order to understand this order as thoroughly as possible, we will soon illuminate this matter by means of numerous illustrative examples, and admire the activity and wisdom of the managing spirits employed here.

The boundaries between nature’s kingdoms (12 March 1847)

624. To this day, naturalists have not been able to determine where the mineral kingdom merges into the plant kingdom, and where the plant kingdom merges into the animal kingdom; or where does the one kingdom end, and where does the other begin?  Where is definitely the last and most perfect plant, after which no more plant stage comes, but immediately a first admittedly very imperfect animal takes it's place?

625. Behold, these are things which are still in great obscurity; for there are on the surface of the earth a great many plants which seem to be more of an animal than of a vegetable nature, and again there are animals which by far look more like plants than like animals.  So there are also minerals, which could rather be taken for plants than for minerals, and again there are plants, which could rather be taken for minerals than for plants; and so there are also many animals, which still show plant-like extremities, and again there are plants, out of which an almost quite well formed animal looks out.

626. Since things are like this, everyone will easily see that an exact determination of the borders would be an extremely difficult piece of work for every natural scientist, and this mainly because there are still an enormous number of animal- and plant genera that are not yet known to natural scientists and will hardly ever become known; for the greatest number of the most curious plants and animals grow and dwell in the depths of the sea.  The large submarine areas, however, are somewhat difficult to access for botanists and zoologists; therefore it is also difficult to make an acquaintance with the animals and plants of this moist terrain.

627. In addition, however, there are also a lot of animals and plants on the earth's surface itself, which are unknown to the natural scientists because these lands of the earth, which are somewhat inconveniently situated for their spirit of exploration, are themselves not yet known.

628. Naturalists are already wondering about corals, and it is not yet completely clear whether they belong to the mineral, plant or animal kingdom; for every naturalist knows that corals are formed by a kind of worms, which are very small, stick together and thus form a coral branch.  The worms are certainly animals; But when they harden, their mass is as solid as precious stone, but the form in which these little animals gradually form by sticking together, resembles a defoliated little tree, which has branches, twigs and very small twigs.  Thus this plant is, according to it's formation, a volume of  countless animals, as mass a mineral, and as image and form, a little flower.

629. What the coral actually is, would be difficult to determine with an expression; but that the coral is that, as it was determined before, everyone can easily see and assume, thus in part animal, in part mineral, and in part, plant.

630. Similar to this plant are also the various metal flowers, which are formed together and all in the same way.  In the sea, however, there are still a lot of small and large animals, which even more than the corals, include the three kingdoms in the most obvious way.

631. Let us consider, for example, the great octopus.  This sure is the largest animal on earth; for in it's fully grown state it is over five hundred fathoms long, and about a hundred fathoms wide and thick.  This animal has no definite shape, but when it sometimes comes to the surface of the sea, it resembles a rather plump island, which here and there shows a rather lush vegetation; On it's back grows not infrequently moss, sea-grass, and even small sea-trees, which even bear a red round fruit, which you have already seen yourself often, and especially with the gold workers, who set this fruit in gold, and sell it as an ornament of a watchband.

632. This fruit, which is often found floating freely along the shores of the sea, usually grows and ripens on the back of our octopus, which is only driven to the surface of the sea by a nasty undersea weather. Besides these plants, however, one also finds a lot of red rock-like elevations on the back of this animal, which are not infrequently thrown off, and for a time, as long as they are not yet completely solidified, like dark red pumice stones float around on the surface of the sea and are often found on some seashores, sometimes even on solid land, where once a sea stood, under the name dragon's blood.   This dragon's blood has a great similarity with red ironstone, sometimes also with the mercurial peritomic hornblende.  This blood is entirely mineral, which is the only real thing found on the back of this animal.

633. In appearance, this animal is therefore a plant and a mineral at the same time; but if, unfortunately, a ship or sometimes several ships come to rest over the back of this enormous animal, then the animal quickly dives upward, lifting entire ship above sea level so that they soon topple over and, coming to rest out of the water, can no longer escape from this ground of certain doom; for once the animal sees that the ships on it's back are overturned, it raises from all sides a thousand dazzling white arms like large elephant trunks to a height of thirty fathoms, and in a thickness of not infrequently eight shoes in diameter.

634. Once it has pushed its arms out far enough, like the snail's horns, it then bends these terrible arms down to the ships lying on it's back, crushes them in an instant, and then with these thousand arms carries the crushed ship under itself into it's inordinately wide maw, and in this way consumes the whole ship with everything that was inside.  In its stomach lies such a digestive power, that nothing resists it; it consumes stones, metals, wood, even diamonds so completely that not the smallest undigested residue remains.

635. But because this animal digests so many different things, it is then also explainable that on it's surface, as on the surface of a small water planet, a lot of vegetative and mineral post-formations appear.

636. Then one could also ask to which kingdom this being should be counted, to the animal kingdom, to the plant kingdom or to the mineral kingdom?  For by virtue of it's shape, it is quite mineral in appearance, like a piece of earth or a piece of land on which there is quite a luxuriant growth of various plants; but since various plants occur on this creature, it could also be taken for a large tuber of a sea plant root, or as it were for an oversized undersea mimosa, which entwines itself around ships, as the small mimosa on land does around individual insects, and then pulls them down into it's flower chalice.

637. If someone illuminates these points quite critically, it will be just as difficult for him to classify this being into a certain realm, as it would be difficult for every natural scientist to classify the earth itself into a certain class; because the earth itself is to all appearances certainly mineral, because it produces such a tremendous amount of minerals on it's back, but it is also just as surely a plant, because it gives birth to so many plant-offspring, and even more surely it is an animal because it produces such a tremendously rich animal life.

638. From all this, however, something emerges that is strange for you, of course, at first sight.  For at the very foundation there is neither a mineral, nor a plant, nor an animal kingdom separate in itself, but there is only one kingdom as a whole, and that is the kingdom of beings in a variety of forms, and everything is originally animal, and not mineral, and not plant; and therein the reason why the distinctions between the three supposed realms stand on perpetually equally loose and untenable feet.

639. Only in the order of the ascent of the beings are certain stages set, which everyone easily sees as separate; for he who cannot distinguish a rock from a tree, a tree from an ox, and finally an ox from a donkey, is, as you are wont to say: baptism and chrysam corrupted, and he will have a hard time with astronomy, and even  harder with our theory about the spiritual earth.

640. But now that we know this, it will become easier and easier for us to listen to the activity of our spirits, which have already been discussed many times.

The animal soul and spirits’ influence on it (13 March 1847)

641. How the spirits of the mineral and plant kingdoms arrange the specifical intelligences into one being, and how they connect the sidereal and telluric ones, we have already dealt with sufficiently; The only thing that remains for us to observe is the transition or actually the becoming of the animal from the former realm, and to observe what all the spirits have to observe and do here themselves.

642. In every animal there is already a more or less developed soul, which works in it's body, which is still a coarse matter, through the so-called nerve-spirit that surrounds it at all times; and in this, the animal kingdom differs from the plant kingdom, and even more from the mineral kingdom, that the animal already has a free psyche, while in the plant kingdom and especially in the mineral kingdom, this is still interwoven with matter and divided, such as the spirit of wine in the grape, since someone can also consume very many grapes and not become intoxicated, while the spirit from twenty grapes would be enough to intoxicate ten people.  One understands here by itself large, good and ripe grapes.

643. Where does this spirit reside in the grape, this fiery-spiritual ether?  In the grape, it is still very divided and cannot have any effect, since in each grape juice berry, among a thousand specific substances, such an ethereal specific is also mixed in.  But if this single specific is pulled out of the many other specifics by a special apparatus known to you, and collected in a vessel, only then it expresses it's power.

644. So it is also the case with the animal soul.  It is an aggregate of a quantity of ethereal substantial specifics, which already form an intelligent constant being in so far, as they have united to this very being.

645. When the act of procreation occurs in animals, the spirits drive these psychic animal beings by their will into the material procreative organs of the animals and enclose them at the moment of procreation with a material membrane; in this membrane, this psyche then becomes active and begins to order itself according to the completeness of it's intelligence.

646. When the soul or the psyche has made the certain arrangements in this first dwelling and in itself, the spirits then see to it that this psyche receives the appropriate nourishment from the mother's womb through new organs specially formed for this purpose, and with it, the building material for it's future body, which it has to inhabit and through which it has to work.

647. This body is formed by the soul itself, but of course under the continuous guidance of the spirits, which of course do not have to give a hand, but only their will to the work.

648. However, the formation of the body proceeds in this way:

649. The etheric-substantial psyche first organized it's intelligences, or rather these intelligences organize themselves according to the laws of assimilation dwelling in them, since black unites with black, white with white, red with red, green with green, blue with blue, hard with hard, soft with soft, tough with tough, sweet with sweet, bitter with bitter, sour with sour, and light with light and so on.  But since every such etheric and now already substantial intelligence specificum carries a perfect idea in itself, which idea plasticizes itself in a certain form, this property of the soul passes in the period of formation of the body to the body, and the body is then at it' full formation nothing but the typical form of the complete soul, which was given into the womb of an animal at the moment of conception.

650. Once the form in the mother's womb is fully developed, and the soul, after it's formation, has in a certain way reshaped itself in the form of the body, then it has a rest for a certain time, and the body then continues to form itself through the nourishment still taken in the mother's womb, of course by supporting the soul in so far as it only then begins it's new activity in the main viscera.

651. This is when the pulse begins to beat and the juices begin to circulate in the new body; the new food is already absorbed into the stomach, with which it begins it's digestive business.

652. During this time, the so-called foetus comes to life in the womb.

653. Then, when the body is completely regulated by this operation, all organs have opened, pulse and digestion have entered the regular course, and the nerves have been saturated, When the spirits have formed a nerve-spirit in them that is most closely related to the soul through it's own electromagnetic process of fermentation, then the spirits again enter with their will, loosen the bonds between the foetus and the womb, and then drive the new being out of the womb, and that is the birth.

654. After birth, the newborn animal must be nourished for a short time from the mother's womb, as, for example, in mammals with milk, in poultry by the supersliming of nutrients with which the parents feed the young in the nests; With the water-amphibians likewise with a mucus, which these release in the water as a unique kind of milk, and with the amphibians on land, with a juice, which the old ones let flow out either from their warts, or even also from their throat.  With this food, the body is further developed so that it can then seek, find and consume the food intended for it.

655. From the moment when the body finds it's nourishment freely and enjoys it, the psyche dwelling in it begins, according to the guidance of the spirits, to invert the material specifics of the body into substantial ones, and in this way forms itself through the life of it's body into a richer, and thus also more perfect psyche, which, when it has reached the highest possible formation in a body, then gradually disregards it more and more.

656. Through this neglect the body weakens more and more, until it becomes completely annoying to the soul and unfit for further work, which causes pain to the soul through the nerve-spirit, but which pain then contributes to the fact that the soul finally gets rid of such a burden completely; Then the body falls as if dead and motionless, but the soul becomes free again, and is caught by the spirits again and forced to the procreation of a higher animal stage, where it then becomes active in quite the same way as it has now been described, only more complicated.

657. But the specifica of the discarded body must be dissolved again, because they have not yet been put together in a certain, but in a necessary order by the soul.  Through the repeated dissolution, however, they are then placed in a more definite order, and form the female psyche in the course of the advancing animal stages, while the free psyche proper, which we have now dealt with, is the male one; and thus Eve comes forth everywhere from the ribs of man.

658. Of course, one could ask here: What then happens to the specifices of discarded female bodies?

659. They are united with the males; by this unification, they are then only in a next stage able to form in themselves female and male.  For the fact that male and female come out of one and the same womb, hardly needs to be mentioned, since certainly each of you has already brought it so far in zoognosy.

660. But if the mother did not unite female and male specifica in her body at the same time, from where would she nourish the female and from where the male?  I think this thing is already so clear that it would be a formal empty mouth waffling to say more about it, and ridiculous and boring beyond measure, I would like to show you everything by words, how the feathers of the bird grow, the bristles of the sow, the horns of the ox, and the long ears of the donkey; for all this lies in the order of the soul, how it orders it's intelligences in the aforementioned way according to the laws of assimilation.

661. Since we have now seen the work of the spirits in this realm clearly enough, even if only through a few hints, we will next visit the transition into man and then soon look around a little deeper in the earth, i.e. the spiritual earth.

Influences of the spirits during the procreation of human beings (15 March 1847)

662. You have already been told so much about the nature of man, his soul and spirit, that you, so to speak, already know almost most of what concerns the whole nature of man; also the procreation has already been shown to you in the most manifold way.  It only remains to show you the influence of the spirits, which they have in the procreation of man.

663. As far as the material procreation is concerned, it differs little or not at all from the common animal procreation; the difference lies more in the interior.

664. The soul must be naturally already before the procreation completely there, that is, it must unite all substantial specifica in itself, which are otherwise distributed in the whole universe, and be supplied to it from all sides.

665. Such a perfect substantial specifical-compendium is then already the soul; only the specifica in it are in a certain way chaotically intermixed, so that one could say at most: Before conception, the soul is a knot, a so-called Gordian knot, which must first be untangled in order to reach a form.  The untangling of this knot begins with the act of procreation, because there this Gordian knot of the soul is driven into the womb and enveloped.

666. Within this envelopment, the corresponding intelligences begin to recognize each other, to approach each other, and to take hold of each other; but in order to be able to do this, the spirits provide them with light in their envelopment, in which light these substantial specific intelligences recognize each other, separate themselves, then approach each other, take hold of each other, and unite - and all this through the compulsion of the will of those spirits to whom this business is entrusted.  but these spirits are what you call guardian spirits, and are angels and great angels who all have influence; and there is no man who does not have at least three guardian spirits, two angels and a great angel, over whom a Seventh still watches, whom you already know well.

667. These guardian spirits and angels are around the newly conceived soul from the moment of conception, and constantly take care of it's proper formation.

668. Once the soul has received the human form again in it's envelopment, then corresponding specifica are supplied to it from the mother's womb; the soul finally uses these specifica for it's own firmer bonding of it's intelligences.

669. Once this has happened, other and new specifica already flow out of the mother's womb into the place of the new incarnation in the mother's womb; these are already used for the formation of the nerves; the nerves are, in a certain sense, cords and strings which the soul can take hold of everywhere, and attracted in order to be able to give the following body every possible movement precisely through these cords and strings.

670. If the nerves are finished in their bases and connections, then already again new properties follow their flow.  These are arranged for the formation of the viscera; and if the main viscera are represented in the first organic bases, then they are connected immediately with the main nerves.

671. After this work, the complete formation of the intestines begins with somewhat different specifications.  But since most of the nerves converge in the head, mainly in the back head, in which the soul also has it's head, the formation of the head begins simultaneously with the formation of the viscera, which is the most corresponding image of the soul, because all intelligence of the soul is concentrated in the head through certain main emissions; and because the eyes are the most perfect symbol of intelligence, the head and especially the eyes will be the first to be seen; for in the eyes, all the emanations of the individual intelligences of the soul flow through each other, and by this very flowing through each other, they form the natural power of sight of the soul, by means of which it can see the outer world inside itself.

672. When the soul has finished this work with the help of the will of the spirits, it is again supplied with new elements; from these, all kinds of things of the human body are then already ordered.  There is no need of making or creating here; the substances create itself, if only the orderly way is indicated to it.  And so here flesh, cartilage, muscles, tendons and bones are formed, and each takes hold by itself, what belongs to one and the same; Only the direction would be missed and therefore also the form, if the spirits did not show the right way to the intelligence specimens through their wise willpower, which can even happen sometimes, when the mother, who carries such a child in herself, sometimes goes to hell in her mind, where then, of course, my good spirits and angels cannot provide full active company.  The consequence of such misfortune is usually a miscarriage, or sometimes even an infant from hell, which the so-called common people call a changeling; - therefore it would be advisable for every mother to behave as Christianly virtuous as possible during pregnancy.

The development of the human fetus (18 March 1847)

673. When the soul has developed the cartilages, muscles, bones and tendons described above, it will take further care to bring the outermost extremities to complete perfection through the correct and orderly use of the properties belonging to them.

674. When this is also done, the soul withdraws into the intestines and begins to set the muscles of the heart in motion, through which movement the organs are first opened by their own watery juices and in a certain way pierced.

675. When this puncture has taken place, the soul immediately sets the spleen in action; thereby blood is immediately produced and led into the heart chambers, from where it is then also driven into the opened organs as soon as possible.

676. Once the blood has made the first cycle, the stomach is set into action and immediately begins to bring the nutritive juices in it into a greater fermentation, whereby the nobler, more substantial substances are already separated, but the coarser, indigestible, slimy liquids are expelled through the natural emptying channel, whereby the liquid in the mother's bladder also comes from, which in a way is nothing other than the filth of the child already living in the mother's womb.

677. After this fruit has spent three months alive in the womb of the mother, an eternal spirit is placed in the heart of the soul - which has become calm and whose spiritual heart has reached a certain solidity -  by an angelic spirit; Of course, no-one has to think of a material envelopment here, but a spiritual one, which is much stronger and more durable than a material one, which can already be seen from many things in the world, where it is easier to break through a material dungeon than a spiritual one.

678. Take just once a poor man and then an exceedingly rich man; put the poor man up against a thick wall and tell him to break through that wall, and he will take a crowbar and a strong hammer and become master of the strong wall with them.  But when he comes to the rich, hard-hearted man, he will not master the heart of the rich man with a crowbar, nor with a hammer, and still less by pleading; for this is enclosed with spiritual bonds, which no earthly power is able to break through.  Only the Spirit of all spirits can do that!

679. After the insertion of the spirit into the heart of the soul - which action happens earlier in some children, later in others, in many three days before birth - the body will mature faster, and the birth will proceed.

680. During this time, a mother should refrain from all irritations and desires; for these desires and irritations usually originate from hell, and wherever the mother touches herself in such a state of irritation, the spirit placed in the soul is excited as the opposite pole, and draws the soul by correspondence into the excited place, and this drawing of the soul is then also reproduced on the body. This is the origin of the so-called birthmarks of children.

681. That such a sign takes only a local small place, and not initially the whole soul, and afterwards the whole body, is caused by the spirits; because if this would not be the case, then by such a careless touch and thereupon a complete branding of hell, a whole corruption of the soul, and with it the death of the body, could happen, and that would be exactly what hell intends.

682. Therefore, everyone should beware of such people who have many and considerable moles on their bodies, because not infrequently, the infernal elements in such a being become more or less awake, and when they are awake, then the individual who has several such and considerably large markings on his body, is not infrequently evil in one or the other sphere.  Either such people believe nothing, or they are devoted to fornication, or to evil manners, and in one respect the warning can also apply here: "Beware of the marked"; for hell marks everything given to it, so that it could not be taken from it, and it would like to reclaim it's own again after the expiration of the time limit, recognizing it as lawful.

683. It is almost the same as in the world; the heavenly people also give of their possessions to their brothers and sisters without promissory bill and seal, because they give it in order not to take it again, and there is never a trial.

684. The people of the world also give, but never without a promissory bill and seal, so that they can take it back again after the time limit has expired; and if the debtors cannot pay them back again, there is a lawsuit and trial, and that is hellish, because hell sues and proceeds forever.

685. However, you must not take this birthmarking so exactly; because if these marks are only few and very small, then they have either only very little and mostly also no reference to the above illumination. As it was already shown above, so the protecting and work-guiding spirits prevent hell from such evil doings and activities; And even if a child gets some signs during the fight of the good spirits with the evil ones, they are still only signs (stigmata), which do not carry any consequences, because the infernal elements have been removed from them.

686. A psychologist could freely ask and say here:

687. But how can the Lord, if He is one, together with His innumerable angelic host, which is equipped with all power and wisdom, allow the abominable hell to do such a thing to the most innocent fruit in the womb?  That is most unwise, and sounds very much like powerlessness.

688. But then I say: To each his own!  Let the tares grow together with the wheat until the time of harvest; then all the hellish will be separated from the heavenly most exactly, and the heavenly will be brought to heaven, and the hellish again to hell.  And because of this, no soul will be lost, even if it already has a thousand infernal marks in it; for these will be taken from it and assigned to hell.  But everything will depend on the fact that the soul, through humility, has made itself free of it's spirit.  If it has freed the spirit, then it will also become free from everything through it; but if it has not, then it will remain imprisoned until the spirit has not lost it's sevenfold envelopment and has then become one with the soul.

689. When the child is born from the mother's womb, the lungs are set into activity, and the child then begins to take in an innumerable amount of elements from the air with each breath, which are immediately used for the formation of the nerve-mind and for the strengthening of the soul; i.e. as far as it's substantial formal being is concerned.  But what concerns it's inner properties and intelligence-nourishment, it gets through the senses of the body, and all this is ordered by the good spirits in this sphere.

690. With this present enlightenment, you have the spiritual sphere of the first region, what it is and happens in it, revealed as clearly as possible for you.

691. A greater and more thorough revelation of this matter cannot be conceived for the reason that the spiritual can never be given by earthly words in the clarity as it is in itself; but he who possesses a right feeling, and can hear, look, touch and feel with it, will find with great ease in it the thorough conviction of what has been said here irrefutably in the greatest clarity.

692. Thus, however, we would also be finished with this first region, and next we will still go very briefly into the interior of the earth, and thus close this communication.

The soul and spirit in a human being (20 March 1847)

693. What concerns the natural earth, we have dealt with as precisely as possible in the natural part of this communication; but that this apparently natural earth is nothing less than natural, i.e. material, we will recognize even more precisely by the present further revelation than we have recognized it so far.

694. But in order to reach a thorough knowledge in this matter, we must understand quite fundamentally what soul and spirit actually are.

695. This difference has already been shown, and what has already been said would be sufficient to distinguish the essence of the spirit and the soul from each other for very enlightened minds; but for you who do not yet have the right contemplation in the subject of the inner life, the matter must be explained somewhat more clearly, so that you can thereby attain a correct understanding.

696. The soul is the receptive organ for all the endless ideas of the primordial ground, from which it emerged like a breath; it is the carrier of the forms, the relations and the modes of action; all these ideas, forms, relations and modes of action are laid down in it in the smallest wrappings.

697. A just measure of all that combined into one being, forms a perfect human soul; but because the soul is a compendium of an innumerable quantity of different substantial particles of intelligence, it can also be separated again as a composite in it's parts, as it were, like the air, which also forms and represents a continuum, but is nevertheless capable of an infinite separation.

698. The fact that air can be separated from each other in larger, smaller and smallest particles, is proven by the next best foam, which consists of nothing but air bubbles created by the movement of a somewhat viscous liquid.  When the bubbles disappear, the air sealed in them is immediately one again with the whole mass; but as long as the bubbles remain, they enclose a part of the air within themselves and, as you like to say, hermetically seal it off from the outer air through the transparent wall.

699. Thus also the whole universe, yes the whole infinity is filled with the ideas of the Godhead, and the same, which fill the whole infinity, are also to be found in a monad, but of course in the most limited scale possible, just as the air in the smallest soap bubble contains all the same parts, which are to be found in the general air.  That would be the soul.

700. Yes, what is the spirit after all? Many a psychologist will ask.

701. The spirit is not a form in itself, but it is the very being that creates the forms; and only when the forms are created, can it itself appear as a form in these created forms:

702. Every force, if it is to confirm itself as such, must provide itself with a counterforce; only on the basis of this created supporting point, can the force express it's effects and bring them to manifestation.

703. The spirit is therefore like the light, which remains eternally light in itself, but cannot become visible as light as long as there are no objects to illuminate.

704. The light, as you see, for example, also with the sun, constantly and evenly goes out from it; but without an object, no eye can notice it's existence.  A moonless night has just as much light emanating from the sun as a moonlit one; but in the first case, the light has no object up in the high ether, and therefore no-one notices that it is present.  But if the moon stands as an efficient body in the high ether at night time, the outgoing sunlight is immediately perceived very powerfully, and everyone who is only somewhat familiar with astronomy, will easily notice how and from where the moon is illuminated by the sun.

705. You may easily notice the spiritual effect of light in nature.  It is true that everything is present in the earth and in the air; all forms of being and becoming lie together in seeming matter, motionless and unfeeling, and nothing stirs in them, but when the light comes, the forms that lie dead together, come to life, join with each other and become new forms.  Just compare winter with summer, and you cannot miss the spiritual work of the light.

706. Now you also know what the spirit actually is; it is the light, which produces itself from it's own warmth from eternity to eternity, and is like the warmth the love, and like the light, the wisdom.

707. If a man has a soul, however perfect it may be, but has little or no light, he will have little or no activity in his soul and also in his body.  But if light comes into this soul, it becomes active according to the measure of the light in it.

708. The soul of a cretin, for example, is just as perfect in itself as that of a doctor of philosophy; but the body of this soul is too clumsy and heavy, and lets only extremely little or no light into the soul; or the spark of light which is put into the soul cannot flare up, because it is pressed too much by the clumsy mass of flesh.  The soul of a philosopher, however, lets through much light; the mass of flesh has become looser through much learning, and does not press the spiritual flame to one point so much.

709. For this reason, in the first case, one will find either no activity at all, or only very little; in the second case, however, the enlightened individual will have almost no rest and quiet because of all the activity.

710. Of course, we are not yet talking about wisdom, where everything becomes light in the soul, but only about little or no light, and about more and much light; from this it can already be seen quite clearly that without spirit or light, everything is dead and not capable of any further development and perfection - while in the light, everything becomes alive, active, forming and perfecting itself.

711. Light has certainly also no form for itself; but it creates the forms, and then works itself as form in the forms.  The forms can be bound separately or together, and new ones can be formed innumerably; the light, however, cannot be separated, but it penetrates everything without interruption, what is receptive for the light, but what is not receptive for the light, that remains dark and dead in itself; because a lightless state of the soul is it's death.

712. It is self-evident that we are speaking here of the eternal Light, which alone causes life, and not of a shooting light, lightning light, that is, an anger-light, which gives a doubtful enlightenment only for a moment; but when it ceases, then it becomes ten times darker than before.  Such a light is like the infernal light; there are also such flare-ups, but after each one, there is always a tenfold greater darkness.

713. Now that we have hopefully seen the difference between soul and spirit clearly enough, we can then also easily grasp that the earth in it's stronghold is nothing but Satan's captive soul, while his spirit clings to it, bound in new impenetrable bonds.

714. We will next time take a closer look at this matter.

Satana’s soul (23 March 1847)

715. We have already touched upon the fact that a soul, in that it consists of innumerable substantial particles of intelligence - or to speak even more clearly - of innumerable miniature conceptual images, can likewise be divided again either into a complete dissolution or into certain compendia, which, depending on the different number and kind of the individual substantial particles of intelligence combined in them, can result in different corresponding shapes and forms.

716. Examples of this exist on the surface of the earth and in the earth itself in countless quantity.  Just look at the different kinds of metals and the different plants and animals; there you have immediately plastic examples in the multitude, to which rare forms of soul-combinations can develop.

717. Of course, these are material types; but they are just material external images or types of the inner soul forms.  For the outer form can be no other than only, which corresponds in plastic respect completely to the inner one; or as the inner power, so the outer effect.

718. Such a soul-division also happened at the creation of the first human couple, since one soul became two; for it is not said that the Creator also blew a living breath into the nostrils of Eve, but Eve came out of Adam together with body and soul, and in this second soul, also an immortal spirit was put, and thus one human and one soul became two, and yet were one flesh and one soul.  Such a soul-division can be easily recognized in the children of the parents, because the physiognomic resemblance of the children to the parents proves that the soul of the children is also partly taken from the soul of the parents. What is alien in it, remains alien and physiologically dissimilar to the procreators; but what is from the procreators, expresses itself sympathetically in the likeness of the procreators, and the parents recognize their children by it.  From these examples, the divisibility of the soul can be easily recognized and understood.

719. However, this divisibility in the spiritual world is even more conspicuous by countless very rare phenomena.  A soul, which has lived through the earthly time by such a way of life, which is not written in the shining paragraphs of the book of life, or which way of life is not sufficiently trained according to the gospel in all parts, appears in the spiritual world inevitably under the most manifold forms, which extend back to the most horrible animal forms.  The reason for this is that the soul has wasted a large portion of the specifics necessary for it's full development through earthly life.  These are no longer there after the separation of the soul from the body; therefore the form of the soul outside the body must be only a highly imperfect one, just as some and even many lean too much toward one or the other sensual being, and thereby attain too great an excess of the specifics no longer suitable and necessary for their being.  In the spiritual world, as soon as they are out of the body, such souls get a lot of the rarest and mostly most gruesome outgrowths.  Supporting heads, for example, because this is still an animal characteristic, get antlers or horns according to the degree of their supportiveness; fornicators, who are only concerned with the female genitals, are often bristling with female genitals all over their being, and vice versa the female gender is bristling with membris virilibus.

720. Depending on a person's sensual inclination, it will be expressed in the soul, and that because of the excess of such substantial intelligence specifics, which - according to the rule of the book of life and its established order - no longer belong to the purely human form of the soul.

721. In some people, similar abnormalities of the soul are already visible in the still earthly body, which of course is not always the case, because the body does not absorb foreign specifica so easily as does the soul; Only if the soul has absorbed unsuitable specifica too early or sometimes also due to parental sins, they will also be transferred to the body noticeably when the body is still more receptive.

722. From this previous presentation, it will hopefully be made very clear that the soul is not only materially visually fixed, but can be divided both as a fixed and also already as a free soul.

723. But we said above that the whole solid earth is the soul of Satan; yes, not only the earth alone, but also all other countless other world-bodies are formed from this one soul, which has already been divided into countless compendia in these world bodies.

724. The spirit, however, is not divisible, but where it was placed as a unity in a large or small soul, there it remains also as a unity; if once the soul of Lucifer was still so large, then nevertheless not more than one spirit could dwell in it; and this one spirit fallen by itself cannot be resident in all the countless divided combinations of it's former concrete primordial soul; his dwelling is limited only to this earth inhabited by you; all other world-bodies, although parts of this former soul, are free from this inhabitation; But therefore also the people of those world-bodies, although in their nature usually better than here on earth, can nevertheless never reach that completely God-like height as the children from this earth, which is indeed the most distant in spirit from God and the very last, but for that very reason, in the case of improvement, can become the most supreme and most God-like.

725. And for this very reason I, as the Lord, also chose this earth as the scene of My highest mercies, and created all heavens anew on it's ground.

726. Every person who is born here receives a spirit out of Me, and can undeniably receive the perfect childship of God according to the prescribed order.

727. On the other world-bodies, however, people receive spirits from the angels; for every angel is a child of God, and had to have passed through the way of the flesh on this earth, just like I Myself and like every archangel; for which reason he then also has the creative power in himself, and can take from the abundance of his love and his light, and put them into the newly becoming people of other planets, and bring forth themselves in this way like a god, children of his name.  These children are therefore only secondary children, but not real children out of God; however, they can also reach the childship of God on the way of a reincarnation on this earth.

728. Behold, this is on the one hand a disadvantage for the people of this earth, because they live so close to the most evil of all spirits, which causes them much trouble; but on the other hand they also have the infinite advantage that they firstly have a strong spirit out of God, with which they can easily, if they only want to, fight the wickedness of the most evil, in order to secondly, become perfect children of God for the second.

729. Someone might of course make the weak objection here: Where from then have been taken spirits for other planetary people, while the earth carried still no man, where nevertheless it could be presupposed that other much older, particularly sun world-bodies, carried human beings surely already around one trillion years before the earth.  This weak objection can be countered only weakly: Those much older world-bodies firstly originated, as already noted above, from one and the same soul; the bigger the plant, the longer time is needed until it bears fruit.

730. Put a grain of wheat and an acorn nut in the ground, and then ask yourselves, which seed here will bear fruit sooner?  The grain of wheat will bring forth it's like in a few months; the oak will require many years.  Infusorial animals can experience several hundred generations in a minute; The elephant needs over 2 years until he brings a young to the world, and until he becomes fertile and receptive, sure some 20 years are necessary.  Then compare between infusoria and the elephant; how many generations of the infusoria might count an elephant generation?

731. I think this example is tangible enough that you see by it that, although a primeval sun is older by several trillions of earth years than the earth - which is nevertheless already some quintillions of years old - it still, since it is much larger than the earth, also brings it's sowing to maturity in the same measure much later; and for this sake, I have it already well calculated that the fruits of all world-bodies can and must reach maturation only when the central point of the spiritual creation has grown so far to be able to implant it's spiritual exuberance of life into the fruits of other world-bodies.

732. It is true that e.g. on the primordial sun Urka known to you human beings have existed even before the earth was separated from it's sun; but these human beings have also a different lifespan than the people of this earth.  For if such a primeval man is only ten Urka-years old, he is already older than this whole earth, but from this it is very easy to see that the first-born of this world-body can still live quite well until this hour, and still some who are born now, will live as long as this earth will stand; from which it can then also easily be seen that with time it will be easy, in which all angels together with Me have gone through the path of the flesh, and have now been able to take from the great abundance of their life for a long time as My children and plant that in the children of other world-bodies.

733. From all this it is obvious for everyone who has spirit and light, that firstly the soul is divisible, and therefore especially the original soul of the first created original spirit; and secondly we have also seen that this very earth is that only part of that original soul which is still inhabited by the original spirit.

734. Now that we know this, let us look into the actual way of soul-division and see how an innumerable number of new souls are taken from this one soul.

The law of the division of the soul (24 March 1847)

735. It has already been shown to you in part, namely in the description of the mineral and plant kingdom, how an innumerable number of telluric specifics continually rise, seize and combine and arrange themselves according to the intervening will of the spirits who have to take care of this business, and that in a certain way, everything which only always appears on earth, is soul.  Accordingly, we need not repeat this any more; but something more rare and exceedingly memorable comes here as a bright addition.

736. This division, which will certainly sound a bit mysterious to you, is therefore ordered according to a secret law, which one could call divine politics, by which Satan himself is forced to be the first henchman of this division.

737. He wants to make his soul free by his power, and to give it again the previous extension; therefore he burns up continuously in the inside of his compressed telluric-specifical total soul.  By this continual burning up, he wants to make the apparent matter completely the subtle substance; This effort of his is continuously allowed under proper restriction, and for this purpose also the organism of the earth-being is placed and ordered in such a way that the evil spirit must remain continuously active in such a way of his perseverance.

738. He is also really in the delusion that he has already freed almost his whole imprisoned soul by such his activity; that is why he constantly drives the psychic elements from the inside of the earth; But that these elements are then caught here by the more powerful spirits, and are arranged into new perfect human forms, of that he knows little or nothing.

739. But just these specifica, which come from there, are of course of a completely infernal kind, and are fundamentally evil; therefore, they must ascend and pass through a superlarge series of levels of beings, before they are suitable for the constitution of a human being.

740. The infernal nature of these elements is clearly shown by the many creatures that precede man. Consider the poisonous nature of almost all metals, the poison in the plants, then the poison in the animals, their great fury, especially in the ravenous animals, and the terrible mischievousness and treachery of the poisonous worms, and you will not miss the infernal evil in these beings; yes, even among people this evil, purely infernal, often expresses itself to such a high degree that not seldom there is little or no difference between some people and the prince of darkness.

741. This purely infernal evil is exposed to a new fermentation only by the intermediary of the most powerful specific of the Word of God, in which only then the infernal is soothed and turned into the heavenly; but not all at once.

742. The specifica in the actual soul of man become purely heavenly in themselves, when they have been penetrated by the spirit in the body, but the body or the flesh of man in all it's parts is still vainly evil, thus still infernal; Therefore, this flesh must still suffer a lot of humiliating trials until it can only gradually become a congruent part of the already earlier purer psyche.

743. For this reason, the body must die once again, or rather be dissolved, must pass in all it's parts into all kinds of worms, die again in these or be dissolved, and after this dissolution, pass into countless infusoria; the plants then decompose in all kinds of states, partly in the earth, partly in the fire, partly in the stomachs of the animals, and this continues until the last atom has been freely dissolved, for which several hundred years will be necessary with some people, with some vain flesh-loving fools indeed even several thousand years, until their body left behind, will be completely dissolved.  The actual purely infernal yeast of every body will remain incorruptible for all times as the most real basic property of Satan, so that it remains a perpetual body; but whatever only sticks to it as a most minute of soul-substance, will be taken from it and incorporated into the actual soul of man; and so, little by little, the whole soul of Satan will rise in many people, each of whom will be more perfect than the whole of the former great spirit; and in order that each soul may receive a perfect divine measure, a new spirit from God will be implanted in each soul, and they will thereby become a new creature.  And this is the new creation, which will be completely transformed by the fire of Divine Love; but the old creation will sink back into it's dust and it's ever-increasing impotence, and will harden and become a substrate and a stool for the new.

Satan’s repatriation and redemption (26 March 1847)

744. If the matter is like this, some might say: In this way, the desired improvement of the first fallen spirit and his helpers looks very slim; for if, in a certain way, the most depraved part of his soul will remain as the dregs and slag of all matter as a substrate of a new creation, then within this slag soil, the spirit will also remain trapped; for a spirit never leaves it's soul, and this may be substantial or material.

745. Yes, I say; with the improvement and return of this spirit and his helpers, it will look a little slim here. There is still just a spark of possibility, but this spark is so small that it would hardly be perceived with a microscope, which would have at least a trillion times magnification.  This will only become clear after a main examination of this spirit, and that in such a way, by which this spirit will experience in the clearest way, that all his soul has been taken from him, and has gone into the glory of God.  There will be no more sun and no more earth in the vast space of creation; For by then all visible bodies will have completely surrendered their captives, and there will be no matter to be found except the spiritual of a new heaven and a new earth, but the old earth will shrivel up like an apple when it has become rotten, and in it's rottenness gradually withered away; and that will also be all that will remain of all matter, namely the last slag of genuinely satanic psychic, most evil particles of intelligence, which the spirit of Satan will not leave, together with his henchmen.

746. But it would be of no use to anyone to determine when this will happen, for on this natural earth, no human being will experience it, and in the spiritual world, every perfect spirit will not care a whit what has happened to the filth, just as in this world there will surely be hardly one among a million people who would anxiously and mournfully inquire about the filth that fell from his body thirty years ago.  But this filth would be even better than the other.

747. But this will happen, that then this spirit will be thrown into all eternity with it's most solid coating of dross, and it's fall will never find an end.

748. But in all the depths of depths, he will fall into the sea of wrath, into which he will penetrate deeper and deeper, and will always find more and more torment, the endlessly deeper he will penetrate into the ever more violent sea of wrath, which has no end.

749. Although this sea of wrath is a fire of all fire, it will never dissolve this dwelling, and there it will be as it is written:

750. "All wickedness has sunk down into the eternal abyss, and has been swallowed up forever, and henceforth there shall never be any wickedness in all the spaces of infinity!"

751. But as long as this earth still exists, it is possible for every spirit to take the way of repentance, humility and correction, thus also for the worst spirit.  But when this time will pass, then also the possibility of a return will be barricaded for eternal times.

752. It will still take a pretty long time until the earth will deliver all prisoners; because it is still a considerably big lump, even some millions of earth-years will pass, where the earth will make it's last trial by fire in the fire of the sun.  What will still be able to be dissolved, that will reach freedom; but what the fire of the sun will not be able to dissolve, what will not become liquid in this fire, that will remain dross eternally as a prison of the very worst, and that will be the last and eternal death.

753. But since we have already spoken so much about the most evil spirit imprisoned in this earth, it will be for you, even if not so very useful, but still memorable, to learn where in this earth-body the actual abode of the most evil spirit is.  It is not difficult to tell you this; I may only lead you into the center of the earth, then you already have the dwelling place of this spirit.  It is not the heart, nor any other visceral part of the earth, because these visceral parts consist - like everything else - of souls, in which however partly this announced most evil spirit works, but partly also, and indeed always in the majority, the good spirits, which then limit the work of the evil one.

754. The seat of this evil spirit is the actual firmest center, on which everything presses, so that it does not move too violently and destroy all the essence of the earth; because one could only give it a little air, then it would be finished in an instant not only with this earth, but with the visible creation; because there is a tremendous power in it, which can only be held down by the very heaviest bonds, which I alone, as the Lord, can forge.  But even if he is still so much bound, he never fails to breathe his arch-evil into the ascending elements, which breath of will is still powerful enough to plant death into all soul-elements, which death still faithfully certifies itself in all creatures of the earth; For everything organic is destructible, and all matter is capable of giving death and causing destruction, and all this stems from the breath of will of the most evil one, whose wickedness or evil is in itself so indescribably terrible that you would never be able to form even the slightest concept of it; Because the smallest concept of the actual evil of this spirit would already be so deadly that no man could think and live it.  And if I would give you only the smallest description of the actual evil of this spirit, it would kill you in the first moment; because everything you have already heard about this spirit are only the faintest and most distant shadow images, and are enveloped by My protecting grace on all sides, and are sufficient to suspect this being for your need.

755. A closer acquaintance with this being would be most pernicious; you can already take a shadow image of the relentlessness and the most terrible cruel malice of it's nature from some phenomena on the surface of the earth.  Consider those vehement poisonous plants of the tropical countries; How terrifying is their effect, and no one can help destroying such a plant; for whoever approaches such a tree or plant for only a few hours, immediately falls down dead; and yet such a plant has only an infinitely smallest specific in itself, which comes up to the surface from the vicinity of the abode of this evil spirit, and enters into the order of such a tree.  At the sight of such a plant, which does not tolerate any life apart from itself, everyone can already get an idea, admittedly only in the smallest enveloped potency, what Satan's actual evil looks like.

756. Also the sight of a tiger is instructive in this respect; this animal has likewise only one Aeonstel-Specificum from the psychic-specifical proximity of the abode of this most evil spirit in itself, and this Specificum is sufficient to make this animal the most cruel of all four-footed animals; because this animal is cunning, has no fear, and spares nothing what it encounters.

757. Snakes and the vipers are the same; when they are hungry, they attack everything that they encounter.  Even a stone falling from a height spares nothing; with deadly blind fury, it smashes everything that stands in it's way.

758. From such objects one can recognize something of the most relentless fierceness of this most evil spirit.

759. Because of it's harmfulness, I will not describe it's whereabouts to you in detail; it is enough that you know where, how and why; and we want to consider other useful and important things in this sphere next time, instead of giving a more detailed description of this spirit.

Satana’s nature and name (27 March 1847)

760. You will have already heard and read often, and still hear and read it, how this same evil spirit occurs under all kinds of names, and next to him still a lot of companions of the same light, which are called devils.  I will take this opportunity to give a precise definition of where the evil spirit got all the different names from, and why, and who actually are the devils.

761. Satana, Satan, Leviathan, Belzebub, Gog, Magog, the serpent, the dragon, the beast of the abyss, Lucifer, and the like are some more names that are used to describe him in different ways.  Lucifer or light bearer was his original, characteristic name.  Satana was as much as the antipole against the Godhead; as Satana, this spirit was really placed by God opposite the Godhead, as the woman is placed opposite the man.  The Godhead would have begotten His eternal ideas without number into His being, so that they would have matured in His concentrated light, and thereby a creation of beings would have emerged from the light of this spirit in highest clarity, and the whole infinity would have been populated more and more from this very light; for in infinite space there would also be room for the infinite, and eternities would never be able to fill this space in such a way that beings could ever become crowded in it.

762. But as you know, since this spirit had such an endlessly great destiny to be a second god beside Me, he also had to pass a test of freedom corresponding to his destiny, which he also, as you know, did not pass, because he wanted to raise himself above the deity and make Him submissive.

763. The first thing that this same spirit did against the deity was a dispute over rank.  But since he could not persuade the deity to give him precedence and to make himself completely submissive to him, he burned in his anger and wanted to formally destroy the deity, for which he really would not have lacked the strength, if the deity, according to His eternal wisdom, had not caught this mutineer hard in all his parts in time.  Of course, it sounds a bit puzzling that such a power should have existed in this spirit in order to defy the eternal Godhead to such an extent that it would finally have to give in to it's power, and would finally have to let itself be completely captured, and thereby become incapable for all eternities, which would be as good as being destroyed; But the thing becomes comprehensible if one considers that the Godhead has put into this very spirit, so to speak, a perfect second I, which, if already created in a certain way according to the time, nevertheless was placed opposite the Godhead in all spaces of infinity, equally powerfully.

764. This spirit, in which the Godhead itself had concentrated His light, was spread out through the whole infinity like the Godhead, therefore it would also have been possible for him, vice versa, to seize the Godhead everywhere and to make Him incapable; only in this thought of selfishness, the great vanity and the self-pleasure in his light and in his endless sublimity and power awoke in him.  In this selfishness and in this pleasure in himself, he forgot the old eternal Godhead, burned in his vanity, and solidified himself.  Then the Godhead seized his being in all parts, took away from it all specific essence, formed from it world-bodies throughout the whole infinity, and wrapped the spirit of this endless being-soul with the most powerful bonds, and bound it into the depth of matter.

765. In this position this spirit is no longer called Satana, but because it has emancipated itself from the eternal divine order, Satan, that is as much as: same pole with the Divinity; but you know that equal polarities never attract, but always only repel each other.  Therein lies the reason that this being is in everything the most distant from the Godhead and therefore the most opposite; therein and thereby also it's arch evil.  Now you know why this spirit is also called Satan.

766. By the term Leviathan, one wanted to designate only his strength and power, and that after the concept of a former sea monster, which was certainly the largest, strongest and most indestructible animal of the whole earth.  It's size was like that of a country; it's shape like that of a giant dragon, which possessed such strength that it could suffer a strong fire in it's entrails without suffering any disadvantage if this fire not infrequently penetrated through it's throat and through it's nostrils in the most ghastly spraying of flames.  For this very reason, our evil spirit was not seldom called the fiery dragon, also the dragon of the abyss. This spirit, which was thus freed, i.e. as much as the spirit is freed from all it's soul, and only in it's spiritually purer being admittedly very bound, made an appearance at various times, if it would be allowed to improve itself, which it could have done, since it was freed, as far as it was possible, from all it's evil soul-characteristics.  So this disenchanted spirit demanded that he be allowed to be divinely worshipped for a while, and when he will realize that this worship is no longer pleasing to him, he will completely turn around and become a most pure spirit.  He was allowed to do so; the entire nature of paganism, which is almost as old as the human race, bears witness to this.  Therefore, the Lord originally chose only one small nation on earth; everything else, however, without prejudice to freedom, could follow the desire of this spirit, like the animals, with impunity.

767. From this relationship then, the most diverse names of this being worshipped as God, have arisen.

768. But since this being was not content with this, but instead of the promised improvement only made ever greater interventions in the Divine order, it was driven into very strict imprisonment; but since it had already in such time formed a multitude of like-minded spirits from the human race, it then worked through these it's angels; for a diabolo or devil is nothing else than a spirit who was raised and trained in the school of Satan.

769. This must not be understood as if such spirits had really been formed in a school of Satan; but they formed themselves according to those specifica which they took into themselves from the ties of this spirit.  These spirits, because they also have basic evil in them, are called devils, as much as disciples of Satan, but they are nevertheless vastly different from him; for with them only the spiritual is homogeneous with the evil spirit; but their spirit, though in hard captivity, is nevertheless pure, while the spirit of Satan is the actual evil; therefore it will and can happen that all devils will still be saved before Satan is compelled in himself to undertake the great journey to his own downfall.

770. Now you know which nature is actually Satan and devil.  Next, therefore, for a stronger illumination in this matter, several remarkable things.

The importance of knowing evil (29 March 1847)

771. I know best that some people will not like these somewhat devilish stories; I also know that some people will find some apparent contradiction in them.  But that does not matter.  He who sits is better off than he who must stand; a soft bed is also better than a stone under the head.  Therefore, he who sits and lies in a soft bed, let him stay, because it is good for him; but we neither want to sit nor lie down, much less remain standing, but walk, and that forwards and not backwards.  Therefore, we need not be disappointed if we experience many things that are admittedly somewhat bitter for the mind, but are all the more beneficial for the spirit.  But if it is already difficult to fight with an enemy whom one sees and knows, how much more difficult is a fight with an enemy whom one neither sees nor knows! Therefore, it is also necessary to know the enemy, so that one knows how to tackle him, in order to pass the upcoming battle with him jubilantly.

772. Once the grain has been threshed out of the straw and collected in the granaries, then the straw may be scorched and burned, and it will do nothing to the grain and the granaries.  But if someone has found grace with Me, he has been stored in the best granaries as a spiritual grain of life wheat, and if his physical straw also gets some scratches from Satan, it will not harm the spirit.

773. That it is certainly not pleasant either for the listener or for the giver of the word to bring satanic situations and effects before the eyes of the living, does not need proof; but a good pharmacist must not only be able to deal skillfully with all life essences, but also with all kinds of poisons, otherwise he will not be a skillful pharmacist.  Thus it is of the greatest importance for the eternal life of the spirit to know hell as well as heaven from the bottom up.

774. But which of you will be the Thor, and will fetch a washerwoman for fresh linen?  But everyone gets this washerwoman for the dirty laundry; to clean this, is in order and a duty.

775. So neither the angelic spirits nor people are there to cleanse and sweep heaven, but only that which has been dirty from time immemorial and always.

776. That is why it is more necessary to know the place of dirt than the place of purity itself.  For only the first must be worked on; once it is clean, heaven comes by itself.

777. It would also be an exceedingly silly foolish doctrine if one were to issue a commandment to any human society that it should constantly emphasize only it's good and praise it beyond measure; but it should never think about the evil and even censure it in itself.  The good neither needs to be emphasized nor praised, for it emphasizes and praises itself of it's own accord; But it is extremely necessary that every man hunts for his evil thoughts, desires and works, and hunts them down like an evil game in the worldly forest of disorder, so that the saying may prove true in him: "And when you have done everything, then confess that you are useless servants."

778. And it is also really much better to say, "Lord, be gracious and merciful to me poor sinner!" than, "Lord, I thank You that I am not like other people, such as publicans and all kinds of sinners of various caliber."  Otherwise, one really resembles either such a haughty Pharisee, or even an exceedingly stupid prayer brother and pilgrim to an image of grace, who seriously crosses himself before the devil, as before the Crucifix.

779. Or judge for yourself, which of the two is more necessary, to know the ground on which one walks or the firmament, on which certainly no-one has ever received a bruised head?  The ground is the support; one must know how firm it is, whether there are no precipices into which one could fall, and if they exist, how one must avoid them.

780. But what good would it do someone if he had the whole heaven unveiled before his nose like a real encyclopedia, but on the way he bumped into the next best stone and then fell on his nose together with his heaven.

781. It is, of course, much more pleasing, exhilarating and edifying to travel around with one's eyes in the starry sky than on the ground, which is full of dirt and filth; but whoever made it a lofty law to always travel around with one's eyes under the stars, but fell into a rather coarse mud, then one might well ask whether he had seen the dirt in the starry regions, or on the ground by means of pure water from his clothes.  I think that all the twelve celestial signs, not even Orion, Cassiopaea and Castor and Pollux will be necessary for this work, but either water or, if the dirt is not so bad, only a brush, a tool made of wood and pig's bristles, which come from the most unclean animal, but are by far more suitable for cleaning soiled clothes than Orion, Cassiopaea and Castor and Pollux.

782. Of course it is nothing pleasant, as already mentioned above, to make any acquaintance with hell, devil and Satan, but if someone has to spend some time in the house of these very rulers in order to get to know the place of his future occupation together with the evil rule of this house, it would surely be the greatest folly to make a cross there, in order to be able to hide like a caterpillar from all devilry, where one should actually only multiply all one's attention tenfold, so that no characteristic of this house escapes you.

783. He who wants to avoid evil must know it beforehand; otherwise he remains like an underage child who makes no distinction between dirt and bread, and snake and fish, and puts one in his mouth like the other when he is hungry.

784. But I want to tell you that such fear has it's reason among you only in the fact that in former times you had no other idea of heaven, much less of hell, than either the lovely, very philanthropically minded Father Kochheim, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and after these two wise men - not from the Morning land, but very much from the Evening land, all Catholic uniformed and non-uniformed priesthood have taught you; These, of course, can only make their sermons imposing, romantic, interesting and shock the dwarf-skin of the exceedingly dull church runners, if they have cursed the whole miserable audience down to hell at least thirty times in a single sermon, which they described earlier together with their natives in a very palpable way and made it so hot, that if such a preacher like Ignatius and Kochheim would have let his sermon loose at the North Pole, he would have cleaned the ice away.  Such a sermon, for which even Satan has respect, struck into a child's mind, must certainly produce the strangest effects.

785. The best thing about it is that a thing that has no reason itself, cannot find a reason anywhere; from where it not infrequently comes that among 500 listeners of such a hellish thunderstorm sermon, at least 200 are fast asleep; 200 do not pay attention to the sermon, and 100 have only remembered the Amen of the whole sermon.  But all this is caused by the spirit of such a sermon; therefore it is now good to recognize evil in it's basis, so that everyone then easily recognizes it in himself when such is near him, and for this purpose you will be given several different memorials relating to it, of which you do not have to be afraid after this pre-instruction.

Phantoms and possession (30 March 1847)

786. You have read, from all times in which writings have been written, strange cases of various kinds of possession in your present situation and sphere; but do you also know so thoroughly how this possession takes it's origin, and from where, and on what occasions?  To discuss this theoretically would be an unnecessary work, because you have already received several teachings in this matter; but to present this matter memorably dramatically, will give much light to everyone who will read it.  Let us therefore immediately let such a memorable event pass before our eyes.

787. Satan, who already counts a very large number of his evil followers, lets his accomplices at certain times step among the human race with the order to catch everything that can be caught, and to leave no means untried by which any soul could be captured for the court of the prince of all wickedness and lies, skin and hair.  On such an order, the evil henchmen then go up to the upper world by all possible surreptitious means, and mask their intention as diligently as possible, so that no better spirit encountering them might have any suspicion against them.  If they are questioned about the reason, they always give a respectable one, and implore the more powerful guardians to allow them up, so that they may gain more experience, find an opportunity to make up for many a former evil, to improve themselves, and thus gradually enter into the true light of life.

788. But since in the realm of spirits, whether good or evil, nothing must be respected as much as free will, as far as it is not up to too much mischief, they are also allowed up, but of course under constant secret supervision, so that they could not say at the time: we wanted to enter the path of improvement, but they did not allow it.

789. But since they are allowed and given frequent opportunities, which are mostly abused, they have nothing to object to afterwards, if they have to return in a worse condition than the previous one.

790. What do such evil henchmen do when they come up to the upper world?  They really take all possible means to realize their secret plan for the court of Satan.  Some of them, who may be descended from such people, who used to be rich and arrogant landowners, go to their hideous castles, which can still be found here and there, and haunt them, and want to draw people's attention to the fact that there is still some treasure buried and present in such a castle.  If, as a result of such haunting, some stupid people have really been made aware of it, they soon begin to conjure up the haunting evil spirit under all kinds of magical signs, instruments and formulas, so that he may tell them where the treasure is buried and how and when to dig to get it.

791. If such an evil inhabitant of such an old castle then easily notices that he has attracted the stupid people by such loose hauntings, he also not infrequently grants the summoners, and shows them by all kinds of appearances, where such a treasure is buried, and the people then start to dig, and usually find nothing, by which, however, they usually do not become wisey, but continue their work with greater zeal.  On such occasions it happens that such an infernal socius chooses a victim like a tiger cat, seizes it and in every possible way practices itself into the flesh, which happens most easily either by food or drink taken, especially if such treasure-seeking workers do not bless their food and drink beforehand in My name.  When such an evil spirit has achieved it's purpose, then the haunting of such an old castle is usually over.

792. But if such a spooky spirit has penetrated into a man's flesh, it then lurks around the man's heart like a cat.  He soon knows the weaknesses of the person and begins to breathe his evil inclinations, wishes and desires into it; If the human heart approvingly accepts them, this patron remains quite calm in the flesh, and merely makes a fine spectator, how such a man gradually begins to act so beautifully and diligently according to these infernal inspirations.

793. When such a man has fulfilled the measure of the will of such an evil indwelling spirit, then this spirit usually causes a deadly disease in the flesh, and seeks as quickly as possible to snatch from the flesh the soul thus corrupted and fallen prey to it's efforts, in order to then lay it at the feet of it's lord and master as a good pinch.

794. But the matter does not go according to the plan of such a patron; for as soon as the soul leaves the flesh, it may be good or evil, it is nevertheless immediately received by the angels.  The evil hunter, however, will be chastised in the most sensitive way, and quite motherly pushed back to his lord and master, where he will again be chastised very severely, and such a spirit, which has once behaved so unseemly, will not soon be sent back up to the hunting grounds again.

795. The soul, however, is put into such a state by the angels together with the indwelling spirit, in which it gradually recognizes how it's worldly performance has been.  If it wants to convert, it will go higher and higher, but if it is stubborn, it will certainly go lower and lower until it reaches the most severe punishments; if these still do not bring about a return, it will be free to make a trial journey into hell according to it's own will.  If it likes it there, it will stay with her love; If it does not like it, it may return again, which usually rarely happens, because hell is too stuffed with the most deceptive, all-promising, but nothing-realizing lures.  For there are countless deceptive arts, which are calculated to bring such a soul closer and closer to the actual essence of Satan, so that it becomes a congruent part of him; But this can never happen, since every soul already contains it's own spirit and cannot get rid of it, which spirit is the opposite of the satanic spirit.

796. If such a soul wants to approach Satan, then such a spirit appears in itself as judge, avenger and punisher, and torments the soul as an unquenchable fire from within, by which torment the soul is removed from Satan again as far as possible, where it then passes over again to a kind of improvement. If it wants to follow this improvement, it also becomes easier and easier for it, the more it approaches the purity of it's spirit dwelling in it.

797. And if this improvement always progresses, it can also reach bliss when it becomes like it's spirit; for this is the difference between bliss and damnation.  In bliss, the soul passes completely into the spirit, and the spirit is then the actual being; in damnation, however, the soul wants to cast out the spirit and accept another, namely that of Satan.  In this case it becomes the most dissimilar to the spirit, therefore the spirit in it is the completely opposite polarity.  As such, he then exerts that counterforce which continually repels Satan with the utmost force; the closer a soul comes to the essence of Satan, the more violent is the reaction of the spirit in it against the Satanic spirit.  This reaction, however, is the most painful sensation for the soul, and hence the suffering and torment of hell, just as this same reaction manifests itself as the unquenchable fire in appearance.  And this is also the worm in the soul, which does not die, and whose fire does not go out; and it is then one and the same fire, which gives birth to the highest bliss in the angel, and to the highest unhappiness in the devil.

798. From this memorable account you can already get a pretty good idea of the nature of hell and of Satan's ways of acting; but that is not the only way by which Satan tries to capture some soul for himself through his henchmen, who mostly consist of such wicked souls.

799. If such souls, as temporary satanic henchmen, are of a somewhat better kind, they are not prevented from often taking possession of the flesh of innocent people, even the flesh of children.  However, with such people the soul is protected in the most careful way, and the heart is kept safe from whispers.

800. If such a somewhat less vicious temporary emigrant from hell wishes to do well, he may be granted the grace and mercy that such an innocent man continually enjoys; but if he behaves improperly and does all kinds of mischief with the flesh he possesses, he is either soon expelled or otherwise put to rest in it.

801. Sometimes several spirits can take possession of one flesh, but they must first voluntarily indicate that they are only seeking their healing in it, and it is then granted to them as they wish, and that because such spirits do not follow the advice of the angels to rather turn to the Lord right away, but usually stubbornly insist, claim and prove that they can only reach the Lord through this way; and so they are allowed to do as they wish, because the angels teach everything in an empirical way.

802. It does not usually happen this way, although sometimes it does, therefore also such admission, which is allowed, however, only once, at the most and very rarely for a second time; then another way comes, namely the way of the judgment, the punishment, the chastisements and the torments.  The proud soul endures a lot, but when it becomes a little too strong, it turns back again, at least for a while.

803. But the main evil of the soul, which actually comes from the whispering of Satan, is that when it feels a little better, it reproaches itself, not repenting, but that it has let itself be intimidated by the torment and driven back; if it had endured the torment, it would have become one with the power of Satan, and the glory of the Lord would have ended.  Through such delusion, it usually returns to even greater wickedness, and there are indeed those in the lowest hell who do not give up this delusion in the face of a continuous, ever-increasing torment and chastisement, and in a way find in it a triumph to defy the Lord even in the greatest torment.  But that does not matter; a time will come when they will be driven to comply.  But their stubbornness is so great that not even the full measure of the fire of wrath can bring them to repentance, these will also have to put up with it one day, to make the journey of eternal perdition known to you with their center with the removal of their spirit, which really will not be a great harm; because I can raise much better children for Abraham even from stones.

804. But you must not be too frightened at all about being possessed; for almost every man has such guests in himself, i.e. in his flesh.  Why and how this happens, we will see in the next chapter.

Carnal and sensual pleasures (31 March 1847)

805. You know that certain people are very afflicted with carnal desire, both female and male, while there are other people in whom the sensual carnal nature is almost completely dull; such people do not move because of this, even when the most delightful flesh would be placed before them.  A luscious woman's foot, an arm, a breast as the usual symbols of the female gender for the awakening of the sensual drive in men often move a not carnal addict as little as a scrawny tree branch; whereas others again become completely furious at the sight of these female signs of attraction.  Yes, there are fools who can fall in love with a female arm to such an extent that they become completely mad if they cannot get such a woman to be their wife or at least for temporary sensual enjoyment.

806. The reason for such carnal inclination, especially if it is expressed very violently, usually lies in being possessed by one or more horny flesh-devils.

807. But how do these get into the flesh of such a man?  People themselves prepare opportunities for this without number and measure; such flesh-devils dwell first in hot drinks, in wine, also in beer, and especially in the distilled spirits.  When people get intoxicated with such drinks, they have certainly absorbed one, if not more, flesh-devils into their flesh; But once they are in the flesh, they itch and torment the genitals in such a bad way that man cannot avoid satisfying such itchiness through the sensual enjoyment of the flesh, either with women or sometimes even with animals.  These devils of the flesh are, of course, nothing else than dishonest souls of such deceased people, who were also very devoted either to drunkenness or to carnal sensuality.  They pass into the flesh of a still living person for a reason of betterment; but because the flesh was their element, they not infrequently do it even worse in such a person whom they have possessed, than they used to do it in their own flesh.

808. These deceased souls of the flesh, when they go too far and inflame themselves more and more in their impure lust, also cause in most cases the abominable and very dangerous so-called syphilitic diseases, which is allowed by the protecting angelic spirits, so that the soul of the actual human being does not completely perish in the raging fury of it's flesh.

809. So such heated drinks are the first way by which these flesh-devils come into the flesh of man.

810. The second way, just as dangerous as the first, are the public dances, where you can always assume that at a ball or other dance entertainment, there are always ten times as many invisible carnal unclean souls as there are guests at such a ball.  This is the easiest way for them to get into the flesh, which is very much excited here and is therefore extremely receptive to such filthy creatures of the soul; for which reason, after such a ball, people also feel a formal aversion to everything higher and loftier, which can easily be observed by everyone in the cities, especially among students, since it is not uncommon for quite diligent students to come after a ball, instead of thinking about their books, have only the white neck, bosom, arm and the eyes of their dancer constantly before their faces, and their minds are occupied with almost nothing else but only with the object that had given them such great pleasure at the ball.

811. Many a student let go of studying altogether; some, however, instead of science, only studies bread in order to become a couple with his lovely dancer as soon as possible, and so be it; and if such a couple really becomes a married couple, then that is also a married couple, which looks as little like an actual married couple as night does like day.

812. Such a married couple spend their initial time only on sensual pleasure, so that within a short time, almost all elements destined to form procreative power, are consumed to below zero; then usually soon a complete slackening of the flesh and especially of the genitals, occurs.  In such cases, the flesh-devil dwelling in such people seeks a remedy by whispering to the soul, especially through the kidneys, like a kind of family doctor, to turn to other flesh; thus men soon becomes disgusted with women, and the husband with his wife.  She gradually begins to look around for youthful house friends, and he, however, usually goes in the evening to look for fresh air, and if he is more able, he makes journeys for a greater change of air.  And so the matter goes on, until in time such a married couple gets so tired of each other that they soon divorce, or they leave each other without judicial divorce; or if it is more noble and aristocratic in such a house, then a convention is made that each part can do with regard to his sensual pleasure as it pleases him best.  Such phenomena, which are currently very common, are only fruits of ball and dance entertainments, and are consequences of being possessed by the aforementioned bad flesh-patrons.

813. This possession never manifests itself at first with the vehemence as in the case of some who have taken in such unclean spirits through heated drinks; but the spirits from the heated drinks are easily removed by a strong prayer of the soul through one's spirit, whereupon the normal state of the flesh can again occur.  But the possessions on the way of public dance amusements are not so easy to bring out, and for this a lot of fasting, praying and self-denial is required, by which the soul unites more and more with it's spirit, which then reaches through it, and gets the bad riffraff out of the house of the soul.

814. But where is such a dancer who would do that?  Usually they eat even more during and after the dance than before, and thereby want to restore themselves, which means just as much as guaranteeing the flesh-devil a pension and accommodation with soul and blood for life.

815. Some dancers, if they have too many of these guests in them, perish in a short time; for these evil flesh-heroes, if they do not find room in the kidneys and genital parts, also set up their dwelling in the spleen, liver or even in the lungs; But where such an emigrant from hell sets up his dwelling, he kills the flesh in a certain way, and the consequences of this are hardening of the spleen and liver, and in the lungs, lung disease, emaciation, or also, if two or more have thrown themselves on the lungs, the so-called galloping lung disease [tuberculosis -tr].

816. I tell you, and you can safely accept it:

817. Most illnesses in people come from their infernal inhabitants, which they themselves paved the way for in their flesh.

818. These are therefore true children of the world, and many of them begin school for hell in their youth; but so that they should not notice that they are harboring strange guests of the filthiest kind in their flesh, these spirits not only seek to make the flesh of their landlords as sensual as possible, but they also have such an effect on the soul, that it begins to be very pleased with all kinds of worldly things.

819. These worldly things are: Fashion, the charming flesh must be emballirated according to fashion, the hair burned, the skin rubbed with fragrant specimens, and with the male individuals, the infernal cigar may not be missing, and many a young fashionable dolt, if he has some money, not rarely consumes so much in one day, that ten poor people could have bought enough bread.

820. But do you know what this smoke fashion means?  The evil inhabitants try to accustom the soul to the infernal vapor and stench while it is still alive, so that it will not become aware of it's stinking company as soon as it leaves the body, nor will it feel it too soon when this clean company leads it quite unnoticed into the third hell.

821. It has already been said that every soul after death first comes into the company of the angels, where it's evil company has to leave immediately.  This also happens in this case; however, such a soul does not remain in the company of the angels, but is put into such a position by them, where it becomes possible for it to complete itself, more clearly spoken: it is placed in such a place, where it can regain through a certain free activity, those specifics necessary for it's completion, which it had wasted in this world.

822. This is then the place where the former bad flesh-society can approach such a soul unnoticed.   However, since these infernal beings stink quite violently pestilentially for a soul that is only moderately pure, and the soul easily notices their presence, in this case, however, the soul's sense of smell is often so corrupted that it does not notice such approaches; For there is not much talk about sight anyway - since firstly, the soul still has much too little light, and the sight of the soul anyway only comes from inside, therefore it can only see what is in it, and not what is outside of it.

823. Such spirits, however, are outside such a soul, therefore it does not see them, but through the sense of smell, it can perceive their presence and determine their position exactly, and when it has done so, it can withdraw into it's spirit, which enlightens it as soon as possible, whereby it can then also see immediately where it's enemies are and what they want to do; and once the infernals see the face of the soul, they flee in a flash, for an infernal spirit can bear anything rather than the eye of a pure soul, but even less, of course, that of an angel, and to protect them from My eye, mountains are called to cover them!

824. From this, however, you can easily see why I have often railed against the highly detestable tobacco smoking; at the same time, you have seen from this memorandum how excessive carnal desire arises in man and what it leads to, and how people can easily protect themselves from it.  Next, we will consider another scenario again, and take proper note.

The devil of play and the rearing of children (1 April 1847)

825. Another kind of people, which is usually a great blunder in education, has a special inclination to all kinds of playfulness from their youth; they cannot spend their time in any other way than merely dallying and playing.  This inclination to play is awakened on the part of short-sighted and stupid parents by the fact that they continually purchase a whole quantity of so-called children's toys for their small children, in order to make the children keep quiet with such toys when they are still very small, and when the children are somewhat more grown-up, to lead them to activity with just such toys.

826. For the sake of such children's games, there are even separate activities in the cities, and even more, there are even markets, where such stupidities are offered for sale in as diverse a selection as possible, not infrequently under the most scandalous forms.

827. Behold, there we have a source and again a new way by which the evil souls of departed people enter into the flesh of such children.

828. What will be the consequence of this?  These children are already driven by these spirits dwelling in them to possess more and more toys; indeed, some parents' children have so many toys that this already makes up an efficient capital.  The children finally become engrossed in this playfulness and have almost no rest and peace to think of anything else than their toys.  The boys have riders, wooden riding horses, paper soldier's helmets, tin rifles and sabers; but when they are more grown-up, they want to have the wooden horses changed into living ones, and instead of the tin ones, real rifles are provided; for it is necessary that a young person learn first of all to dance, ride, fence and swim.  Also an exercise in shooting with pistols cannot hurt; besides that, it goes without saying that a young person learns cavalry, as you say, before he even knows his mother tongue, learns to choke out a few modern foreign languages, naturally also knows his way around a fashion journal, gets used to pressing the ice cream gloves so tightly against his hand in his early youth that the fingers in them are stiff as a drum, and he is lucky who can do the first audition at a children's ball when he is still a boy, The parents of such a genius sometimes almost fall ill from sheer delight and shed many tears of joy, which tears, of course, as dissolved specifica in the scene, cause the strange effect that consists in this: because these same tears had to take such a ridiculous leave from the eyes, they then seek refuge in the ears of the same soul, whereby, however, the ears very strongly increase in unusual lengthening.

829. From such, not hopeful, but hopeless sons of such truly more than donkey-like parents become fops who know nothing because they have never learned anything that could have enriched the good intellect of their souls in the slightest.

830. But in order for such a fool to become perfect, he must also radically understand all noble games in the earliest time of his life, about which even the most useful (for hell, that goes without saying) instructions and even philosophical reflections are written and printed.

831. History would be better, of course, and geography, too; for of the gospel there we had better be silent!  For one can only give the world worldly advice, but not Divine advice.

832. History and geography would at least bring such people closer to the Divine, while they are led straight to the lowest hell with skin and hair without mercy and pardon by the modern education shown above.  And this is all the consequence of the gambling devil, which has taken possession of the flesh already in earliest youth and which belongs to the most stubborn ones; for he unites in himself the addiction to gambling, the addiction to pleasure, the constant addiction to entertainment, the addiction to material gain, and with it, the disguised addiction to power.  This devil is the most difficult to bring out of the human flesh, and goes out almost in no other way, as he went out with Judas Iscariot, who was still far better than the best present fashion-fool.

833. Similarly, the female gender is also formed in such a way that not infrequently the soul of a twelve-year-old so-called lady looks just like a Proteus; such a lady is already a fashionista in the cradle, because for this purpose she already gets several child dolls, so that she coiffures them, makes new clothes and also learns to give them certain postures, as she sees such in some journal.  At the same time, of course, she must already begin to speak either French or English, where there is still no talk of praying for a long time.  The dance master also soon gets a job, followed by the piano and drawing master.

834. In this way, with proper handling of instructive methods, the cradle child, who is barely able to clean herself, first becomes a child prodigy, and when such a girl has grown only five spans long, she is already an angel, if not a goddess.

835. It goes without saying that the catechist must play the court master in such a large house, not for the sake of religion, but only for the sake of the verbal credit.

836. When such a girl reaches maturity at the age of 13 or 14, she is dressed according to the great fashion journal and introduced into the so-called big world, on which occasion there are of course tears of joy among the parents when such a daughter, introduced into the big world for the first time, has found applause in it.

837. This daughter, in spite of the catechetical court master, often does not know a single text from the Scriptures, not even the "Our Father" and the Ten Commandments; for praying is something common, after all, and does not belong to the real so-called haute volée [high flying – tr].  The first thing that is looked at is the position, the gait, the posture when walking, whether this is journal-like, a pretty face, a strongly exposed neck, delicate, soft, white and round hands, and where possible even more a beautifully formed, gracefully full foot, and also whether such a girl is versed in noble coquetry; and of course that her approach, as one is wont to say, is very well chosen.  Under such circumstances, then, such a female haute volée-modern splendor is ready.

838. How happy, many a donkey thinks, he would be if he could get such a magnificent female specimen for a wife!  Yes, such a donkey would be happy; for such a splendid specimen could bring him in a short time to the most sober conviction that he really is a great donkey in the first place, and secondly, that his charming female splendid specimen was nothing but a whitewashed grave, or an image column gilded from the outside, whose inner wood does not contain a penny of value.

839. But what is the cause of such degeneracy?  The cause has already been shown above; it is the possession of a so-called play-devil, who allows himself to do to mankind what children, especially girls, do to their dolls.

840. Wouldn't it be better, if already children have to have toys, that such things are given to them as toys, which in one or the other respect have reference to My childhood in the world; thereby a good instinct would be implanted in the children, and they would, when they are more grown-up, joyfully inquire for closer data and results, what all their toys represent and mean.  Under such circumstances, a true catechist would then surely have a very gratifying job in planting a young vineyard, and would also soon reap amazing fruits.

841. But here is the completely opposite way.  Instead of heaven, the child is already schooled in the cradle for hell, which then usually triumphs in the end.

842. Most of this caliber will be consigned to hell, because such people consider themselves to be very good, righteous, and, according to their concepts, completely virtuous for the world; therefore, an improvement is never to be thought of.  According to the concept of such people, such an improvement would only be a decline and a worsening of their fine morals.

843. A thief and a murderer can feel remorse; a fornicator and an adulterer, even a drunkard, can be led by certain circumstances to realize his great folly, and it can be said to him: "Your sins are forgiven; but go and sin no more!  But what should one say to this finely educated, haughty, exceedingly proud high world?!  She considers herself just, exceedingly civilized, and observes the laws of refined tone and taste; she also supports poverty, if refined taste permits it, also goes to churches only, of course, when the elegant world tends to find itself there, also attends a sermon, if the preacher is a man of refined taste, and can deliver his sermon so prettily theatrically, naturally also has a pleasant voice and a pretty person.  Of course, not much is noticed of the sermon; but if it is appropriate to the fine tone and taste, the preacher can then publish it in a dainty duodecimal format through printing anyway, dedicate it to a great lady, where this sermon then brings the preacher at least some coins, sometimes also a higher employment, and the bookseller, not because of the sermon, but because of the good taste and the noble lady to whom such a thing is dedicated, a quite considerable sale, admittedly not for rereading, but only for a dainty home library.

844. From this it is clear how difficult, if not impossible, it is to improve such people, for in their case, as you say, baptism and chrism are lost, and it will take a great deal in the spirit-world to bring such people onto the path of life; For such people - you shall hardly believe it - My name is disgusting, and I Myself am as good for them as either not at all, or at most like a miserable moralist of the old time, which morals, however, have no value anymore, because a much better one has been invented in Paris.

845. In the spiritual world, where of course the Parisian fashion journals no longer penetrate, there is of course a different wind; it is indeed a wind of grace, but for such souls it smells worse than the plague, therefore they flee long beforehand from the place where they might be encountered by such a wind of grace.  I tell you: From this class of people, many will get into the dung of Satan, which means so much, as into that last foulness of matter, which will make the last journey, already announced to you, as enclosure with it's center.

846. This memorandum is clear and instructs you about many things; it would be unnecessary to say anything further about it, therefore to something different next!

The nature and consequences of anger (6 April 1847)

847. Since we have already spoken about possession in our previous memorials, we want to continue in this one, too, and reveal a very dangerous kind of possession in this very memorandum.  What will it consist of?

848. This consists in the possession of the earthly flesh by the anger-devil; this possession is the most dangerous, because such an anger-devil never possesses a flesh alone, but always have a legion of serving evil spirits with him.

849. Anger is the most rugged opposition to love and forms the actual main component of Satan; anger, however, cannot exist without nourishment, therefore it always has an innumerable number of nourishing spirits around it, on which it sucks and feeds.  Just as love cannot exist without nourishment, which is love in return, so also anger cannot exist without anger in return, which is it's nourishment.  But let us see what kind of helpers he has around him to nourish him.

850. Hatred is a main nutrient of anger, then arrogance, selfishness arising from it, envy, avarice, adultery, fornication, contempt of everything divine, deepest contempt of his equals, murder and manslaughter, lust for power, and in the end, complete lack of conscience.  These are only the subordinate chiefs of this wrathful devil, each of whom has a significant number of subordinate evil spirits, which can be easily recognized in the most diverse passions of a man possessed by wrath.

851. This evil spirit, when it has taken possession of a flesh, is just as difficult to bring out of the flesh of a human being as it is to extinguish a large house that has already been seized by fire in all it's parts. There is no other remedy than to let it burn down to the last drop and, in time, to examine the cooled ashes to see if there is anything left in them that the cruel blaze would not have consumed.

852. But since this devil of wrath is so bad, as he showed himself with the two possessed Gerasenes, we have to see how this sputum of hell comes into the flesh of man.

853. This spirit does not come into the flesh of man only with time, as others do; but it is already laid into it at conception as a seed of hell, and must also be there, because this very seed conditions the progress of the flesh; but the seed does not become independent if the newborn human receives no education for this purpose.

854. It is only through a certain education that this evil substance accumulates in the liver, and once it is there in full measure, this very substance awakens in itself the independence of the anger-devil; but when this has become independent, it immediately captures the whole soul and draws it into it's domain, through which act the whole man then in a short time thereafter becomes a formal devil.

855. In many people, however, it is not necessary for this flesh-devil to completely gain it's own independence; rather, the evil specific exhalation propagates through the entire body, first through the blood, which very easily becomes effervescent when it is already fairly mixed with this element. Through the blood it passes into the nerves, through them into the nerve-spirit, and through the nerve-spirit, into the soul.

856. If this evil specificum has also penetrated the soul, then the person is already at least half a devil, and it is not good to have fellowship with such a person.

857. This kind of people can be recognized by the fact that they get extremely heated about every little thing that touches them in the slightest, and are immediately ready with cursing and hitting.  They resemble a red-hot iron, which in itself seems to be quite solid and calm; but throw only the lightest sawdust on it, and smoke and flame will immediately appear.

858. But all this can be avoided by a just and good upbringing of the children; even if there is a greater predisposition in one or the other, it can nevertheless be so ordered by the aforementioned good upbringing, and also by a just life diet, that in time, only good and never evil can come out of it.

859. The greatest evil, however, is pampering; through this bad habit, every naughty thing is seen through the little child's fingers.  Day by day, the child grows older and notices how he can commit all kinds of little mischiefs without being punished; then he always tries to do bigger so-called boyish things; if the parents do not punish the child much or at all, the child has already reached a certain solidity of anger, and soon becomes an impetuous demander, formally commanding that he be given what he asks for.  If one does not give it that, or if one does not let it have something certain, it soon becomes red-hot with anger, and not infrequently unbearably rough and rude.

860. If the parents are intimidated by this behavior and give in to the child's wild desire, then the child has already attained the first degree of diabolical independence.  Soon after that, the more and more grown-up child begins to act as a brutal lawgiver for his parents, and it would really not do the parents any good if they did not want to comply with such a demand of their ill-behaved child, which looks like a law, as soon as possible.

861. If such a child becomes older, bigger and stronger, many parents would not be safe with their lives, if I would not restrain this devil of the flesh in the flesh of such unborn children through many diseases. Only these diseases expel it to a certain extent, especially during the time when it has taken possession of the blood.  Scarlet fever, scabies, spots, smallpox, and other diseases are abortifacients of the corrupter of human nature.  Of course, they do not expel this evil substance completely, but only as far as it has ventured into the blood.

862. But if parents would be reasonable after such a survived illness of the children, through which I came to their aid, and would then treat the child properly and a proper diet, then it would be good for them and the child spiritually and physically.

863. But after that they usually make it as angry as before, and then the second state usually becomes worse than the first: for when this devil of the flesh in the child has noticed that the way through the blood is not safe, then, withdrawing from the blood, he goes straight for the nerves, and when these are seized, the child becomes extremely sensitive, which the parents usually regard as a morbid condition, and then they give the child everything that it always asks for, so as not to irritate it too much because of its supposed weak nerves.

864. Then I must again step into the remedy, and afflict the flesh of the child with dysentery or a strong cough, so that this specificum is discharged from the nerves again, whereby the flesh of the child, if it is able to endure such remedies, is helped again for a time; but it is almost always better if such an infected flesh is taken from the child's soul early, before the devil of the flesh could still seize the soul through it.

865. That is why I usually take the children away from those parents who make too much of a child, which is usually the case with those parents who have few children, and that is why it is not uncommon to hear the complaint: "I have only one child, and he is constantly sickly," or: "My only child had to die; but there my neighbor has a whole churn full of children, and they often run about half naked, have no maintenance and care, and are fresh as pips and healthy, and not one dies."

866. This is quite certain, I say; and it is quite certain, because it has a good reason.  The individual child would become too much pampered and in time completely dead for My kingdom, because it's parents are fools and have a monkey-love with which they would crush their child for all eternity, if I were an equal fool with them and left it to them for their amusement, so that they could entertain themselves with it, as vain city and castle ladies entertain themselves with parrots, little dogs and birds.

867. But since I have a higher purpose with mankind than that it should be merely a vain plaything of stupid silly parents, there remains of course no other means than to take the children straight away from such parents and to give them to My angels for further education.

868. Therefore, I always choose those children for Myself who are too much pampered and loved by their parents, even if they have several children; for too much love of parents for their children, is usually their death.

869. If I would let them live according to the body, their soul would be irrevocably lost; therefore the death of the body is better, so that the soul receives life for heaven.  Therefore, no-one should be surprised if so many children die in youth and often already in the cradle; for I know best why I take them away from the world so early.  It is better that they become weak spirits of heaven than that they would otherwise become strong spirits of hell in the world.

870. Now and then, however, it happens, and must happen for the sake of the world, that such angry spirits grow up.  If the parents fight the anger and stubbornness of such children energetically enough, they can become quite useful people, very zealous in one or the other subject; but if their anger and stubbornness are not met with zeal, they become bullies, mutineers, and where possible, not infrequently horrible tormentors of mankind. Therefore, all parents who discover in one or the other of their children a desire for anger, vanity, conceit, selfishness, and a certain covetousness, must be urged to counteract these passions with all their energy.  The consequence of this will be that they will gain from it quite capable and useful people, because thereby the bad anger-fire-specificum in them will be turned into a good one by it's own psycho-chemical process.

871. This memorandum is extremely important and must be taken into account; therefore we will give some more information about it ad memorandum in the near future.

Fighting anger (7 April 1847)

872. Since this anger-devil is such a dangerous creature when he is in possession of human flesh, and it is often necessary to let children die bodily, and not infrequently to kill entire generations in the flesh through plague and other devastating diseases, before it is still possible for this devil to completely draw the soul into his essence, but above all it is of utmost importance for every man, who has to take care of his own soul, and if he is father or mother, also of the souls of the children, that one knows the just diet and then follows it, by which not only the soul can be saved, but also the body of man can reach a possible highest age for the eternal welfare of his soul, but which cannot happen if people do not know this diet for the most part, and if they know it, but still do not follow it.

873. How, then, must a man behave from his birth, or how must he be kept in the beginning, so that in the maturity of his years he may observe that psychological and bodily dietary order by which alone it becomes possible for him to attain a quiet old age, and by that very old age, to secure for his soul a true, firm continuance lasting for eternity?

874. The child, if it is already apparent in the cradle that it is of a very sensitive nature and can easily be irritated by all kinds of influences, should, as long as it has no memory, be nourished by such means as do not heat the blood, but only gently cool it down.

875. If the mother nurses the child at the breast, she should abstain from spirit-drinks, and mainly from emotional upheavals: for by all this, she puts elements into her breast, which are food for this fire-spirit - in short, she should abstain from such food and drink products with too much bile, or agitate that which has already been produced.  Legumes, especially beans, are not to be recommended to such a mother, but moderate meat broths, roasts of pure animal flesh, and pastries of wheat, rye and white corn; also water barley or rice is beneficial to such a mother, when boiled in non-fat milk.

876. But if a mother does not suckle the child herself, but lets it drink at the breast of a so-called wet nurse, which is never really good, then the wet nurse should firstly be well identified as to whose spirit child she is, and if it has turned out that she is a good and gentle soul, then secondly, she must observe the same diet in eating and drinking, and in the restraint of her mind, as this very diet is prescribed for the mother.

877. If the child nurses from the mother or the wet nurse, it should be weaned from the breast as soon as the first teeth appear, because the child's memory begins with the teeth.  However, it would be best for such a child to be raised without a breast.

878. Wheat bran boiled and mixed with some pure honey would be the best primal food for a hot-blooded child.  However, barley water sweetened with a little honey or sugar can also be used: boiled figs and boiled carob are just as good and sometimes even better.

879. In some children, especially in later times, even a light lentil must would be a very noteworthy diet, if, as I said, they are already somewhat advanced in age.

880. Animal milk is not to be recommended at first, because animals themselves are sometimes not completely healthy and therefore cannot supply healthy milk, which is usually the case in winter. Sometimes, however, animals are already of full-blooded and of a violent temperament, whose milk would therefore be very bad for such a hot, full-blooded child; only when children have become one to two years old, they can be served with light milk diluted with water.

881. On the other hand, it will never hurt them to sometimes enjoy a cooked fruit must: because the fruit, especially good apples and finer pears, are very suitable to purify and tone down the blood.

882. Meat can be given to such children only after they have changed their teeth.  If the children, especially those mentioned above, are given meat food earlier, their blood will be nourished too much, their meat itself will be too fatty, and as a result their transpiration tools will become too slimy, from which a lot of dangerous diseases will soon arise for such children.

883. When such children have matured to the point where they can walk and talk, then they should be occupied with all kinds of more quiet, and for the child's mind useful, uplifting games, and attention should be constantly paid that such children never become too heated, neither by movement, much less by a mood effect.  Everything must be cleared away that could annoy them in the least.

884. If, however, in spite of all the regulations, it is noticed that one or the other is not infrequently in a flare-up of temper, then a suitable punishment should never be neglected, which, however, should not be so quick with beatings, but much more effective and beneficial with a suitable fasting; for nothing cures anger better than hunger, and the hungry are least apt to revolution, whereas, if they are full, they would be untrustworthy.

885. It is very good for children, when they have to be punished for such causes, to be made to understand and to be told that the heavenly Father did not send them bread because they were bad. But when they become completely good again, and ask the heavenly Father for bread, He will immediately give it to them again.  In this way, such children will be made aware of God, and it will be ever more deeply impressed on their young souls that they depend on God in everything, and that He is the most faithful retributor for all good and bad.

886. But when such children have become quite calm and demure, then it should not be neglected to show them quite comprehensibly how the heavenly Father takes quite great delight in them, and calls out to them daily in the morning, at noon, and in the evening: "Let these dear little ones come to Me."

887. If the children are guided in this way, they will have few problems later on; but if they are not guided in this way, it will be somewhat more difficult to bring them onto the right path in later times, and the proverb will come true, according to which an old tree cannot be bent, except sometimes by lightning and storm, but such a tree seldom escapes without damage.

888. If such children are fully grown up and have already attained perfect self-knowledge, i.e. as far as this concept is extended in natural terms, and if they still show noticeable symptoms of exaggerated irritability of mind here and there, they are to be advised above all to live very moderately in all respects, to go to bed early, but to get up even earlier, to abstain from spirit-drinks for a longer time, as well as from the flesh of unclean animals, do not visit such places where all kinds of mad spectacles are performed for the bad amusement of the spectators, but especially not those places where dancing and gambling take place.  Such places must be avoided for a long time, if not for ever in the case of some.

889. It is also very good for such people of both genders if they marry soon; for the heat of an effervescent head is much worse than that of a gentle man.  In addition to this natural diet, such people should also pray quite often and read spiritual books, or have them read to them if they cannot read themselves.  This will strengthen their soul and loosen the fetters of their spirit, which easily becomes completely free when such people embrace My love - and because such people are exposed to a greater temptation than others, they are also for that very reason so much closer to My grace, the greater their temptation is; For it is precisely these people who can become something great when they have found the right path, because they have the righteous courage within them.  From these people, spiritually taken, ships and palaces are built as from oak and marble in My kingdom; from sponges and reeds, something better than it is in it's kind, is not easily made.

890. This diet was still necessary to add to this memorandum; and now that we have clearly presented it for the safe and most useful attention of every human being, let us move on to another memorandum, next time.

Addiction to rank amongst arrogant humans (8 April 1847)

891. Something that is almost more annoying and harmful than the anger or the devil of anger in the human flesh is the craving for rank, which indeed goes hand in hand with anger; but it is nevertheless the basis of it, for a humble man is not easily provoked to anger, while with a haughty man, as you are wont to say, there is immediately fire in the roof.  This rank addiction is the actual main devil with the people, and is already almost completely homogeneous with Satan.  However, the children are taken over by this evil spirit only when they have reached some self-knowledge.

892. But one notices such inclinations already early, where the children can still hardly speak.  Just put several children together and observe them in their play actions, and you will immediately notice how one will soon want to stand out in front of the others; for even such a child who can hardly speak, likes it when he is paid homage to before the others.

893. This instinct is especially strong in the female gender at home; she will very soon find herself beautiful and begin to preen herself, and whoever wants to ingratiate himself with such a maiden, may only praise her quite often on account of her beauty, and the little maiden will soon begin to smile at this as if somewhat embarrassed, and she will not be in a good mood if there is a second very pretty girl in her company.  It would be quite wrong, however, if a second girl were to be found even more beautiful: she would certainly shed secret, if not public, tears.

894. With boys, when they are still children, the beauty of the body does not have so much influence, but strength does; there each one wants to be the strongest, and with his strength totally defeat his comrade, and will also, where possible, without mercy and pardon, not seldom give him an almost murderous proof of this with his hands and feet, in order to stand there as the strongest and therefore the most feared in the boys' society.

895. On such occasions, the presence of the satanic evil demon is already easily noticed in the children.

896. That this demon should be fought immediately, nature already gives the hint, even if nobody would have a higher and deeper knowledge in this sphere, because such lust for rank can obviously degenerate into the greatest vices all too soon.

897. A girl who is addicted to pleasure becomes a coquette at an early age, and immediately also a whore, and in that state she is in a way already at the point where the lord Satan wanted her to be; and the boy soon becomes a ruffian, a brawler, and in general a person to whom nothing is sacred more than only himself.

898. Soon such people become troublemakers, reasoners about God and all circumstances; they soon know everything better than another, understand everything better, and their judgment must be the most correct, simply because they have given it.  Whoever does not want to submit to such a judgment, is - in the mildest case - a donkey; in a more demonstrative case, however, he gets flogged.

899. What is to become of such a person afterwards?  Who shall instruct him who knows everything better than anyone else?  And if his foolishness is shown to him quite clearly by another, he becomes heated, and what he is no longer able to do with his mouth, he leaves to the momentum of his hands, which are usually stronger than the tongue of the opponent; and a few powerful blows to the ribs and a few equally powerful blows to the cheeks with the fist have more effect for the moment than the most beautiful chapter from the letters of Paul, and more than all the wisdom of Socrates; for where a horse lashes out, Socrates and Cicero give way; at the most, Samson and David as fighters could bring about a powerful counter-effect.

900. This is all due to the lust for rank, according to which everyone wants to be the most excellent, even if he really would be the very last; and if both weapons fail him, he is left with a mouth for swearing and an unquenchable thirst for revenge.  Of course, on such an occasion the lust for rank and wrathfulness go hand in hand; their servant is then deceit and dissimulation.

901. This most wicked devil in the human flesh is the duel of all evils among the human race, and is perfectly homogeneous with the lowest and deepest hell; for in him, all evils are united.

902. Would there ever have been a war if this demon had not so corrupted human flesh?  No vice can draw so many to it's ruin as this one.  A man who has a lot of this demon in him will soon form subjects, at first, of course, under the title: friends; but these friends will have to do out of pure friendship what their commanding master friend wants, and that is because he has drawn them into his rank-obsessed demon.  These friends of his will choose friends again and will be drawn into the same demon into which they themselves were drawn.  By this, however, the main ringleader already becomes a chief, and because the thing goes well, he begins to command, and his demon will soon draw thousands by his yarn, and they will all dance as he whistles.

903. This is how dynasties come into being; there is one who stands on the top, dictates and gives laws as only his whim offers them, and thousands must obey them, whether with tears of blood, whether willingly or unwillingly, it is all the same; for where a power has once united to form a club, all specific resistance fails, and reason, understanding and wisdom must give way where tyrannical despotism has ascended the throne.  If the tyrant likes to have his subjects blind, he may only command that their eyes be gouged out, and his accomplices, inspired by the same demon, do everything the master wishes; But it serves people right that tyrants rule over them, at least if they are not tyrants, they are stubborn despots who, like the tyrant, demand the most punctual obedience, declare the slightest contradiction to be an insult to their majesty, and punish it, if not with death, at least with a temporary heavy imprisonment.  But, as I said, it serves the people right that it is so.

904. People themselves have put God on the side and their own demon of arrogance on the throne, and what they once did, they still do; for parents everywhere see to it that their children become something better and higher than themselves.  The simple peasant, even if he cannot carry out his wish, at least has it in his heart that his wage should be that of a great lord, and his daughter, if she only had a softer face, should at least become a burgher's wife in a city, or the wife of some country official.  A shoemaker is far from letting his children learn his trade; and if he has a daughter who is more beautiful than ugly, it would not be advisable for anyone of his trade to ask her to marry him, because she could easily become a civil servant's wife, if not more, and the shoemaker's son must of course study, and then the more the better.  If the daughter of such a fool has really become a bride, and the son even a criminal, then the father must not dare to approach his high-ranking children with his hat on.  It offends him very much, and he often weeps bitter tears that his children no longer want to know him.  But it serves him right; why was he such a donkey, and took pleasure in raising only two tyrants instead of two supports for his age?

905. Therefore it serves everyone right, and it serves all mankind right, that they are tyrannized from top to bottom, and over and over; for they themselves take the greatest pleasure in forming tyrants out of their own children.

906. Who lets the children study?  The parents; why?  So that the children may become something; and what should the children become?  Quite naturally, if possible, always more than the parents; for everywhere it is said: "I let my son study, so that he may one day become a clergyman or a civil servant, and if he could make it to a court councilor or even to a minister, or as a clergyman, if possible, to a bishop, then it would be most dear to me.  Thus speaks the mind of a father, and likewise the heart of a mother; but that a father would say: "I let my children study only for the purpose of acquiring useful knowledge, in order to be with wise advantage what I myself am, or something lesser, but good and right!  This will not easily be heard, still less My word: "He who wants to be the first among you, let him be the last, and your servant of all."

907. This I have commanded, and behold, scarcely a beggar obeys this commandment; but what Satan commands by his demon, small and great, and child and old man run after; but therefore it serves the world right ten times and a hundred times that it is tyrannized with sword and fire, for it has the greatest pleasure in it itself.

908. Stop raising tyrants out of the children and become the last rather than the first, then the tyrants on the thrones will soon stand alone; and because you will stand low, they will also have to descend low from their height, in order not to perish from the same abandonment.

909. But if you build more and more steps from your own children to the throne, it must become higher and higher, and the higher it becomes, the further he can hurl the stones from this lofty position, and the harder they hit you below.  I am quite happy to allow the power of the higher ones to grow, so that the fools below may have something to humble them and show them what they should be and are not; and so the rulers are now under My control, and do very right when they press stupid mankind as much as possible, for it deserves nothing better.

910. Doesn't the father make his son a better suit than the one he wears, and the mother goes with her daughters into the fashion vaults, and picks out witnesses for hours, in which her daughters would like to look the better, in order to make more conquests; why conquests?  According to My words, conquests are what mankind should strive for!  But because of conquests, there the tyrants are justified; yes, they are even angels, because they press down the desire for conquest as much as possible by taxes and other troublesome laws.

911. So the father says to his son: You must acquire such a behavior that you attract all eyes and ears to yourself, and thereby become indispensable to a whole society, or in other words: Seek to become the first in society.  Why doesn't the father rather say: Son!  withdraw yourself; It is better for you to turn your eyes on society from the lowest point than for society to turn all their eyes on you; or what is better, to be the foundation stone of a building or the gable of it's roof?  But when a storm comes and destroys the roof and the house, will it also take the foundation stone from it's place?

912. He who is the lowest down is most safe; but the top of a tower is a toy of all thunderstorms.

913. Therefore go down; let the right humility be the firm standpoint of your being - there the evil rank-demon will leave everyone, and tyranny will have it's eternal end.

914. Or do you think a prince cares that the common rabble recognizes him as a prince?  He will really not tie his princely honor to that; but as a prince he only demands the recognition of his sovereignty from the higher circles and from the circles of his equals.

915. Therefore, when mankind descends to the bottom of humility, the prince may look for his equal with lanterns, and his recognition of sovereignty in it; and he will find them as little as polished diamonds in river gravel.

916. Behold, this is the way to happiness here and beyond; by this, mankind and prince can be improved, but not by rebelliousness, and still less by all kinds of mutinous uprisings against an ordered power.

917. If someone wants to build a house, it must begin at the bottom: it is absolutely not possible to start with the roof.  Or how can one first put a flag or a cross on the top of a tower, where the foundation of a whole tower has not even been laid?  He who wants to improve others, must first improve himself, and live righteously, and the others will follow him when they see the advantages; and he who wants to humble others, let him humble himself first, then he will take away a step from his neighbor through himself, on which the latter would have climbed higher.  But if someone already carries his brother, will his brother come down from the mountain, if his carrier does not want to come down?  Therefore, if the bearer first directs his steps downward, the one he carries will also descend; but if the beast of burden goes upward, the one who sits on it and pushes it will surely go higher and higher with it.

918. Therefore, as long as My teaching is not observed completely in everything, he will not become better either here or hereafter, in detail as well as in general.  But if someone will follow My teaching completely, he will have it good here and beyond; for a humble soul soon finds it's way in everything, and because it is closest to Me, it also always has the most certain and best help at hand.

919. But, unfortunately, every evil is easier to eradicate than this one, and that is because people themselves take the greatest pleasure in it; and everyone would rather be a highly honored master than a subordinate servant in the true sense of the word.  People do indeed greet each other as a devoted servant, but they do not do so as if they wanted to be that, but only as a courtesy, so that their opponent should regard them as the more.

920. Oh dreadfully stupid mankind!  When will you come to the insight that without a fixed center, no world is conceivable?  The center is the deepest point of every world-body; why does man not want to go into it's depth, so that he would find there the true life ascertainment for eternity, which is indicated so clearly and distinctly in My teaching?

921. But what is the use of My teaching, what should it be, if Jesus, it's founder, now Himself has the honor to be nothing, or at most only a corner of a Socrates or Plato?  Or one transforms Jesus into a vain idol, in which nothing is left but the name, and some fragments of His teaching in the form of Egyptian hieroglyphics, about which thinking is still strictly forbidden.  In short, one has modulated Jesus as one could use Him, so that He brings in something, and does not do as He commanded, when He said: "If someone asks you for a tunic, give him also the coat.”  But he, who should be the last and servant of all, sits among millions at the top!  A bad example of humility!  But it cannot be otherwise; for even today there are many thousands of people whose most ardent wish would be that their sons should become popes.  So there is still a lot of love for the papacy.  As long as that is the case, things can not get any better.

922. Next, a few more things about this point.

A variety of human laments (9 April 1847)

923. There are all kinds of complaints among the people.  For some, times are too bad; everything is getting more expensive and worse at the same time.  Still others have a formal rage against governments and lay all the blame on them; still others are not satisfied when there is peace and no war for too long.  Others again lay all the blame on the clergy; still others on all kinds of luxuries, and especially on the newly built iron roads.  In short, everyone seeks the cause of the evil of this time, sometimes in one, sometimes in another; but that one of all these complainants should take himself by the nose and ask himself whether he, too, has not at some time contributed to the aggravation of such a time, and perhaps still contributes to it, occurs to no-one.  Everyone feels the evil only from the outside; but he does not see it in himself.

924. There I see a father of a family going wild about the luxury of this time, how he is just in a sales vault, and buys his daughters expensive, sparkling-brand-new all most modern witnesses for clothes.  What should one say to such a luxury accuser?  Nothing but: You fool, if you dislike luxury so much, why do you let yourself be driven by your luxury devil to buy such malicious things for your daughters?  Buy them linen garments, or even better, buy rice, and let your daughters spin, so you will create a garment for your daughters that will be much more useful to them than your modern stuff, which annoys you so much that you buy it out of sheer annoyance, only to make your daughters shine, so that your prosperity might be seen in them, and so that they might make favorable conquests.  Oh fool!  for you there is still far too little luxury, far too little change of fashion; and when the fashion of the day will change twice, you will still be the old donkey, you will scold even more, as now, but nevertheless pay homage to the advancing spirit of the time, as it befits you.  But now I ask: who else but such fools as you open the doors of luxury because they take pleasure in the chameleon-like appearance of their daughters?

925. Instead of your scolding in your house, begin to despise luxury.  Dress your children as indicated above, perhaps you will find some imitators, and these again some others; thus luxury will gradually lose itself, when it will find no outlet.  So there are also newspaper writers who continually go on about luxury, while in everything they continually dress themselves according to the latest fashion, whereby their scribblings naturally always remain without success; for he who does not improve himself, how shall he improve another?

926. On the other hand, one again sees peasants and innkeepers violently ranting and cursing about the consumption tax; they do not consider, however, that they are the first inventors of this state plague, and dictate to their customers a consumption tax ten times greater than the one the regent demands from his subjects.

927. When this tax did not yet exist, all innkeepers already took a quite inhuman consumption tax from their guests; many a person had to leave his coat at the innkeeper because of the consumption tax.  I ask, how can such a man complain about a tax that he had already been paying for a long time, when the state still only considered such a tax; if it was considered cheap in his house, why should it not be cheap for the whole country?  Doesn't an innkeeper charge two coins for a piece of bread that costs him hardly one?  That is a consumption tax of 100!  The state does not charge that much, and it is much cheaper, and the innkeeper may well put up with the state consumption tax, for he has long been most pleased with this monopoly.

928. So also the farmer, if he brings a basket of fruit into the city, and pays for it a few coins of state consumption tax; but how does he bring this in?  What he paid for the whole basket he adds to ten pieces, but after these ten pieces he still has ninety in the basket; these would therefore be free of consumption tax; but does he sell them in this way?  Oh no; he collects it nine times more.  Question, has not man a workmanlike pleasure in this tax; how may he rail against it?  Has the usurer, to whom I have filled his trees with fruit for nothing, not had enough with 900 percent?  Therefore go ahead; only more consumption tax, and it shall not stop until it has not stopped in the hearts of brothers against brothers.

929. Whoever gives something to someone out of a good heart, I remember, the state has put little or no tax on it, take note!  But if man no longer has a heart for his neighbor, how can he demand that from the state, which he lacks so completely?  And I say to this: People judge themselves; but I judge the state according to the people.

930. According to what they take the greatest pleasure in working, the state shall also be judged by Me. Who takes a greater tax on consumption than the usurer of grain from his brothers?  The state should demand a thousandfold tax from him, then the balance would hardly be established.

931. You see from this that people themselves are always the creators of the evils among them; therefore these evils shall also be among them as long as they remain it's perpetual creators.  The poor, however, are always an addition as a plague for such orders; for who makes the poor?  The great covetousness and general consumptiveness of those who are able; therefore they shall also receive them; for what a man produces himself, that he shall also have and bear.

932. So the citizens of a city also complain tremendously about their house interest tax, but what their interest parties say, they do not hear; if by chance a party sometimes cannot pay it's rent on time, then a lawsuit and garnishment are soon initiated against it.  Therefore, only more house interest tax, until the heart of the house owner becomes softer, and he will be able to put a small room in his house for the poor free of charge, and lower his house interest; then I will also instill milder attitudes in the heart of the ruler, but otherwise, as I said, only higher with the taxes.  Instead of silk robes and other luxuries of the house-owning family, rather a gentle heart and fairness in the house interest, then it will already become better.

933. There is also horrible cursing and swearing about the present railroads.  It is true that they are an evil sign of this time for the people, and I wanted them not to be; but the people wanted it, and so I want it. You have never seen before how the great and the rich kept carriages and drove all over the place, but when a poor man, tired of walking, begged them to let him get on, he was rejected with the whip if he was only a little pushy, and even if he wanted to pay, he was not accepted.  Now a smelly farmer sits in one and the same wagon, also another so-called vagabond, and next to him a fine-nosed city lady must place herself, and both ride for the same price, and enjoy the same rights; and the frequent city fi donc next to a horse-servant has completely ceased, and the service of the former fragrance flacons is performed by boiler smoke.  Thus the fine noses are somewhat softened, and no longer feel the unpleasant smell of the farmer so much.  In the past, the cavaliers and the upper-class fashionables could never drive fast enough.  Unfortunate was the one who was on the road; he was recklessly driven over.  Now there is speed enough; such a fast sailor at least comes to the conclusion on the railroad that his horse-drawn vehicle is only a pure botch-up in comparison.  Therefore, he leaves his equipage at home, and no longer makes such a nuisance of the wanderers on the road; for he himself prefers to ride on the railroad than in his carriage.  But what a great boon it is for those highwaymen of innkeepers, for they are only now beginning to become a little human; and what a just punishment for all kinds of wagoners, who not infrequently charged twice as much for a single wagonload of little postage as what their wagon and horses were worth.  The blacksmiths along the roads, who often charged as much for a nail as if it were made of gold, are only now coming to realize, when they see entire iron roads, that iron cannot be all that expensive after all; even wainwrights, saddlers, and strappers are only now realizing what their goods are worth, because in the past they thought they were selling nothing but gold and silver goods.  Even the oatmeal growers will gradually come to the conclusion that they will need far less of this fruit, and the city coachmen, who in the past never knew what they should charge for a bad carriage, can now drive for two pennies, and those who charge more can drive themselves out to the station, where there is one, and there watch wistfully as hundreds of travelers move on quickly for a small carriage fee; Even the posts, which previously did not know for how many horses they should rent a stable, now have enough so-called barns, and the shareholders will thus also - and mainly because of the very fast means of transport - soon realize that they have speculated very heavily here; For then their supposed gain will become as certain as snow on the sun, and they will also recognize that in the water vapors, besides the powerful driving force, there also the fortune is dissolving.

934. Strictly speaking, such a railroad is of course as little in My order as the Babylonian tower construction, but this tower construction also had it's decided good; it led the peoples apart and brought them in time to the conviction that man can also live elsewhere and not only in Babylon, and that God lets His sun shine and His rain fall everywhere, and so in the end all those have won who were driven away by the tower construction of Babylon.  It will be the same with the railroads; in the end, everyone will win.  The main actionary wins materially, for he outshines the others; but the others gain in insight, and soon from that in humanity, for when rich people become beggars, they then become quite gentle and humble people.  The innkeepers on the streets also gain, for they lose the marauding and gain the human.  The country people, over whose best grounds the railroad was not infrequently run, also gain; for in former times they covered their meadows and acres with fences and thorns, and if a man stepped on their meadow, he was often maltreated, but now it is good, where he must tolerate such a wide iron road on his land.  He is now gaining in patience and also in humanity, and that is also a great gain.  The travelers win, because they get to the place where they want to go much cheaper and faster, and at least in the wagons they learn that they are not worth more than others, because everyone pays the same freight.  But in spite of all this, the people complain about this ruthlessness, which they themselves have brought about by all kinds of means; but if you do it yourself, you have to have and suffer it yourself.  But if landlords, carters, and other processionists, and the shareholders become human, as befits them, then it should also look better with the breed: for everything is in My hand, and I can shape and change it in such and such a way.  But I have once said that I have no pleasure in this work, and so it is; for I am not pleased with the rod of discipline.  But once it is there, as the people wanted it, let it be a blessing to the good and a curse to the bad, and you may now use it quietly, and I will bless on top of it the one who uses it, so that the highwaymen will receive a full chastisement.

A variety of human laments - continued (10 April 1847)

935. It is true that this has deprived a lot of so-called tradesmen of their bread, and that some of them have become beggars.  Also, many a farmer has been deprived of a good piece of land, which has made him very disadvantaged in the production of his crops; poor carters have lost their usual wages, and some landlords, who were a little more humane than others, have come under the wheels of the inhumane ones at the same time.  But all this, well considered, can be calculated quite differently than it initially appears to the eye of a superficial observer; for here, in material terms, only he who had very much, lost much - but who had little anyway, could not lose much either.

936. Blacksmiths, who in former times could not be paid, now work much cheaper, if they only get a job.  If someone has already gone into business in a big way, it does him no harm, for he has already earned something, and if he still wants a job, he must be cheap; in the process, however, he also becomes more human, so he has not lost much.  But if someone of this class of professionals had only a very small business, which earned him not much more than a beggar's begging, he also did not lose much, and the gap between him and a former grand master has become smaller by a very significant amount; thus again a gain.  The same is the case with all other professionals, as well as with the peasants, who have lost land; for he who had only a little land could not give away a large patch of it, and what he gave away, he was well compensated for.  The large landowner could also give away a larger patch of his land, which he would also be paid for in time, but which he could easily wait for, because he has more than he needs anyway.  It is the same case with the large and small farmers.  The big ones have already made their cut, and it would be too outrageous to let them cut any longer; For the small innkeepers, however, it was only a miserable cruiser's income anyway, which they could easily get over, and since they could quite naturally offer only bad things to the guests for little money, and gradually had to make do more with fraud than with goods, this is a physical and spiritual gain for them and for their guests.

937. From this, however, it turns out that on this occasion nobody would have lost too much also in material respect; and the rod of chastisement is thus good - and gradually still becomes better and better.  But - as you know - as the Hanochites in Noah's time themselves opened the water gates of the earth, by which they were then devoured, so also here these people have put the louse in their own fur; but I say: Continue like this!  If the calm and fruitful ground of the earth is not enough for him, let him go to the sea and learn the difference between peace and calm, and between movement and storm.  If it pleases him, and if the storms have not yet swallowed him up, he may return again; for beside the water, the solid ground also still continues, just as beside these innovations, the old Word of God also continues, and My grace for everyone who seeks it.  But whoever is not interested in anything, but only in the innovations out of pure either general or special lust for rank, he may at least get into a very fast moving steam car and drive with it to his devils, and he can be assured that in My heavens no pitying Aaaw will follow him; because stupid fools are also for My heavens a disgusting abomination, and everywhere there is great laughter about them.

938. As for the scolding and complaining about the clergy, such complaints and scoldings do not reach My ear at all.  I have initiated it so far that everyone can have My Word when he only wants it.

939. But from this everyone will easily see that with Me nothing is valid but a pure loving heart and a right faith in Me; to whom this is not enough, to whom the word of a gold-addicted pulpit orator is holier than what I Myself have spoken, let him remain in his stupidity; to whom the scourge is dearer than My grace, let him be scourged.  To whom a house of prayer, magnificently built at great expense, is holier and more exalted than a pure heart - which is a temple of the Holy Spirit - let him go into his house of prayer, and on every Sunday or other holiday let him first be blessed with the monstrance, and then from the pulpit thereupon be cursed at least seven times into hell, and on being cursed again into hell, at the end of the mass let him be blessed da capo with the monstrance.

940. People take great delight in the blind ceremony, they talk and write their mouths and fingers sore about the splendor of the Cathedral of Rome, and other exceedingly splendid minsters, and spend enormous sums on their preservation and decoration, usually under the title: "All for the greater glory of God!"  That's right, that's right.  Whoever wants to be a donkey, will remain one for eternity: How should such a miserable minster and all the minsters of the earth increase My honor?!

941. I have in the first place never sought My honor on earth, but only faith and love.  According to this, every other vain display of honor, which makes an idol out of Me - the one, eternal, living true God - is an abomination; for I want to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, which is in the living heart of man, but not in a minster, and the true worship in spirit and in truth consists in that people recognize Me as their God and Father, and then love Me as that above all, and keep the commandments of love also towards their brothers.  This is the true worship of God; but a minster is an abomination, and can contribute nothing to the greater glorification of My name, since it certainly does not show what I am capable of, but only what vain and arrogant people are capable of.

942. But whoever already wants to admire My power and greatness, let him go to the natural minsters, go to the earth itself, and look up to the sun, moon and stars, and he will surely have enough from which he can recognize the omnipotence of God, his Father.

943. When looking at a mountain, of course, neither a Gothic, nor a Moorish, nor a Roman, Jonic, Phrygian and even Babylonian type of construction can be recognized.  Nor are there statues and other paintings and carvings by all sorts of so-called famous masters to be seen; but the hand of the Father can be seen in these great natural monasteries, and instead of statues and paintings, real living people and other creatures dwell in such monasteries, and instead of all the ornaments, there are to be seen in these monasteries magnificent forests and meadows covered with good and nourishing grass, all testifying to the power, greatness and wisdom of their eternal Master.

944. Such contemplation may well tune the human heart ad majorem Dei gloriam; but the contemplation of a minster only raises the heart of a donkey to the greater admiration of his still greater fellow donkeys, who evidently also had to be very great donkeys, because they believed that by their handiwork, by all kinds of carvings, paintings and gildings, by wax candlelight, rich clothes and wild bawling in addition, they could honor Him Who created earth, sun, moon and stars.

945. Even today, people spend large sums of money, make endowments and bequests, and only some new idol may be consecrated, or even a holy body may be placed in a so-called church under the title 'God's house', of course as a grace from Rome for a few hundred ducats free of charge, or, what is even more extraordinary, a body robe of Christ, swaddling, belts, etc., may be exhibited, and if this would happen in twelve churches simultaneously, which would quite naturally require twelve body robes, etc., it would have to be done in twelve churches at the same time.  If this is to be done in twelve churches at the same time, it would naturally require twelve bodies.  But all this does not matter; stupidity believes it, even if it scolds, and then sacrifices abundantly, and all this ad majorem Dei gloriam.  What then should one say to this?  Should one punish stupidity even more?  It is not necessary; for it punishes itself by this very fact.

946. If one wanted to give something better, would it be accepted?  One would have to work miracles; but the ephod also worked miracles.  Would stupidity distinguish the fraudulent artificial miracle from a true natural one?  Oh no!  It would consider the true one, because it did not happen in a minster, as a work of the devil, and the one who performed it as an arch-heretic.  What good would that do?

947. Therefore, let stupidity remain what it is, a perpetual punishment of stupid donkeys and fools; but he who seeks wisdom and it's reward, also knows where to find it.

948. But wisdom will soon triumph over stupidity, but do not believe that the stupid will become wiser because of it; for this monstrosity will remain as long as hell will remain.

949. They say, how can I stand by and watch so many abominations for so long?  Why don't I destroy this ancient idolatry with lightning and fire from heaven?  I could do it in ancient times; why not now?

950. It is true that Sodom and Gomorrah perished, but Babel rose.  Here, too, much fire has been hurled into idolatry, as at all times, but it rises again; therefore we let the wheat grow up with the tares; the time of separation will come soon enough.  Why should one also bind oneself with a business on a minute's time, for which one has a whole eternity?  Therefore, go ahead here!  He who wants to be stupid, let him remain so; and he who wants to be wise, he knows where to knock.

Ceremonial ecclesiasticism (13 April 1847)

951. What is the use of vain lamentations, of loose scolding and panting, and of thirsty acquittal of all that such an idolatrous church prescribes to keep and observe?

952. All this is of no use; once a river has flowed and become strong, it is too late to dam it up and stop it in its course, since this will only make it swell even more, and it will burst the dams and then devastate all the land that it floods.  The most sensible thing to do is to let the river run it's course; by the time it reaches the sea, it's fury will have cooled down and diminished completely.

953. It would be just as foolish to try to swim upstream in such a current.  No-one would get a hair's breadth further, for the more vigorously he tried to defy the waves that were flowing toward him, the more forcefully and violently they would beat against his forehead and soon whirl him down to the bottom.  It is best to let the current flow where and how it flows, but to distance oneself from the current as far as possible in the heart, and to follow the dry, but safe path of pure truth.

954. To rebel against something that has once been more and more established in certain norms for centuries, would indeed be the greatest folly; it would be a war between one and a thousand soldiers. What will one do against a thousand?  The same is just the case with such a one who wanted to rebel against a general order of whatever nature; his views may be correct, but what will he do if the great mass is blind and deaf?  In this case, one must be wise and honestly turn the mantle to the wind and not against it, since it would be of little use to him.

955. But I never look at the outward appearance anyway, but always only at the innermost things in man; and so every honest Christian can quite well attend the so-called ceremonial service in a house of prayer, but be with Me in his heart, this will not bring him the slightest harm.

956. But if this service annoys anyone, let him stay outside; for no-one is dragged in by the ears - and if the latter were the case, it will do no harm to anyone if he goes in; for it is still better to be in a house of prayer, and to perform a certain devotion, than either to go on a hunt, or to go to a gambling house, or to do usurious business, to forge intrigues, to visit whores, and so on, on the generally commanded feast days and holidays and the like.

957. In addition to the ceremonies, sermons are also held, before which at least a few verses of the Gospel are read; and if someone does not like a sermon, he should stick to the verses read from the Gospel, and he will be able to take so much from such verses that he will have enough to attain eternal life, if he only follows the few verses correctly.  According to this, someone cannot easily lose something if he also goes to such a house of prayer, where he can still find something that reminds him of Me; but if someone breaks away from such idolatry out of mere hatred for it, but does not take anything better for it, but usually only worse, ask: will this be of any use to him?  I hardly think so.

958. The temple at Jerusalem was completely an idol temple during My lifetime on earth; for there was certainly no longer any question of a house of God.  Jehovah was no longer in the temple, except He came into it now and then and taught in it.

959. But I, as the Jehovah - thus says the Lord - did not forbid anyone from visiting the temple and offering his gift, and I Myself went into it many times, and taught in it, and also indulged the adulteress in it; even My disciples had never received a prohibition to visit the temple, although it was a perfect idol temple. Why should anyone here be angry about going into a house of prayer?  For if he goes in in My true name, I am with him and go with him; and if we are inside, no-one will throw us out, and as long as I endure inside, he with whom I am inside, will also be able to endure.

960. In general, no-one should call lightning and sulfur fire from heaven before I will hurl it there by Myself anyway.  But when this will be necessary, I know best.

961. I think, however, as long as a very large crowd still takes great pleasure in supporting this idolatry in every possible way, paying masses and offices, making donations, building prayer houses and other chapels, filling the sacrificial vaults, have organs built, purchase bells, have rich funeral ceremonies celebrated, as well as to produce very expensive so-called pariments, to make costly pilgrimages, and to get involved in money-grubbing brotherhoods, so long it goes quite well; and what should be destroyed like a foam bubble with a breath, in which mankind still has a great pleasure up to now?  He who wants to be dumb and blind, and who takes great pleasure in these rank ceremonies of great gold and precious stone splendor, let him remain dumb, blind and a fool.

962. What do I care about a world full of fools?  I tell you: Much less than a potter would care for a bad pot, which he can beat up whenever he wants, because he did not want to advise him.  But as the potter will have no sorrow for such a stupid pot, when he has beaten it, so I will not bear any sorrow for a world full of fools in My heart, as if it were something difficult for Me to create another world full of the wisest angels for it.

963. But if someone seeks Me, he will also find Me, and I will accept him, and he will be dearer to Me than a world full of fools, and I will also do more for him alone than for a whole world full of fools.

964. If I therefore do not move too violently because of the general overstupid state of things, and let them go in a certain way, then this is a sign to you that I care very little about all these things as they are now in the world, and about all the fools who pay homage to them.

965. But if I find individuals here and there who are interested in Me alone, I am more interested in them than in the whole world.  I will let the one revel in all the fullness of My grace, and to the world in i'ts foolishness I will give tears; for, as I said, I care more - indeed by far more - about a good person, indeed I care all about him, than about a world full of fools, in which I care just as much as about a rotten plant that grows along the road and is trampled by the wanderers into the dust.  How many times has the grass been cut from a meadow; what is the reason for that?  Another will grow again; this is the case with the people on earth, who are fools and want to be fools.

966. One can also say there: For hungry cattle, a food is soon good; the blowfly slurps the juice of the dung, the worm eats mud, the pigs are just also no gourmands and gourmets, and the donkey is content, as is known, with the worst food.  But if such people are like such animals, well, they should be nourished with the same food, for they would not like any other.  And if they are good for nothing else, they will one day be useful over there, so that better minds will find in them the most beautiful opportunity to catch up on the zoology that has been neglected here; for zoology is an extremely important science.  And since, as sufficiently shown in this work, the perfect minds have to deal with the mineral-, plant- and animal-kingdoms, it goes without saying that they must not be laymen in zoology. But of course this is a different zoology than here in the world, where everyone is a good zoologist or at least wants to be, if he knows the animals only by their bellows; therefore, in the zoological educational institutions and the necessary museums, mostly only stuffed bellows are presented to the students.

967. I now think I have said more than enough about this point; therefore, next time, we want to move on to another quite secret memorable thing.

Dreams and their interpretation (14 April 1847)

968. By what and in what way will it be recognizable what I want to have understood by the previously announced secret noteworthy thing?   Does this noteworthy thing have external signs?

969. It does not have such things, and if it does have them for a fine observer, little or no credence is given to them.

970. This secret memorability usually consists in certain visions, which in good people as well as in bad ones can come either from heaven or from hell; therefore it is highly necessary to get right information about this extremely memorable point and the right rules of conduct, so that one knows how to behave in the case of such secret phenomena, which are often hardly credible.

971. The visions are of various kinds; the most common and well known to everyone, are the night dreams.

972. Here we can ask: Who actually dreams, and what are the dream images?

973. In ordinary sleep, only the soul dreams - and this dreaming is nothing else than a confused viewing of the soul into it's own relations, which, however, have no connection, but change every movement approximately like the pictures in a so-called Kalleidoscope, and completely the same, never appear again.

974. The reason for this disconnected viewing of the conditions and state-pictures in itself is because the soul itself is disconnected with the outside world as well as especially with it's spirit.

975. This kind of visions have no other use for the soul than that it should remember after such a dream how it is still in an absolute state.

976. If it summarizes the dreams, even writes them down where possible, the soul can have a good portrait of itself from them; for they show it what it is like in itself, what it's main desires are, what it's strivings are, and what it's overall condition is, and will be, when it is completely out of the flesh.

977. These kind of dreams are neither caused by infernal, nor even less by heavenly spirits in the soul, but they are completely own products of the soul, of which it remembers sometimes more, sometimes less, sometimes not at all, which depends with a still completely natural man mainly on how his nerve-spirit is constituted.  If it inclines more towards the soul, man will remember almost every dream exactly; but if it inclines more towards the flesh, and usually sleeps with it, man will also have little or no recollection of his dreams, which is usually the case with those people who are very sensual and grossly material.

978. But it is quite different with certain bright dreams, in which it seems to the dreamer as if the apparition were reality, so that he can hardly tell himself upon awakening whether it was a dream or reality; such visions or dreams do not belong to the soul, but to the spirits surrounding it, may they be of good or evil nature.  If they are of an evil nature, the soul, and through it also it's body, will awaken from such a dream as if completely exhausted; but if these visions are the work of good spirits, then on awakening, both soul and body will be in a strengthened state.

979. Both kinds of these visions are admitted only for the benefit, but not for the harm of the soul; in the bad ones, it should find a warning - and in the good ones, a strengthening.

980. These visions become so vivid because the spirits that cause them, first detach the nerve-spirit from it's material service and connect it with the soul; therefore, in such a state the soul has the feeling of naturalness because it is in connection with it's nerve-spirit, and is therefore stronger to receive and retain the more powerful and meaningful images.

981. To this class of inner visions also belong the visions of the somnambulists, as also, what has already been explained to you, the visions in the so-called sulfur ether narcosis.  These visions have therefore already in themselves a certain dressing and a certain order, because here already a more pure wine is poured into the soul by the spirits surrounding it.

982. In such visions, the soul is not seldom presented with future results by the spirits, which is nothing difficult for the spirits, because they firstly know the order of things in which they must follow one another unchangeably, and secondly, because they themselves are the actors of this order.

983. It is just as if one of you were to enter a strange house, he will not know what the master of this house will do today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow; but the master of this house will know, because he must be privy to his business relations.  But if he tells you what he will do, you will know it too.  Therefore you cannot know what the spirits will accomplish in this year, because you are still strangers in the house of the spirits; but if the spirits announce it to a soul, then it will also know what will happen.  But in order for the spirits to be able to tell the soul something like that, it must first be prepared by them for this, and this preparation is exactly that which was indicated here above.

984. According to this, a lot is to be thought of this vision; however, no-one should rely on it, as the pagans once did on a so-called unchangeable fate, because no-one should be impaired in his freedom of will because of this.  If someone seriously wants something different than what the spirits have shown him in this vision, he must only turn to Me that the thing would become different, and it becomes different, if he believes and trusts - which is why he has turned to Me; because I alone can change all things in every moment.

985. And if I Myself say, tomorrow I will do this and that, but you have love and trust in Me, and ask Me to keep it, I will do as you ask, and it will be a disadvantage for no-one; for I can use all circumstances, conditions and things in this way and that, and a thousand must serve Me as one, and a day as a year, and a thousand years as a day.

986. Therefore, no-one should be too frightened by such visions, which do not occur infrequently; for if they are good, then no-one needs to be frightened by them, and if they are bad, then they can well be changed.  But of course, whoever firmly believes in it, and does not trust Me with more power than his vision, then it may well be called fiat [so be it].

987. But the human mind is certainly so weak that it likes to infer all kinds of future results from very simple dreams, and people have already made a certain rule for themselves, according to which certain things must happen after certain dreams, which regulation of dreams and their certain consequences is quite naturally as extraordinarily stupid as the one who regulated them.  There are water dreams; they bring the death of some relative or other acquaintance.  Fire brings either a lie or a joy; bread, dung and wedding dreams are thought to be prophecies of death in the family.  If one dreams of bees, there will be a fire; if one dreams of ants, there will be a flood, or man will have many sorrows.  If one dreams of grasshoppers, crickets and flying birds, it means war, and so on, and a lot of silliness, not to mention the lottery dreams.

988. These pictures, which present themselves to the soul in the dream, are surely correspondences of the state of the soul, but by no means prophets of future results.

989. How much does it take for a person to have as many relatives, friends and acquaintances as there are days in a year, sometimes even ten times as many, and that out of several hundreds or thousands in a year some easily die?  If one dreams of water, bread, dung or marriage, then this dream was certainly meant for the deceased, whether he died 14 days earlier or 14 days later.  All other dreams are the same.  Someone had dreamed of a lot of locusts, and he was now half afraid and half longing for a war; but because nothing wants to stir in his country, and nothing in the neighboring countries either, so he goes and carefully reads the newspapers, and lo and behold, he reads in an article about war between English sailors and their colonists with natives on Zealand, and he slaps his forehead pathetically, and speaks quite seriously: I have recently (M. in Steyermark) dreamed of locusts, that means war, and right, it is war on New Zealand.  If our reader had tried a little harder, he would probably have come across several wars in the newspapers at the same time.

990. Behold such faith is then an evil, which can harm the soul very much, because the soul thereby gets into the habit to completely let go of trust in Me because of such moments; and the more of such prophetic vision scruples take root in the soul, the more they weaken the faith, the trust, as also the love for Me.  If even such simple dreams belong only to the soul, then also the stupid interpretations after that belong to a bad ghostly company, which wars the flesh at such occasions like the blowflies a pile of dung, and sucks from it such soul-dream visions, and then wheedles the soul again with such silly prophecies, which in themselves are nothing but nonsense of such bad spiritual flies, by which it is not seldom pasted over just as many house windows are pasted over by the flies, through which in the end the ray of sunlight can no longer penetrate, or only very badly; just as for this very reason the ray of grace from My sun cannot have an effect on the soul, because it is pasted over too much with such stupidities.

991. But for this very reason I give this here, so that you may know what to think in the future of the dreams, and also of other visions, which will be discussed more extensively in the following, in the point of truth.  Every phenomenon certainly has it's corresponding reason as well as a corresponding purpose; but there shall be no question of any imaginary stupidity.  Therefore, next time more about this remarkable matter!

About Superstition (April 16, 1847)

992. A third kind of so-called visions is the most stupid superstitious assumption brought over from paganism, according to which certain quite natural phenomena are supposed to have some prophetic connection with a fact that is therefore supposed to happen in the future.  I have already said many things in this regard on another occasion; but because this matter not infrequently gives rise to the greatest silliness and resulting malice, it's dreadfulness should once again be presented here in the right place.

993. It cannot be unknown to you, to which exceedingly and quite incomprehensibly stupid manipulations some people take their resort, in order to pinch something out of the sorrowful future, of course, quite erroneously.

994. The first fools of this are the calendar makers who, without possessing an ounce of wisdom, predict the weather for every day in the most ridiculous way in the world. Some of them date it according to certain extremely ludicrous and exceedingly ridiculous so-called Loos days; what can such a Loos day do if good or bad weather occurs after it?  Oh donkey-like people of the earth!  Who is the master of the weather, I or the Loostag?  Or can someone think that I am so unwise and stupid that I have created certain days in the year only for the sake of future weather?  Or did it not rain, thunder and lightning, hail and snow already at the times when people did not yet know anything about a Mary light-measure days, of the 40 martyrs, of Medardi, of Margaretha and of Portiuncula?  Who first made these days, pro primo, certain feast days?  The stupidity of the people; and who afterwards made them feast days?  The very excessive stupidity of the people.

995. But do not these days resemble the divination of signs of the Gentiles and Jews, to whom I said how they can recognize from the setting and rising sun what kind of day will follow; and I said to them: "You perverse kind!  You can judge the signs of the sky, but the signs of this time, the signs that I work before your eyes, you do not recognize."

996. What I said then, I say now.  People judge the loos-days and deduct from them the future weather; but they do not know the great loos-day of their heart, which would reveal to them the main weather of their future eternal life.

997. But man would only act rightly if he paid more attention to the weather conditions of his heart and realized that there is always bad weather in it, which certainly comes from the frequent loos-days, which are play days, feast days, booze days and almost all whore days, then no-good days, hard-hearted days, honor-cutting days, and a lot of other such lousy loos-days.

998. These loos-days shall man take into account, then many a foolish storm, lightning, thunder, rain and hail, snow and ice of his heart shall cease; and if such storms and evil tempests shall cease in the heart, then the spirit would dare to step out of it's closet into the free world of the heart, and would proclaim to the soul the loos-day of eternal life; But as long as all kinds of evil storms rage in the heart, which originate from the evil miserable days, the spirit remains in it's chamber, and person remains what he was, only a despicable animal, which will hardly ever be accepted into the heavenly circle of animals.

999. So man should pay attention to the feast days, on which the weather of the heart depends; but Candlemass, 40 Martyrs, Margaret, Portiuncula and Medardi, they are nobody's business, because I make the weather of the world without Candlemass, Portiuncula and Medardi.

1000. There are also calendar manufacturers who predict their weather in another way; they calculate like this: The winter is so long, the spring so long, the summer just so long, and the autumn just so long.  In the winter we set sixteen times snow, namely at the times, in which according to experience it has otherwise always snowed.  In the summer we have about 20 thunderstorms, and some rain, heat and sometimes winds; in the autumn we have 2 thunderstorms, then cold winds, rain, frost, and finally some snow.  That means nevertheless right: Quia mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur [Because the world wants to be deceived, so be it].

1001. But I would not say anything to such stupidities, because they do not originate from a silly reason; but exactly because they are a fraud, so it cannot be the same to Me, whether such stupid weather prophecies are announced to the people by the calendars or not, by which proclamation the people is diverted in their faith from Me, and is led over to the stupid calendar faith.  For there are people who believe the calendar so firmly that if it indicates a weather, it must come so surely that even I would not be able to change it.  What kind of fruit is this?

1002. Again, there are other people who consider the calendar makers to be either a kind of demigods or a kind of sorcerers, or at least black artists, who are in a laudable connection with a certain Beelzebub or witch, who predict the weather for every day to the calendar makers, if the latter have committed their souls to them.

1003. That is again a marvelous fruit, which drives mankind instead of upward to the light, straight downward to darkness.  So the calendar makers should put into their calendars what they can vouch for with their science and with their conscience; but with such popular weather- indications they should stay at home; and because in this respect they are already so attached to the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and their interpretation of signs seems to them to be historically ancient and sublime, they should also memorize quite deeply the Roman moral saying, which is not bad at all, and which says: Quot licet Jovi, non licet bovi.  That is to say, the ox should not take over the business that God alone has reserved for himself, especially not as long as he is and remains a purely carnal ox.

1004. I put to shame the barometers, which are more closely connected with the atmospheric air, than the spirit of a calendar maker together with his calendar; how much more is the calendar maker together with his calendar disgraced, especially if he is so stupid to prophesy beautiful Easter vacations, and I then make them white.

1005. This weather prediction is followed by a lot of folly under the title: Antidotes for the weather, or means by which one can drive away either thunderstorms predicted in the calendars, or if it is already really approaching.  Among these means of driving away the weather are, primo loco, the so-called weather fairs in Roman Christendom.  If parish priests want to be paid for a lot of weather fairs, they are only allowed to make an amicable agreement with a calendar maker or other weather prophet, so that he can prophesy a lot of lightning and hail; then there will be a lot of weather fairs.

1006. A second remedy is the so-called blessing of the field, either by the local clergy, which is of course not so powerful, or by a mendicant monk, whose blessing is said to be much more powerful.

1007. As a third antidote, especially against already approaching thunderstorms, is mainly the so-called weather ringing, which is just now very much in momentum again, then the shooting with consecrated powder, then the smoking with the so-called palm willows, the burning of consecrated candles, the hanging out of the real Tobias blessing, the sprinkling of the fields with holy water, and finally, in addition to some even meaner follies, the erection of tremendously high red-painted weather crosses, on which the weather witches are supposed to bump into each other and then fall down.

1008. What horrible nonsense!  But all this comes mainly from the weather prophets, who themselves are considered to be a kind of sorcerer, through which the common man completely gets away from considering God to be the weather maker and to ask Him for a good weather, but he now considers the weather to be purely a sorcerer's work, which he has to counteract only with anti-hexical means; and then one wedge drives the other, and one foolishness the other, but usually under the title: Omne ad majorem Dei Gloria!  For this honor, however, I give thanks; it may have once been pleasing to the brass, stone and wooden gods, and may still be pleasing to the wooden, bronze, here and there also stone and mostly painted images of saints, but I create nothing out of such glorification.

1009. Behold, all this also belongs to the realm of visions; but certainly to the dirtiest, and has as much reality as the pocket skills of a physically very nimble person.

1010. However, this kind of vision has the very significant disadvantage that mankind, which is still better in it's heart, is completely diverted from trusting in God, and in the end puts all it's trust in the calendars, in the weather measurements, in the weather ringing, and so on; and this is an effect of hell then, which in this way takes possession of the minds not only of individual people, but of whole peoples in the most shameful way, and has not infrequently tempted them to the most shameful degenerations against their poor innocent brethren, and has tempted them especially in former times.

1011. And it is just about to happen again, if it would be possible to do it; for there are already witchery again, which are tolerated by the clergy, but I will soon get fed up with them.  One should give light to a people, but not darkness, but one gives them darkness; go ahead!  But in due time, I Myself will light a light for the people, and they will then know how to thank the givers of darkness duly.

About superstition – continued (17 April 1847)

1012. Another kind of exceedingly ludicrous vision is that almost all people, but especially in the Roman Catholic religion, hold and believe in certain signs of good or bad luck, and one finds such foolishness from the highest circles down to the lowest chaste's hut.

1013. Thus, one such sign of good or bad fortune is the first encounter when someone goes out of the house; if the outgoing person encounters a man, this is a good sign, but if the outgoing person encounters a completely innocent female individual, this is an unfavorable sign.  The belief in this is so ingrained in some people that they begin to curse a poor woman who has the misfortune to meet such an outgoing person first, if not aloud, then at least in their hearts.  How often does it say quite clearly: Oh you cursed old woman, beast, hussy, etc. more praiseworthy expressions; especially the hunters, when they go hunting, consider such an encounter a very bad omen, and if such hunters did not shy away from the secular court, such an innocent female being would certainly be the one who would get something to do with the first powder and lead of the hunter.  This foolishness, which has often had the worst consequences, is also a pagan remnant, and is tolerated; only a few somewhat better so-called pastors sometimes, when they are in a particularly good mood, let a few words against such nonsense fall from their pulpits, but this is not nearly enough to eradicate such an old cancer in the root.

1014. The cause, however, lies in the fact that such foolishness is not confined at it's root, as it is a sickness of the soul, which is caused by the wicked dregs of those spirits who, coming from paganism, are not completely ready for hell, and therefore still enjoy the free pass on the surface of the earth for the purpose of attaining the right knowledge, in order to become better beings.

1015. These spirits join all kinds of people, attach themselves to their flesh, and work with their paganism into the roots of the soul, where it is connected with the body, whereby the soul then comes to such silly assumptions.

1016. Many people see quite well that there cannot possibly be anything wrong with it; but when a case occurs to them, they nevertheless believe in it, or at least get into a kind of embarrassment in the opinion that there might be something wrong with it after all.

1017. A proper Christian, however, should certainly never encounter such a thing, because it can never lead to anything good, but only to something bad.

1018. Another such prophetic sign consists in the fact that some think and sometimes firmly believe that if a cat, a hare, also another quite innocent animal crosses the way in front of them, that they will become unhappy in their enterprise.  What influence should these little animals have on the good or bad success of what a human wants to undertake?  This is also of the same pagan origin as the former, and has the same reason of origin in the human soul, therefore it is to be avoided most carefully.

1019. Another such foolishness is that some silly people want to find out their future from certain so-called riddles; lead is poured into water, also a newly laid egg is beaten into water, then a hidden treasure is searched for by certain divining rods, also gold is hung in glasses, so that it either brings forth the years of a person's life, or yes and no by the stroke or non-stroke on a posed question.

1020. Such means, which are supposed to reveal the future, are actually too stupid to lose a word about.

1021. Which only half-reasonable thinker will want to do such a dishonor to his own spirit, to assume so very secretly and stupidly that a dead metal has more insight than he himself.  Man, after all, never likes to allow himself to be accompanied by someone more clever than himself, because he thinks that his spirit will be impaired by it; but if a dead metal should have more insight than he, how does it look then with the honor of his spirit.  If man, as I said, as a spiritually living being, cannot tickle out of the future how it will be shaped, how should only a dead metal be able to accomplish that?

1022. But let us leave this matter alone, for it's worthlessness is too obvious; fortunately, that these lunacies are more a gimmick than a real superstition among the people.

1023. But a much worse way to unravel the future is the so-called card-opening.  Through this evil game, many people have already become temporally and eternally unhappy.  Therefore, everyone should flee such a card-striker like the plague; for in the home of such a one, who practices this as a craft, live as many main devils as she possesses cards.  And if such a map-interpreter sometimes divines something, then this really only happens through the help of Beelzebub; therefore, as said, and as it was already said in the old covenant, flee such prophetesses like the plague, otherwise you are prisoners of hell!

1024. In addition to this card-opening method of revealing the future and other secret things, in more recent times people have even resorted to somnambulism.

1025. In this treatment, when a magnetizer wants to help the somnambulist, he should never ask the latter self-loving questions, but only take note of what the somnambulist speaks voluntarily, and should not force her to speak, which is very detrimental to the somnambulist, but the magnetizer should wait patiently until the somnambulist herself is in the circle of speech; then she will talk as much as necessary, and a question should only be asked if the somnambulist has spoken too vaguely, sometimes too unpleasantly, about an object.  In general, this healing method of laying on of hands is to be delivered only by believers to believers; but if some imaginary fool of a doctor without religion and without faith, merely by artificial manipulation, puts some weak female being into a magnetic sleep, in order to learn certain things from her, or to make certain scientific tests on her, or even to have other people look at her and question her for money, such a magnetizer is a devil in human guise, and for the somnambulist it would be just as good, if not better, if she had been possessed by a real devil, than that she had let herself be magnetized by such a godless, religionless, honorless and conscienceless magnetizer.

1026. For such people, as for the worst highwaymen and murderers, the heaviest dungeons shall be built; for the most abominable of all abominations, and more abominable than all slave-trading, is that a man should deign to sell not only his brother's or sister's body, but also his soul and spirit, in part to hell, for the vile earthly gain.

1027. Such crimes, where they are common and given, shall also find the most righteous punishment here and there through my impulse.

1028. I show you this so that you will know how to behave in cases that occur here and there.

1029. I want to bless every magnetizer who lays his hands on the sick in My name to bring them healing; but I want to curse a pig-dog in the same way, who only tries to prepare a foppish sleight of hand, in which he does not have and cannot have the slightest faith, in order to draw a vile profit from it.  Such miracle-workers and future-deceivers shall stay away from Me for eternal times.

1030. In general, everyone should remember this, and you yourselves may instruct everyone not to ever let it happen to him that he wants to reveal the future by whatever extraordinary means as long as man is not yet ripe for it; for it is not only harmful to the highest degree for every soul, but also extremely nonsensical and stupid, since there is eternally nowhere a definite future.  This is always directed only after the free will of the people who therefore live here on earth to order their free will.  Only the future will be measured according to the order of the free will of people on earth; how then can a fool, and that without faith on top of that, want to make other weak people believe what will happen?

1031. But I have given every man the free spirit anyway, for whose rebirth everyone should take care of; when this will take place, then also for man, the future will be revealed - but as long as this is not the case, there is so quite actually still no future for man.  Then what is the use of such a stupid investigation of the future?  Seek first of all the kingdom of God; everything else will come by itself!

The Kingdom of God and rebirth (20 April 1847)

1032. Of course, there are many who say: Seeking the kingdom of God would be right if it were easier and more effective to find and if somewhere in a church or other Christian community a real right way to the kingdom of God were to be found; but Rome says: I am the only right way; likewise every other church says that of itself.  But if you walk one or the other way, which is supposed to lead to the kingdom of God, you will certainly find everything else, but not the promised kingdom of God, at least not the way it should be expressed by someone who would have found it in earnest.  But I say to this: He who speaks in this way is certainly not wrong, for if someone searches too long for a precious thing and finds nothing of it, he will in time give up the search along with the precious thing.  But who is to blame for this?  The seeker himself, if he does not seek the kingdom of God where, and not in that in which it is to be found.

1033. Of course, Rome is not the way to it, London and Berlin not, and also not Petersburg; because it is written clearly enough, how the kingdom of God does not come to man splendidly with external show, but it is inwardly in man.  It's cornerstone is Christ, the One and Only God and Lord of heaven and earth, temporal and eternal in space as well as in infinity.

1034. The heart must believe in Him and love Him above all things, and the neighbor as oneself.

1035. If man has completely fulfilled this very simple requirement in his heart, then the kingdom of God is already found; man then no longer has to worry about the rest and the further things, which will be added to everyone if he needs anything.

1036. Whoever needs wisdom, it will be given to him whenever and wherever he needs it;  if someone needs certain external means of help for the duration of his earthly life, they will be assigned to him in just time and in just measure.  If someone needs a special power on a special occasion, it shall be given to him when he needs it most; if someone needs advice or comfort, it shall be given to him whenever he needs it.

1037. If someone needs a foreign tongue on a special occasion, he should also be served with it; and if he wants to help the sick, he needs nothing but My name and his hands.

1038. But these advantages, of course, no man, as long as he walks in the flesh, and if he were already reborn a hundred times, can have completely arbitrarily in his hand, but only if he really needs one or the other in earnest.

1039. For everyone will understand that I will not give My grace to anyone in a certain way for fun, because the born-again, even if he had already found the kingdom ten times, must come to Me as well as anyone else if he wants anything, just as I Myself, when I walked in the flesh on earth, could not and was not allowed to do what I wanted, but what He wanted who sent Me, who was indeed in Me, as I was in Him. He was the Spirit of God as Father from eternity, but I was and am His soul, which indeed possesses it's own knowledge and ability as the highest soul and the most perfect soul of all souls; but nevertheless this soul was not allowed to do what it wanted, but only what He wanted, from whom it came out.  If the soul also wanted to push aside the last bitter cup, nevertheless He who was in Me did not want that; therefore My soul also did what He wanted who was in Me.

1040. Therefore, you must not imagine a born-again man to be a permanent miracle worker in all things, nor such a one who, because of the possession of the kingdom of God, would be covered with some false, unprecedented so-called halo, neither around the head, nor even less around the belly, as you paint your saints.

1041. Also, after the death of the body of a born-again, no miraculous signs of holiness, especially praised in the Roman legend of the saints, are to be discovered; thus no blood of St. Januarius bubbling up at least once every year, no fresh tongue of St. Peter, St. Anthony and St. Nepomucene, no miraculous chains, clothes and sandals, even less a beatific Capuchin, Franciscan, Minorite, Servile and similar habit; just as no mummy-like incorruptibility of the departed body.  All this is not to be discovered in the born-again, and if it were to be discovered, then only every sensible person asks himself what this thing would be good for?  What would the blessed spirit of a born-again man gain if he were to receive such wonderful but nevertheless meaningless honors on earth, which firstly would be of no use to him, but could do a great deal of harm to his brothers who are still alive?  So the enemies of the kingdom of God do not bear anything on them, but, as shown above, My sole grace is only evident when they need it.

1042. Nor must you imagine the born-again founders of My kingdom as a kind of Carthusians or Trappists who would have died completely in everything and anything for the world, occupying themselves with nothing more than the rosary, mass and litany, with ridiculous fasting, with contempt for the female gender and the strictest cursing of sinners, and as a pastime with the contemplation of their tomb and coffin.

1043. Oh these are not signs of rebirth, but on the contrary signs of rebirth of all darkness in them; for the light of the born-again knows no night sides of life - in them is everywhere daylight.

1044. Grave and coffin are not emblems of a born-again who had found the kingdom of God, because there are neither graves nor coffins there, because there are no dead, but there is only an eternal resurrection and an eternal life, and for this neither grave nor coffin will be necessary, because the born-again already lives continuously in his spirit, and considers the falling away of his body as little more a death than any man can consider it his death when he takes off his coat in the evening, - or even better, as a burden bearer, whom his burden presses very much, if he finally lays down this burden once at the goal.

1045. For this reason there is no more death for a born-again person.  This is indeed a glorious sign of rebirth, but it is also only inwardly in man, and is not worn outwardly in public like a modern Parisian tunic; nor is this glorious sign hung out like a so-called ephod in Trier, but, as I said, this sign is inward.

1046. In the same way, the other signs of rebirth are only internal to the human being and are only visible externally when it is necessary.

1047. He who has the gift of prophecy has it only when he needs it, and when he always asks Me first; for no-one can prophesy but I alone.

1048. If I then put the words in the heart and on the tongue of the born-again, he will prophesy, but otherwise he will speak like any other man.  It is the same with the other gifts, as already mentioned.

1049. From all this it is also clear that the kingdom of God is not so difficult to find, and to be born again is not so difficult as some people believe or at least think.

1050. But people with the so-called second sight, are not to be considered as born-again only because of their second sight, which is only a consequence of their nerve-system, through which the soul easily transfers views from it's soul realm into the body organism by means of the nerve-spirit, because just such easily excitable nerves do not act as an obstacle in this matter.  Strong nerves, of course, cannot do this, which is why strong-nerved people rarely or never have the so-called second sight.

1051. The second sight, therefore, is not to be regarded as something good or bad in a person who possesses it, but it is a kind of disease of the body, to which people usually attain through all kinds of adverse events in the course of their earthly life; great sadness, long-lasting fear, great fright, and the like are usually the causes of it, but sometimes also artificial means, as magnetism, intoxication, and now and then anesthesia by their own narcotic herbs.  In short, such signs are not at all to be considered as signs of rebirths, which is already to be gathered from the fact that such visionaries may well narrate their seen images approximately in such a way as they came to their sight; but in all their narrations there is nowhere any foundation as existing on which they would be built, and then such narrations, even if they sound so strange, lack all coherence, and lie under each other like leaves in a forest, when they have fallen from the trees.

1052. But the reason lies in this: because with such individuals their spirit and their soul are not yet connected with each other, so also in their views there is no reason and no connection as vivid and well comprehensible before everyone's eyes; while from the mouth of a born-again, even if in part only at first, every representation of spiritual things certifies the right reason and the fullest connection.

1053. This is therefore also a sign of the actual rebirth, and a very important difference compared to a mere visionary; therefore one must also not expect any ludicrous miraculous things as a consequence of the rebirth, but quite natural fruits of a healthy spirit and a soul that has become healthy through it; everything else belongs in the fool's house.

1054. The born-again knows that one must not play around with the gifts of the Holy Spirit; therefore, he uses them only then, and usually in secret, only when they are needed.

1055. But whoever would like to reach the rebirth because of any kind of recognizable miraculous qualities, he may be assured that such grace will not be granted to him on this side; because that would literally mean to throw the very noblest pearls to the pigs for food.

1056. Love for Me, great goodness of heart, love for all people, these together in a bundle, are the real sign of rebirth; but where this is missing, and where humility is not yet strong enough for every thrust, neither halo, nor robe, nor spirit visions are of any use, and all such people are often farther from the kingdom of God than some others with a very worldly-looking appearance; For, as I said, the kingdom of God never comes with an outward show, but only inwardly in all silence and inconspicuousness in the heart of man.

1057. If you imagine the kingdom of God to be all kinds of ridiculous miraculous foolishness and expect it, but it does not come, you must attribute it to yourselves if the kingdom of God evaporates from you in one or the other.  For in such foolishness the kingdom of God has never been promised, but in whom it is promised, it is easily found; but there are many who, in seeking the kingdom of God, behave just as some scattered people who seek their hats while they already have them on their heads.

1058. Such visions as a born-again man has, are alone righteous; but all others can attain righteousness only when they are enlightened by a born-again spirit.  All other visions, dreams, and other means of divination are not to be relied upon, because they are merely the product of the wicked vermin who, on countless occasions, war against human flesh and, through it, spread all kinds of filth and garbage on the gullible soul.

1059. But just as everyone should not hold on to such foolishness, he should nevertheless hold everything on the word of a truly born-again person, because the latter gives nothing but what he receives; the other, however, only gives what he himself thinks he can create.

1060. Whoever says grandly: "I say it, and it is my work," do not believe it; and if someone speaks as if he were speaking in the name of the Lord, but actually does it only for his own honor and advantage, do not believe him either.

1061. But whoever says without selfishness or ambition: "The Lord says so!  Believe him, especially if he does not pay attention to the reputation of the person, for the one who is born again knows only the reputation of the Lord; but all people are his brothers!

True and false prophets (22 April 1847)

1062. Someone could ask here again and say: So one can always give fullest faith to a born-again, if he predicts future things, or should also such prediction be put into a little doubt? - To this I say: If the born-again says: "Do this," then do it.  But if he says: "This or that will come to pass," and has not put an if on it, do not believe him; For then he is already not a true born-again, because everything that happens and should happen, happens conditionally; therefore also regarding the events nowhere a firm unchangeable prediction can happen, because if something would be predicted definitely, what would have to happen, then the world would be in the deepest judgment, and all freedom would be lost.  A true born-again knows this very well and would therefore have to prophesy against his purest knowledge, thus obviously lie, if he wanted to predict something that will happen.

1063. I Myself was surely the first prophet in the world; but who can prove that I have predicted something for certain, except My resurrection?  I did say that I would die and rise again on the third day, but the time and hour of neither the death nor the resurrection was foretold to anyone.

1064. So I have also predicted My Second Coming, but, mind you, with the addition: The time and hour are known to no-one, except to Me alone, and also to the one to whom I wanted to reveal it; but I have already revealed it, too, but not with regard to time and hour, but only with regard to the signs by which one should recognize My Second Coming.

1065. So also all the prophets prophesied; but all that they prophesied was conditional, so that by such a prophecy no-one should be judged, but be at liberty to do what is offered in order to escape the threatened judgment, or to refrain from what is offered in order to be judged.

1066. Jeremiah prophesied for years, and waited himself, sometimes bitterly complaining, for the success of the prophecy; for what he prophesied for tomorrow happened only after years, indeed at 23 years, he had to wait until his prophecy concerning the 70 years of Babylonian captivity on the Jewish people came into full fulfillment.

1067. Jonah waited in vain for the downfall of Nineveh, so that in the end he quite angrily reproached Me for My goodness; but the cause of all this lies, as has already been remarked once before, merely in the behavior of people, for if they are threatened with judgment, but they change, if not all, at least some, then the judgment is cancelled.

1068. If there are only ten righteous people among a hundred thousand, I will spare the hundred thousand from judgment because of those ten; and if there are a hundred righteous people among a million, I will spare a whole million from the threatened judgment because of them.

1069. If, of course, the number of the righteous is higher, then the judgment will be all the more certain to be lifted, and instead of a general judgment, only a specific one will affect the most stubborn.  If, however, there are fewer righteous, then, of course, after some subsequent admonitions, the threatened judgment will not be stopped.

1070. According to this well-defined sense, only a born-again can and may predict future events.  If the prophecies do not have this aspect, then they are false, and the prophet was neither a born-again nor a called one, but he did it out of his own power, for which he will also find his reward; and if he will also say to Me one day, as there are so many of them now: 'Lord! I have done all this in Your name, and everything for Your greater honor', then I will still answer him: 'Away with you, for I have never known you', that is, as a prophet and as one whom I would have called to prophesy in My name, for a prophet who prophesies for money is like one who serves God for money and worships Him for money.  Such have already taken their reward; therefore I have nothing more to do with them, for they were always false prophets, only servants of the eyes and servants of Mammon and Belzebub.

1071. But you see that it is clear from this that everyone should be very careful with prophesying, the born-again and the called as well as the not born-again and not called; because for the sake of prophecy, I let no-one reach the rebirth, but only for the sake of eternal life.

1072. But if I call someone to prophesy, he should not be so bold as to add or take away something on his own authority, for if he did that, it would be very bad for him one day; therefore, it is by no means an easy business to be a prophet, and a very useless and harmful person is the one who prophesies on his own authority, or even presumes to be a divine judge.

1073. He that does this is a vain doer of evil, and shall come into the same judgment wherein he has judged his brethren.  He who condemns will be condemned, and he who curses will be cursed; he who judges with hell, will find his judgment in hell; he who judges with death, will find death; he who judges with the sword, will be judged with the sword; and he who judges with darkness, will be cast out into the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; but he who does not want to be judged, let him not judge.

1074. But if someone wants to say that he has power from Me to judge, I say to him that he is a liar for eternity; for I have given to My born-again apostles and disciples only a power of supreme charity, which I have made equal to love for Me, and this supreme degree of charity is My Spirit in the heart of every born-again, as well as in the heart of those who believe in Me, love Me and their brothers for My sake. By virtue of this love, which is My Spirit in man, everyone has the most covenantal right to forgive his enemies as often as he wants, with all his heart; and as often as a man has forgiven his enemy through My Spirit in him, so often shall it also be forgiven the same sinner in all heaven.

1075. But when there is an evil enemy against whom all avoidance is fruitless, let man say: The Lord repay you according to your works;  and in this consists the withholding of sin.

1076. Question: Is this authority a granted office of judge?  Oh no!  It is only an authority of the highest neighborly love or of a love that is equal to My divine one; but never ever an office of judgement, which I Myself have put aside, and for that very reason have given it all the less to a man.

1077. But I have given this supreme power of love to mankind precisely out of My supreme love, so that people among themselves might all the more easily become true brothers in My name; for among the Jews no-one, except the high priest alone, could atone for a sin which one man committed against another, and that only at certain times and by certain sacrifices, and two people who sinned against each other remained enemies as long as the priest and the sacrifice did not reconcile them.

1078. How unfortunate was this circumstance, which, of course, was more a misconception of the law than the law itself, for such people who not infrequently lived many days' journey from Jerusalem!  In order to counteract this old abuse of the law in the strongest possible way, and to lighten the burden of mankind as much as possible, I have therefore given every man the highest divine power of love, so that everyone can forgive his offender with all his heart, and that this forgiveness is also valid for all heavens.

1079. Who can bring out of it a grant of authority, which appropriates an office of judge?  Or if I had done something like that, would I not have contradicted Myself, if I had condemned all judging on the one hand, but on the other hand I would still have ordered it as an indispensable condition for beatification? Such a thing could hardly be expected from a stupid man, let alone from the highest wisdom of God.

1080. When I said: Receive the holy Spirit, it meant, and it still means: Receive the highest power of My divine Love; what you solve on earth, that shall be solved, and there is no need for a sacrifice and a high priest anymore,  and what you bind to your heart, and what you bind in the world, that shall also be bound in heaven.

1081. Here, loosening and binding are not even forgiveness and reservation of a sin, but loosening is making free, and binding is accepting.

1082. If, for example, someone owes Me something as a man owes a man, the man can release the man from the debt.  Or if there is some heathen, a Christian can make him completely free, if he confesses Christ, and can immediately accept him into the congregation, or bind him in heart with the omnipotence of divine love; every orthodox Christian who believes in Me, loves Me and is baptized in My name, has the full right to do this, without having to turn to the high priest, to whom alone it was formerly incumbent to accept foreign heathen people into Judaism through circumcision.

1083. Such authority was given, as already shown above, so that man's life would be made as easy as possible, and he could cleanse his conscience everywhere and lead a pleasant life.

1084. But who can lead out an even more troublesome office of judgement than the former Jewish one was?  Where such exists, it exists against all My order, and who takes part in it, he judges himself, if he thinks to become free of his sins by it, if he let himself be judged voluntarily.  Such a judicial institution becomes for him a true sin bank; for how can a third party cancel a debt owed by a second to the first? The first can forgive the debt of the second, but the third can never do so for eternity.  If the first and the second, or the creditor and the debtor, are stupid people, a third party can make a friend of the law, and can compensate them through good counsel and good deeds; but there can never be any question of forgiving sins, unless the creditor has authorized him to do so from the bottom of his heart.

1085. But when Jacob recommends a mutual confession of sins out of My spirit, this is by no means to be understood as confession, but only a mutual confidential sharing of one's own infirmities and weaknesses, in order to receive a true strengthening antidote in spirit and in truth from the stronger friend and brother.  Behold, for this one needs neither priestly nor exorcistic ordinations, and the apostleship itself is only a brotherly teaching office, but no Hebrew and pagan gold-, silver- and precious stone pomp.

1086. That the teachers of the church should show themselves in the highest and richest pomp, Jacob certainly did not intend, since he called the congregations to a mutual confession of infirmities and weaknesses; he wanted to achieve not only the medical purpose but also that of mutual humiliation, that not one brother should distinguish himself before the other like the Pharisee in the temple, but be like the humble tax collector.

1087. There is no mention of confession, as already noted above; however, not only the apostles, but everyone is commanded, if it is necessary, to be an unjust steward, which, among other things, should mainly manifest itself in the fact that some very feeble-minded people have sinned against their brothers, but these have died, either bodily or spiritually, in which circumstance a remission of guilt against their feeble-minded offenders is no longer to be thought of.  A third party can come to the weak and write off their supposedly great guilt.  He will perform a work of true Christian mercy on them, especially when he sends them to Me, but in every other case a third person should not interpose himself between two brothers as a debtor; if he does so, all the sin of the two will be laid on him, because he wanted to judge them, but not correct them.

1088. This is a very thorough understanding of the meaning of the commanded forgiveness of sins.  Next, something more about this, and more about false prophecy.

The forgiveness of sins and idolatry (24 April 1847)

1089. Some of the so-called modern philosophers, who admittedly do not consider Me to be more than a philosopher, claim that every man has the right to remit sins according to the Christian sense, because I, as the founder of this doctrine, have also remitted sins, and nota bene to such people who had certainly never offended Me before.

1090. But I say to this, and say to such philosophers about what I said to those Jews who set the adulteress before Me:

1091. He that is without sin among you may well do likewise, and his act shall be approved in all the heavens.

1092. As a man, I was able to forgive everyone's sins, because I was completely without sin; but whoever is not without sin, and if not otherwise has the fleshly procreative sin dwelling in him as hereditary, he cannot do the same.

1093. For to be without sin is to be in the highest degree of humility and love.  The law of God must be the very nature of such a man, and his flesh from childhood must be denied in all it's desires to the deepest degree, so that God's power may fully dwell in him; then such a man might well say to this or that one: 'Your sins are forgiven you.'  And they will be forgiven; But it is not man who forgives sins, but only divine power, which alone is able to reconcile and equalize the hearts of those who have sinned against each other and have become enemies, i.e. to illuminate and enlighten the hearts with it's divine fire, and thereby to quench all anger, all arrogance and all envy.  But it is self-evident that only God's power can do this, and no man's; therefore a man can say only to God:

1094. Lord, forgive me for the sin I have committed against many of my brothers, whom I can no longer ask for forgiveness for the sins I have committed against them; but to Your power, oh Lord, it is reserved for all time, as it is for eternity, to accomplish in all reality that which I would like to accomplish myself, if I now could!

1095. Behold, in this way only the power of God can remit sins which people can never forgive one another, either because of such local distances, by virtue of which two people who have once offended one another can hardly come together again in this world, except by way of dead letters; or else because one or the other has died, and thus bodily death has drawn an impenetrable wall between two people who have sinned against one another.  In such cases, therefore, only God can forgive sin in the true sense, although a so-called bad steward can gain merit in My name from such sinners; you already know what a bad or unjust steward is.  He has no right to forgive the debt, because he himself is a great debtor; but since he thereby performs a work of mercy, he offers a drink of refreshing, strengthening water, which will not go unrewarded.

1096. I do not want to say too much against such a use, if a man discloses his faults and infirmities to a so-called soul-friend in private, in order to get a consolation from him, and a mediate assurance that his sins will be forgiven, if he turns to Me with the serious intention of no longer committing such sins and, if possible, to make amends for those committed against his brother by sincere repentance and possibly by a kindly amends for the offense.

1097. Such a confessor will always be quite dear, valuable and delightful to Me; of course, a clergyman is not needed for this; but since a clergyman already wants to be the minister of the Lord's Supper, he can certainly also take over the unjust steward's office in the above-mentioned way, without, however, disapproving of a similar office when it is performed by another brother against a brother, provided that it has been done in the above-mentioned order; But if such an unjust housekeeper thinks that a confessor has the exclusive power and authority to remit sins, or even to withhold them from a sinner who entrusts himself to him, and to judge him, he is a perpetrator of evil and a killer of souls and spirits, since he arbitrarily places himself before the gates of heaven, does not want to enter himself, and does not want to let anyone else in either.

1098. Such a one is like those Pharisees, scribes and priests of the Jews, who burdened the people with the greatest and heaviest burdens, by the impossible carrying of which the poor people alone could gain heaven; but they themselves did not touch such burdens with a finger.  These are the ones who block the gates of the kingdom of God, drive away anyone who wants to enter with hellish wrath fire, and do not want to enter themselves.  But for this, as it is written, they will receive all the more damnation one day.

1099. To this class also belong those false prophets who preach to the poor simple-minded people with great earnestness and zeal: Go there or thereabouts, and make a so-called pilgrimage to this or that image of grace, and do not forget an abundant sacrifice at home to the best of your ability, and you will obtain forgiveness of your sins at that image (usually most often representing Mary), and other indescribable graces for your household in the great multitude.

1100. If then the poor blind people, as experience teaches, really follow such donkey-talk of a false prophet in droves, and at the place where the graces are distributed, they usually hear even more donkey-talk of miracles and countless dispensations of graces, and in this way are not infrequently made completely dead in their spirit, then I say: Such false prophets shall one day find their due reward, for they know nothing and want to know nothing of how to worship God in spirit and in truth.  They are nothing but servants of Mammon, privileged by the world; their image of grace, usually badly and unaesthetically made by human hands, is by far more important to them than God; for the image carries money for them, but not God, because He is the same everywhere anyway.

1101. All those who teach such things and turn the people to the images, are the most perfect antichrists and false prophets, from whom everyone should beware as for the plague, because they know the art of enchanting the people with all kinds of ostentation and killing them in spirit with false miracles.

1102. Therefore, you should not visit such places, for they are full of contagious spiritual plague.

1103. Do not believe that anyone can find help, because I alone can help, who am an eternal enemy of all idolatry.  How would I like to give miraculous power to a wooden image made by human hands?  If I would give it to someone, then it would be a real human; but not to a carving, which is much lower than the smallest animal, which has life and movement.  Yes, it is much less than a blade of grass, and less than a stone.  This is what it is, thus in it's order; but an image is not what it represents, for the image is wood, but represents a man, and is therefore venerated and worshipped because the one it represents was a virtuous hero.

1104. Thus, the worship of images is an even more abominable idolatry than that of the ancient pagans; they made gods of metal, stone and wood, because they did not know the true God.  Thus, an inner need for a true God compelled them to do this work, but contemporary mankind has and knows God, and knows that He is the only Lord, but still worships carvings; what should one say to such people? Nothing but: They are like the archenemy of God, who also knows God very well, but instead of loving Him and worshipping Him alone, he despises Him, and everywhere he is hostile to Him.

1105. The stupid, however, should not be credited with stupidity; but all the more those who see and have light, but still do not want to see, and extinguish the light wherever it is.

Active faith (27 April 1847)

1106. This does not only apply to the papacy, but to all so-called sects or denominations, because where Christ is not preached in His true Spirit and in His truth, there is false prophethood in the place of a true church.

1107. If one or the other sect also says: See, I have no images, therefore my confession must be the purest, then I say: Image or not image decides nothing, but only the life according to the Word.  For to purify a doctrine in itself of all ceremonial things, no matter how much, in order to make it more suitable for the reception of 'pure reason', means, in other words, nothing else than to continually reason about a given doctrine, but never to live according to it, just as if someone bought a house, and would like to constantly clean and polish it inside and out to make it more and more suitable for a dwelling, but for all the cleaning and polishing, and for all the constantly better making it habitable, no inhabitant ever gets in.  Is not the next chaste [Austrian mountain cabin - tr], which is continually inhabited, better than such a house?

1108. It is the same with the church; it is still better if it has some kind of standard in which it's believers find some kind of stability, than if it is like such a church in which nothing but sweeping and chewing is going on all the time.  Their confessors stand by and watch, like idle people at a house-building, who also criticize and make comments; but at the same time it does not occur to anyone to hand only a brick and a bushel of mortar to a working mason for the benefit of the master of the house, and there the idlers consider themselves much better than the workers.

1109. Behold, this is a true picture of the many denominations; they do nothing out of sheer preparation and criticism, and are continually attack those who are not of their denomination, and make fun of their blindness, and continually crying out: Come here, that we may take the mote out of your eyes, but they are not at all aware of the beam in their own eye.

1110. It is true that there are a thousand enormous abuses in the Roman Catholic Church, but there are also many good things in it, because love and humility are preached, and if someone follows nothing but that, he will not be lost.

1111. But what shall I say of a sect that teaches nothing but faith and rejects works?  There, as you say, baptism and chrismation are corrupted; for it is written loudly and openly that faith without works is dead, and I Myself have clearly said many times: Do not be vain hearers, but doers of My word! This obviously shows that faith alone is of no use, but works.

1112. What good is the light of the sun to the earth if it is not connected with the powerful heat?

1113. What is the use of all knowledge and science to a man if he does not apply it?

1114. Or what is the use of merely believing in the cold winter that a burning wood in the stove can warm the room?  Will the room be warmed by faith?  I do not believe it.

1115. In short, the strongest faith without works is like a thirsty person who merely wants to cover himself with a warm thought in a cold room in order to warm himself.  Of course, this is the cheapest blanket; but whether this blanket will warm anyone, may be judged by those poor people who in severe winters have not infrequently been found frozen stiff in their rooms, and mostly for the reason that they had no other blanket than a barest blanket of thoughts.

1116. Just as this covering of thoughts is of no use without a real covering, so faith is of no use without works.  Faith is only the receiving organ of a teaching that leads to a certain activity; whoever merely receives these instructions in his faith but does not act on them, ask: What then does this instruction serve him for?  I say: To nothing else than to a foolish critic, just as all the rules of musical art are of no use to one, and he is not able to perform even the easiest and simplest; but such a mere rule-holder is then foolish, and criticizes every artist as if he could really perform the most excellent himself.  But I say: A beggar musician is still worth more than such a critic, who himself can do nothing, but wants to judge everything.

1117. So I prefer such a church, where something happens, than one where nothing happens; because it is better to give someone a piece of bread, than to make a thousand plans for the care of the poor, and still give nothing to the poor, when he comes to such a planner.  Planning is all right, but giving must also be there, otherwise faith is again without works, where poor mankind starves by the hundreds.

1118. But whoever wants to live rightly can do so in every church; for one main rule is: Test everything, and keep what is good.

1119. If you have bathed a child, throw away only the water of the bath; but keep the child, and the child is love!

1120. I say to no-one: Become a Catholic, or become a Protestant, or become a Greek, but what one is, let him remain as he will.  But if he be what he will, let him be a working Christian, and that in spirit and in truth; for every one may, if he will, have the pure Word of God.

1121. I am not like a patriarch, and I am not like a pope, and I am not like a general superintendent, and I am not like a bishop, but I am like an exceedingly good and most just Father to all My children, and I only take pleasure when they are active and compete in love, but not when they call each other fools, and each one of them wants to be the wisest and most infallible with pure reasoning, but in doing so, do nothing.

1122. My kingdom is a kingdom of supreme power, but it is not a kingdom of idle, wise-nose loafing; for I did not say to the apostles: Stay at home and think and brood and ponder over My teachings, but: 'go out into all the world.'

1123. I say the same to all the blessed; it is said to be active, because the harvest is always greater than the number of workers.  Therefore, it is also better to be active in some order than only of the purest faith, and to be active according to My teaching is infinitely better than to know the whole Bible by heart and to believe.

1124. The mere man of faith is like him who buried his talent; but if someone knows little from Scripture, but does according to it, he is like him who kept a faithful house over the little, and then is set over much.

1125. From what has been said so far, everyone of good will will certainly be able to find out easily what he has to do to become a true human.  What he has to choose and avoid for his power of action, he will find here as clear as day; therefore, everything is exhausted in this respect.

PART THREE

RELIGIOUS AND MORAL CONDITIONS IN VARIOUS NON-CHRISTIAN PEOPLES (as of 1847)

Jews,  Mohammedans and Brahmines in spiritual perspective (28 April 1847)

Original content summary:

The critics (are people who live from scolding). "The hay" for the oxen and the donkey, the spiritual earth is guided by Christian spirits only. The present Jews, strong comparison with the under-mixing of mankind with Jews (from the spiritual point of view). Their role in the spiritual realm. but misused. The great means they have available, but their abuse thereof. The Mohammedans, a variation of Jews and Aryan Christians, their main virtue is trade and war. Their imagination of the hereafter, and their role there. The Brahmines, mysterious miracles, where black magic plays a role. The caste system and tragic state of lower culture there.

About critics

1126. We shall, however, not consider all the inhabited regions of the earth propertyally, since this would require too much time and space, but we shall only sketch a general view of the so-called conditions, considering the various main inhabitants of the earth, which brings about the spiritual union between them and heaven.

1127. Since we have so far only paid attention to the Christians, and left the other inhabitants of the earth untouched, it would in the course of time appear to some reader, in this regard, in the respect of the totality of the earth, to make a few biting remarks, which will not be lacking anyway. The so-called "critics" of profession must indeed criticise everything and sniff out and insult; for these are the people who live from scolding, and since the world is always reading, and much more attentive to insults than praises, this evil quality of the world is a particularly powerful leverage for critics to complain about. Only the works and actions of people who do something, are easy prey for the critics, who criticise them, to be labelled by all sorts of very sensitive means. For this then, spew these insult-hungry worldly wise even more bile onto everything they do not fear to be beaten by; so it is necessary to give them as much as possible of a donkey muzzle, and sometimes through such a message some hay, so that these poor animals have something to eat.

1128. It would not be necessary to ask further in this message about the Earth, any explanation about what the other inhabitants, since the principal thing indeed always remain the Christians, and the spiritual earth is governed and directed only by Christian spirits and never by pagan; - but this is only a few portions of hay for the critics, so that they can get something to eat. In the tropics, however, it is well known that the grasses are much stronger than in the temperate zones, where the Christian flag is already blowing; therefore we may also be assured that we shall find an abundance of all hay in the tropics, and so let us turn to the other inhabitants of the earth with this intention.

1129. In addition to the many Christian sects, the Jews live scattered all over the world; they resemble the bacon slices with which the cooks lard the lean venison.  In this way, all kinds of people, who are mostly very lean game, are also larded with the Jews all over the world.  Jews then mostly resemble pigs, which people everywhere let grow some fat, so that, when they are lean, they can again be underpinned by the gold and silver fat of the Jews.  A Jew, as he is now constituted, is completely a pig; already the outward appearance certifies for everyone to which class of animal this human race belongs.  A Jew currently generally looks like a pig, and stinks like a pig, and rolls everywhere in the most despicable world mud like a pig, in order to quench his thirst for gold and silver.  He is, spiritually taken, happy with any kind of food; he is a Christian for the Christian, a Turk for the Turk, a pagan for the pagan, a Chinese for the Chinese, and a fetish servant together with the fetish, only in order to be able to procure all their gold, silver and precious stones. A pig can also enjoy any food; even the barest dirt is not unwelcome to him, as long as it is warm. This is also the case with the Jew; wherever he finds any warmth or inclination for his interest, he eats it, for these are just the people who are available for everything for money, and among them there are very few exceptions.  The best, as you say, are not worth a shot of gunpowder in spiritual terms.

1130. They are still waiting for a Messiah who would like to lead them back to their old promised land and make of them a great and powerful people; but this Messiah will never come, and they will remain what they are until the end of time; therefore they play an exceedingly low role in the spirit realm, which is easy to understand. TThey are there what they are here, namely hagglers, with the only difference that here they walk among the people in human form, but on the other side they mostly appear in the form of pigs, which they hate most of all; admittedly not obvious to everyone, not even among themselves, but only seen from the pure light of truth.

1131. Since there is not much more to be done with the Jews, and everyone knows that they are to be found all over the world among all nations, and that they conduct the same business everywhere, we will say nothing more about them.  It is true that in them the great spiritual qualities are still predominantly present, but these qualities are used for vain evil. Therefore, they remain what they are, and in the spirit-world there is no leaner heaven than the Jewish one, for they also bargain there, and the shine of gold is more to them than the most intense light of truth.

The Mohammedans

Trade and war as the main characteristics of the Mohammedans

1132. First after the Jews come the Mohammedans, who inhabit a small part of Europe, a fifth of Asia, and an eighth of Africa.

1133. These Mohammedans are a variant of the Jews and the Arian Christians, but their main virtue is trade and war. What they can not get by trade, they buy with weapons in their hands; their time will soon be over.

1134. The highest reward of their commercial and martial efforts they put into sensual pleasures; therefore their Elysium, as they imagine it, bristles with the most beautiful young girls and women, with whom they hope to do their lewd business for eternity, without becoming weary and tired in their sensual feelings.

1135. Some of them imagine their Elysium in such a way that the ground is paved with the whitest and most beautiful women's breasts on whom they can wander around so comfortably, and the women and the girls grow in increasingly sweeter in form as the fungi from the earth; and they can make use of it as often as they wish, and exclaim in full delight: How wonderful and great is our Allah!

1136. Thus they imagine the trees in their Elysian gardens as beautiful female bodies, just as the Greeks and Romans had imagined a certain goddess Daphne after transforming Apollo into a laurel tree.

1137. These tree-wives are full of genitals, and are available to be used; this is approximately the idea of heaven of most of the Mohammedans, and of course have to be understood, the most distinguished favourite foods and beverages.

1138. It is self-evident that with them very bad aspects awaits them in the spiritual world; so it would be a waste of paper and ink to give more attention to it. It is self-evident, however, that they are not to be condemned because they are this way, and in the spiritual world it will be taken care of in the spirit world to guide them unto the right path; only as long as they remain "Mohammedans", there is no provision for them in the spirit realm. What should they do? What they believe cannot be allowed; therefore they are over there like wanderers, not knowing where to turn to.

The Brahmines (Brahmanas)

Caste system; Magic of the Brahmines; their beyond

1139. In addition to the Mohammedans there are the Brahmines, who live in a terrible state of affairs in Central Asia and also in a part of South Asia.

1140. These people are all pure mysterious miracle men, with them there is nothing but miracle upon miracle, they themselves work nothing but miracles, and their main study is to pick off the miraculous powers of the good as well as the evil deity, and to work all kinds of miracles themselves.

1141. Everyone can readily understand that there is already much satanic machination in the game; for with them the caste system is still at home. The common man is condemned to remain eternally dumb so that he cannot see through the make-believe miracles of the spiritual caste. Woe to the one who dares to ask a Brahma-servant how he has done a miracle; for, for the first offence of this kind, the pretentious is rejected only with an immense beating, but a second time will already cost your life, or at least the eyes and the tongue.

1142. It is scarcely necessary to mention the fact that the inhabitants of this extremely dirty land, will have a terrible fate in the spiritual realm, even worse than the Mohammedans. Spirits of these people of Brahma must be wholly moved into the polar ends of the earth, where the greatest desolation prevails; only after many years, would they become receptive to Christ.  But this is all that can be said of them; therefore, on to another party.

The Chinese from a spiritual point of view (30 April 1847)

Original content summary:

The Chinese, as Zoroaster-believers, somewhat better, but fatalists and rulers, therefore everything class-wise. Radical cures there. They (the Chinese) have smaller house gods besides the great god. Beautiful (!) Useful commoner facilities alongside stupidities, some good examples. They are the most numerous and mostly wealthy people. As Stoic followers of Confucious, they are difficult to advance over there. Their diogenic self-satisfaction despises all the heavens, and even the glory of the everlasting love of the Almighty.

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1143. Alongside the Brahmans, the Chinese, who have the so-called religion of Zoroaster, stand almost on the same level. These people are not so miracle-addicted, and therefore, in their own way, a hair better than the Brahmans; but, in spite of this, they are very far behind in the actual formation of true Christians, for they are fatalists on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the strictest pedantics, who have established "up to here and no further".

1144. Their houses and their clothes must always have the same form; also the food and drinks for each class and for each feast are precisely determined, as well as their compliments and their speeches. It cannot be perfected, but nothing can be worsened either.

1145. Diseases are treated according to class; the common people class is always cured by beating, for they say: An inner disease is thereby lured to the skin; this may then, when beaten properly blue, cut open in several places; once it has been properly bluffed, then all evil material will go out.

1146. Cholera is cured besides the beating and skin cutting, also with cutting off of the tongue. The military is cured in an almost similar way when one would fall ill; only after such treatment, a kind of plaster is applied. This plaster is applied rather hot on the back and on the belly, and remains on until it falls off by itself.

1147. The nobler classes are cured with rhubarb and Chinarinde; only the emperor and court officials have the right to use the whole pharmacy in case of illness, which, however, consists of ten medicines only in the most extreme cases. This always remains the same; those it helps, it helps, but who it does not help, was destined to die.

1148. In addition to the one great god, whom they worship as the supreme being, they have a number of house-gods, who are to help them in small things; but with these house-gods it is usually a very unpleasant affair, and they have no longevity; for when a Chinese appeals to his house-god, and the latter can of course not grant it to him, such a god will soon be deprived of his office, and from this point on he is deeply despised, and beaten for three hours.

1149. Such a deity then taken to an old restroom, and in this way is retired.  If there are already a number of such pensioned gods in the restroom, an auto-da-fé is held with them, and their useless ashes are thrown into a river.

1150. They are likewise very peculiar with the construction of their paths. A path must never go over anyone's land, but rather in a ditch in which nothing grows, or in which some stream flows, but this is less frequently the case; because the Chinese also know to fill the trenches. Bridges which extend for many miles over dry country, are therefore a common sight, so that the ground under the bridge can still be used.

1151. This practice would be good, where it better constructed; but sometimes these bridges are so bad that the wanderer is hardly able to get over it, and would the bridge break somewhere, the victim, if he is still alive, must compensate for the damage, which happens not infrequently, as such a bridge are supposed to last a certain number of years. If it was already bad, nothing will be done to it unless a hiker has fallen through somewhere, then he must repair it.

1152. In addition to these bridges, there are also some main roads, which are only intended for heavy vehicles and the military. These main roads are never dry, and never without excrement, for these are usually alongside a stream or a brook, for which reason the Chinese usually go barefoot; only when they leave the street, do they wash their feet, and only then put on their very pointed sandals.

1153. The plots of land are almost just as defined as in Japan, except that they are not subject to the same penalties for violating the boundaries. Thus, the number of children that a countryman or citizen may have is still determined in many points; if he has more than one, he must immediately report this to the authorities, who will then issue him the edict of extermination.

1154. The midwifes are usually used to exterminate the children; but these now know that Europeans buy such children from them, so if they can, they bring such children to the market, where also childless Chinese are allowed to buy these children.

1155. That this people, together with many stupidities, which at times even appear cruel, but does portray good qualities, are usually very sober, you can be assured of; therefore they have almost perpetual peace, and they have, although they have the greatest number of people in the world, also the greatest earthly wealth.

1156. But that with this people, as it is, there is nothing to be done in the spiritual world, is self-evident. One have to be very careful with them if they were to be won for the true kingdom of the heavens; for, according to the doctrine of their Confucius, they are, according to their totalitarian and terminism teachings, pure Stoics.

1157. But how difficult it is for a Stoic to be accessible to a better light, has already been shown, namely in the representation of the spiritual sun. It is not easy to find on earth, besides the Japanese, a nation which observes it’s laws and doctrines as strictly as them; but it is precisely for this reason that they will not let go of their Diogenic self-satisfaction for any price.

1158. But when this self-satisfaction has reached the highest culmination point, everything else is a bare zero; all the heavens and all the glory of the angels, yes, My own supreme glory have no predominance with them. We have answered the 'Why?' as we have said, in the spiritual sun, and indeed in the evening of the general spiritual kingdom.

1159. But that these people are constant Stoics, can you already see from their state institutions; this people keep themselves in favour of their own, they keep themselves as their focal point; they regard themselves to be the inhabitants of the heavenly kingdom, and their excellence in everything overshadows everything on the earth. Their emperor is a pure son of heaven, and have his lineage straight from the sun. For this reason, this people also avoids, as much as possible, every communion with the rest of the peoples of the earth, and refuses to be instructed by anyone; because they know the best about everything.

1160. But as on this earth it is difficult to make something better out of a Chinese, and to bring him to another faith, it is still much more difficult to bring a departed spirit to a better conviction.

1161. But since we now know this people in so far as is necessary for the set purpose, we will no longer stay with them, but at once go to another.

The Tibetans from a spiritual point of view (May 1, 1847)

Original Content summary:

In Asia's Middle, high Tibet, a people still lives with the ancient patriarchal constitution. Their religious basis is the unclouded Sanskrit (Holy Scripture of primitive time) with the Zenda vesta (i.e., the sacred visions containing wars of Jehovah and the Book of the Prophets). There are also traces of knowledge of correspondences. General mysticism of the first rank. They firmly believe in God, but with absurd reverence. Curious penitential exercises. Role of these theocrats in the spirit world. About the difficulty of the faith of Christ for a deist. Advantages and good qualities of this people. Hospitality. The poor a sanctuary. Gospel of Poverty.

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1162. Right in the middle of Asia, in the high Tibet, there lives a people which still has the ancient patriarchal constitution. Among all the ancient religions of the so-called parsias and donors, the religion of this people is still the most unadulterated. They still have the proper Sanskrit, in which is contained the Zenda vesta; for the Sanskrit is the holy writing of primitive times, and the mysteries of Zenda vesta, in this language, "the holy visions," are historical traditions of the manifold, divine, miraculous guides of the human race in primitive times. It is, therefore wrong where here and there some say that the Sanskrit and the Zenda vesta are two kinds of books; it is only one whole book, and is divided into the book of the wars of Jehovah*, and the book of the prophets. But as the prophets describe the deeds of God by their holy counsels, these seeming two books are really only one book which is still quite unadulterated among the above-mentioned inhabitants of the high Tibet, and contains about the same things as I gave you (The Household of God, Volume 1) from the primordial age; only there, in the original language, everything is still enveloped in mysterious images, which are difficult or impossible to unravel for the new age.

1163. (* The existence of this ancient book, also mentioned in the Bible, has been briefly reported by Swedenborg in the last century, and the news of which was received by spirits about 40 years afterwards by a missionary from Tibet. However, a future decipherment of the ancient Sanskrit language and images by learned and laborious hieroglyphics will not be necessary here, since the Lord, in His most gracious love and wisdom-self since 1840, has, among other things, also described the primordial creation and the primitive history of mankind until after the The flood, as it were, to the new, and in admirable clarity and corresponding intellectual understanding in the German language. - Johannes Busch).

1164. Some of the patriarchs of this people still possess some of the old wisdom, by which this ancient writing is brought nearer to the human understanding by means of correspondences, but there can be no question of a thorough explanation; for where such secrets cannot be explained from My light, they always remain in a certain twilight, in which one can easily see an old half-decayed tree-trunk for a bear. Man then becomes full of fear, and a powerful mysterious depth finds a place in him, but when the sun is rising, all the deep secrets - filled with fear and anxiety - disappear, and the mysterious bear becomes a perfectly natural half-decayed tree-trunk.

1165. So it is with these ancient mysterious imagery; the viewer believes in depths upon depths, and wisdom upon wisdom needs to be discovered. Every tick seems to contain a solar revelation; but if any man come into My light, all these secrets will vanish, and in such a book, he will find nothing but a faithful account of those, indeed miraculous facts which I had to do for the people of this earth on account of their perfection.

1166. But such an explanation is not to be found among our high Tibetan inhabitants, but a mystery that is hardly credible for you; for this people is so full of mysticism that in this respect they are probably the first rank on the whole surface of the earth.

1167. There are many who formally speak with the stars, understand animal language, also talk with the trees, and with the grass, as well as with the rocks, to create harmony with it with firm faith.

1168. Some of them may, in their opinion, be completely immortal; others make themselves invisible, and most, however, are quite familiar with the spirits and live continually in their fellowship.

1169. In all this, however, they firmly believe in a god, for whom they have such an infinite reverence that they never dare to pronounce His name. Only the most ancient patriarchs are permitted once a year to pronounce the name of God, but in a place which is accessible to no-one else; and on the day on which this name is pronounced, all the people professing this doctrine must lie on their faces from sunrise till sunset, and consume neither food nor drink.

1170. Reverence to God the Lord is, of course, right, but the principle of "too much of anything is harmful," is also applied here. For reverence, when it gets to such a horrendous exaggeration, destroys love; this alone is and always remains the basic condition of all life.

1171. Every fear, when it is increased to it’s highest culmination point, is fatal, and gradually destroys all that is good; only love alone increases life in the same degree as it is itself increased.

1172. As a result of this deepest reverence for the name of God, a lot of very silly and ridiculous penances are common among this people, which can also be found among the Brahmans, because the Brahmans are in a way descendants of this people, as well as of that religion; but in their fullest extent, they are still at home among our High Tibetans.

1173. It is not uncommon here to find penitents standing on one spot for twenty years; also the hanging penitents, who push a hook through the skin, and then hang up on a tree on a rope, where they hang until the rope breaks, or the skin above the hook; only a few can die because of such a penitential operation, because they are firstly most gently salved with cooling and healing oils by their relatives, and they are secondly fed three times a day, with the best food available. There are also some penitents who chain themselves with heavy chains, and then often make a journey over ten years through trenches, hills, and stone cobbles, and not infrequently making a journey of 200 miles, though not in a straight line.

1174. They have a great multitude of penitential works, which are nothing but a result of their exaggerated reverence for the name of God.

1175. These present almost sole theologians do not play a memorable role in the spirit world; for they too must receive Christ in the first place, which makes a rather heavy piece of work, which is due to their infinitely high idea of God. This makes it completely inconceivable to them that God could be degraded to a man, and even more incomprehensible that He has even allowed Himself to be crucified by humans.

1176. But if Christ cannot even among you be seen as being Divine, how much less do these people, who among all the peoples of the earth, have the most mysterious and sublime idea of God.

1177. One could also say that such a thing would not be possible for man, but with God all things are possible.

1178. But otherwise, however, this people has particularly praiseworthy qualities towards strangers and poor people. There is still the ancient perfect hospitality; whoever comes to anyone is best served as long as he wishes to remain there. Every ministry is willingly offered to him, if he is not too much at variance with his religious laws. If, however, any desire is only in a moderate contradiction with one's religious laws, it is nevertheless given out of esteem and respect for the stranger; but the victim who acted contrary to his law on behalf of the stranger then voluntarily exempts the prescribed repentance for his personal purification.

1179. Poor people are regarded as a sort of sanctuary, and one could say, 'Good to him who was born poor there; for he is better off than all the wealthy of this people. But as good as it is to accept the poor, so too exists an exaggerated mercy towards the poor; for every man who is not inclined to work is soon seeking to become poor wherever possible, because he knows that he would then be carried on the hands by others. It is indeed a law in these people, wherein one is to be regarded as a poor; The poor are only the lame, crippled, blind, deaf, even the miserable and disabled, and old people of seventy years and over. These poor people are treated with the greatest respect and affection; but this excellent treatment not infrequently gives rise to the fact that the self-deprecated men mutilate themselves in order to be accepted into the class of the poor.

1180. So here is not much to be found of the "In medio beati". It is, as I have already said, very good to do good to the poor; it is good to give drink the thirsty, to sate the hungry, to clothe the naked, and to redeem the prisoners; but the poor should not be placed on a throne, for poverty shall always remain a testing of the spirit, and the poor shall seek help and find help with Me, as they do with men.

1181. Now that we came to know this people, and cannot learn much more from them, let us turn to another next time.

The Japanese from a spiritual point of view (May 8, 1847)

1182. In the first place the Brahmines, the Chinese, and our high Tibetan inhabitants come as religious relatives of the Japanese, who, as they are now, also descended from Central Asia.

1183. They are, regarding religion, a mixture; they are like a so-called potpourri in this respect, having something of everything, and on the whole, nothing. They are Brahmans, Zoroasters, Parsas, and Donors, and thus Dalai Lamaists, but also like the Brahmans Ormuzists; the latter way, even the evil deity still compel them to human sacrifices. With these human sacrifices, however, they do not take it so seriously, but yet enough that such sacrifices are still commonplace; the most beautiful boys and maidens must nevertheless be sacrificed at certain times. It is true that these boys and girls are no longer slaughtered, as was once the case; but twice the number of state-criminals must then sink into the sea. You have already received a number of things on another occasion, which, if you wish, can be added to it.

1184. But from all this, do you also see that with these, in the highest degree Stoic Japanese, is still less to be achieved than with the other Asian peoples so far mentioned? For up to now, there exist no other people as naturally inaccessible for anything spiritual than these, because of their highly developed Stoicism.

1185. But it is still easier to approach these people naturally more than spiritually, in the spiritual realm, since they are so entrenched that they are not easily approachable without causing some harm; this is because their stoicism develops a kind of spiritual deluge, which only angelic spirits from the third heaven can oppose. Spirits of a lower kind cannot enter this place, for it is worse than the actual hell itself.

1186. But the rarest thing about them is that no spirit from the real hell can approach them. If he dared to do so, he would be a thousand times worse off than in the lowest hell himself. He would be instantly captured, bound, and tormented in the most terrible way; for you know that the so-called devils can tolerate humility the least of all, as well as truth and sincerity, and the contentedness which is conjoined with it, which surpasses all that is conceivable.

1187. All these virtues: humility, sincerity, the strictest love of truth, serviceability, self-denial to the deepest culminating point, then a love of order which no example second to it on earth, the greatest hospitality among themselves, the strictest justice, all that is found among the Japanese to such a degree that you cannot form a concept of it.

1188. There is never any talk of the transgression of any law, and if a person has accidentally committed a transgression without his knowledge or will, he himself seeks the most severe punishment for it.

1189. One can therefore say that the Japanese is the most virtuous people on the whole earth; he is completely permeated by sin, yet he also seeks the greatest reward, and self-satisfaction is his supreme happiness.

1190. The worst thing about this situation is, of course, that he does not need God for his own stoic self-satisfaction, if he already believes in Him; and instead of loving God, and to show Him his heart's gratitude, He reproves Him only for the fact that God made him a wise being, and at all to be a being conscious of himself and having any need.

1191. With him everything is wasteful and useless pomp; for the Japanese says: "It is much better not to be useless", but when he understands that he cannot be of any use to God, and therefore he is considered useless, accusing God of foolishness, saying:

1192. "We are too insignificant and bad in God's sight even to be a toy for God, but see ourselves to be so good and noble, that we would prefer to be of good use to God if it were possible to serve Him, the Almighty; but we are indeed what we are, and what wisdom is able to unravel it?

1193. Our worship and our sacrifice hardly reaches to the highest peaks of the mountain; what shall it be to Him whom the earth, sun, moon, and stars can scarcely praise? We plow the fields, but He shows that the forests and meadows are better placed by His breath than our fields. We also build ships; but what are they compared to the buoyancy of the fish, and against the flying power of birds? We build great palaces and temples; but what are they compared to His earth, and compared to mountains that are upon it, wonderfully constructed by His hand?

1194. “Did He create us, that we should know Him, that He might then have joy in our knowledge of Him?" When can an infinitely small worm know the infinitely great God as He is?

1195. Whoever is imperfect in one way is so also in another; how can God expect of us a perfect knowledge of Himself?

1196. Certainly not for ever; for the most imperfect can never take hold of the most perfect, as little as someone can draw the whole sea into a small pot. But can the sea be a joy when you take a pot full of it? So little can God have any joy, if we can scarcely make the smallest spark out of His whole infinity; but if He rejoices in such a thing, then He cannot be wise, for it is impossible for us to enjoy such a thing, which we have very unnecessarily the smallest spark of His infinite wisdom.

1197. Likewise, stoic philosophers are the vast majority among these men, and as you can easily see, are opposed to the actual satanic maxims of all blanks and straight lines; therefore, as has already been remarked, a devil who wants to rule over all things will here be the worst off when he comes into this region, which are for the evil spirits also very peculiar; for these principles are for them the most unfavourable, by which not only all power of domineering, but every conceivable weight is pushed aside, by which any slight evaluation of one's being can be accomplished.

1198. But it is also evident from these reasons why only the strongest heavenly spirits can enter into such a region. The reason lies in the fact that weaker spirits can easily be captured by these rare principles, and that is precisely the predicated peculiar spiritual poison against which weaker spirits have to be most careful.

1199. You yourself, as you are, should not come into contact with a very Stoic-wise Japanese; if you would know his language well, you would not be able reciprocate to him a thousand times over.

1200. For the sake of reason, however, I do not allow (for the time being) the other peoples of the earth to enter into any close connection with these arch-stoics, because they would soon be able to spread Japanism all over the world.

1201. For a stoic alone, if educated atheistically, is not so dangerous, for it soon becomes a stumbling-block because it has no roots; but a stoic in connection with the most severe deism is the most dangerous for any spirit, because this stoicism, with it’s strict faith in God, naturally has an indelible root.

1202. To instruct you into his nature, would be very useless and even harmful; so we want to leave our Japanese again and go to another people.

The primordial inhabitants of Borneo and Guinea from a spiritual point of view

(May 4, 1847)

Original content summary:

The original inhabitants of Borneo and Guinea, Chinese descendants. Characteristics of the same. Government, Religion. In the beyond, they are more accessible than Chinese. (General reflection on the insane and the treatment of them.) After their conversion, they are the most solid spirits.

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1203. The inhabitants of the most significant islands of Borneo and Guinea has the same origin as the Japanese; it is self-evident that we are concerned here with the aboriginal inhabitants, but not with the European inhabitants, who live here and there, dwelling at the coasts.

1204. The natives of these two islands are, as can be easily understood, Chinese descendants; the religion of China must therefore be upheld here too, and also have to, because the respective rulers of these islands still have to recognise the emperor of China, and must also pay a tribute to it if the emperor of China demands it.

1205. They do differ from the Chinese constitution and custom in various aspects however, and thus also has some modifications in their religion.

1206. The king of this island is usually nicknamed: the Gold-footed Majesty, also the Son of the moon; only not Son of the Sun, because this title of honour is due only to the Emperor.

1207. The king, therefore, has a semi-divine reputation for the people, and must at certain times be worshipped, and the sacrifices which he determines must be amply offered to him on the appointed day. If the sacrifices are not abundant, the sacrificing priests shall be laid down upon the earth, and shall be severely punished by flogging, and a second sacrificial day shall be laid; but the priests, when they are beaten, must howl as loud as possible, and this howling must be imitated by anyone who hears it. It does not happen infrequently that the whole island would be brought into the most miserable bawl.

1208. The king, as a half-god, is also the wisest of his people, so his worship is also the imitation of his actions, provided he so wished and desired; if the king coughs, the whole country will soon cough; when he clears his throat, every throat must cleared; if he settles down, everyone settles down in the country, and, of course, when the conveyed message arrives that the king has seated himself. This does not happen constantly, but only in the days when the king wants it.

1209. No man, except the king and the chief priest, may worship the supreme Being, because the common people are not worthy to worship and honour God; but every man who wishes to have some grace from God must go to a priest, this is the high priest, and he must first go to the king, so that the latter, as the sole worthy to present to God the cause of his people, will ask the grace required for him to do so.

1210. If a man would dare to bring forward his request to the Supreme Being alone, and if this were to be done, he was usually punished with death as an sinful and sacrilegious violator of the sole royal majesty; yet, if he is of better origin, he will be beaten for an hour or so. But when he is rich and has a lot of gold, he can also get exemption of the punishment; but he has to measure three hours of gold for the royal treasure for one hour of beating.

1211. It is self-evident that much fine wiles and tricks are used with this measure; since the exact measurement often consumes more than 4/5 of the time, and so on. and for that reason, the king has also changed the flogging exemption for an hour into three hours.

1212. But in order for the people to not easily transgress this most extreme commandment, it is permitted, same as with the Chinese, to procure house-gods, which in the name of the king are consecrated by the priests and thereby made active and effective; these house-gods are usually extremely awkwardly made out of wood, exhibited in clay pagodas; they are increasingly revered by the people, the older and worse they look.

1213. In this aspect do this people also differ from the Chinese; for the Chinese end up trashing their gods when they have not done anything for them, but this people is only concerned with the ancient gods, for the reason that, since so much was sacrificed to them, they are easier to persuade than the new ones, which are not so much hallowed by the sacrifices and prayers as the old ones yet.

1214. That there is not much to be done with such a people in the spiritual world, will be easy to understand; but they are much more accessible to Christianity and to the pure Gospel than the Chinese, and especially to the Japanese, but only with a very great deal of patience, and one must deal with them as if they were madmen, to bring them on the right path. For like the madmen, these also have a number of highly false, but fixed concepts, which, like old crayfish, are rooted in their souls.

1215. In order to heal them, a formal spiritual homeopathy must be employed, and they have to fast, to eliminate all harmful things they have consumed before, and they will then be able to absorb and digest a new diet.

1216. But when these people are healed, they are stronger than ten others, and has a courage, and a love which cannot be compared with anything that you know here. Such a spirit, if possible, would suffer death a thousand times under the most horrible pain, but but will never deviate only a hair's breadth from the prescribed order; for this reason are these spirits also put under the protection of those who dwelled in these regions, and when they leave the earth, these spirits are almost exclusively destined to bring their countrymen on the right path.

1217. As has been shown here, these two islands are typified with very few remarkable differences; but the Borneans are a little gentler than the Guineans. With this we will be finished with these two peoples, and we shall soon begin to examine another.

Primordial inhabitants of Java and other small Asian islands from a spiritual point of view (May 5, 1847)

Original content summary:

The other small Asian islands. The Javanese, a tribe of it’s own; the interior (of Java) unhealthy by toxic exhalations. Their peculiar (Janus-like) God. Other local conditions. The valley of death with the bohonupas (trees). Poisonous caves with combustible gases. They also have the Koran and the Bible. Advantages of these people above the previous. They are grounded in nothing. (and therefore not in error). Significant advice about love. Instruction in the hereafter. Excellency of the converted spirits of these people.

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1218. The inhabitants of most of the islands surrounding Asia have a more or less similar constitution, though some of them are almost entirely of the Roman Catholic or the Protestant religion; only the island of Java makes a real exception.

1219. This island is inhabited it’s own tribe; it goes without saying that only the aborigines are to be understood. The island itself is governed by China by means of a viceroy, but it’s coasts are mostly inhabited by Europeans; but the interior of the country is still very seldomly visited by the Europeans, because they can not stand it too long, whether it be the manifold poisonous exhalations which are prevalent on this island in a very high degree. The aborigines, on the other hand, are already somewhat more acclimatised, and their whole physique is by far more suited to the harmless absorption of these poisonous vapours than the European.

1220. Just like the peculiar climate, the inhabitants have the most peculiar concept of divinity; they recognise only one god, but this god has two bodies, which are grown together back to back. These two bodies has one head, which has two faces; the one body is wholly white, the other is dark grey. In the daytime, the divinity turns the white part of it’s body and face toward man; but at night, the dark grey side. From the white part there is nothing but good, from the dark, nothing but terror and evil; therefore, no-one easily dares to walk about at night, because nothing good, but only terrible and evil can befall him.

1221. The reason lies, however, in the fact that on this island, especially in the inner valleys of the island, a poisonous vapour is continually produced, which kill Europeans, and make the natives at least considerably sick, and can sometimes even kill them if they have inhaled too much of such vapours. but for the reason that the native inhabitants of this island generally live on the mountains, and during the day when the sun has already risen  high, and have driven away the evil vapours, they enter the valleys to do the necessary work.

1222. But one valley of this land is completely uninhabited, and the inhabitants call it the Valley of Death. In this valley are poisonous trees, called Bohonupas, which have been mentioned on many occasions, which spread their poisonous vapour through this whole valley for several miles, that no living creature can defy it in any way; the kings of this country would send criminals who are condemned to death here where thy must walk into this valley, inhaling the poisonous resin of this tree, by which means also adulterous women are killed. Only the king is in possession of this poison in a properly sealed golden container; and when it is needed, only a small tip of a needle need be dipped in it, and the slightest scratch on a person will cause in only a few minutes, the most horrible pain in the body.

1223. When a hundred are sent into the valley, usually no more than two come back, and then they are granted life.

1224. When these unhappy ones are sent out, they must determine the exact direction of the wind. If the wind blows towards the little poison-tree, they must follow the wind, but if the wind pushes, they must quickly take flight again; for when they have reached the air layer of this poisonous grove, they are lost without salvation. If, however, the wind continue for a long time in the same direction, they may go near one or more of the little trees, and then cautiously do their plight, after which they will hurriedly return against the wind, not resting for about 10 miles until they are safe from the effects of the poisonous air of this valley; which is really only a 20-mile-long and one mile-wide cauldron, in which there is no drop of water, and no other grass or growth, for everything dies because of the vapour of this poisonous tree.

1225. Likewise are there also caves in this country, from which a constant poisonous vapour rises, but it does not spread so far in it’s poisonous intensity as the poisonous miasm of the poison tree described above, and the natives can sometimes very closely approach such caves, but of course behind the wind. They would then hurl burning bundles into such a cavity, quickly igniting this effervescent and most flammable gas, which then burns continuously for a long time; but when it burns, it is also quite harmless.

1226. The strange nature of this country is then also the reason of the strange spiritual formation of these people, as has already been noted above; their double deity already stems from this.

1227. But what is strange for you again is that the inhabitants do not attach much importance to this deity of theirs; they also have the Alkoran, and now, also the Bible.

1228. Some of them prefer the Bible, some still the Koran; but their divinity has already almost completely been sidetracked.

1229. Some of them are of the opinion that a perfect man should know all religions and take the best from them.  Others say that among the many religions, only one can be the right one; but to find out which one, would be the most difficult task for the wisest among them, therefore it would be best to do something for all of them in the meantime, until one discover the right one, because in every religion, something wise and something stupid can be found; one therefore only pays homage to the wisdom in every religion and rejects the stupidities, whereby one finally becomes so wise to find out the best one from the many religions.

1230. These people are basically not so stupid as someone would initially want to believe, because they are grounded in nothingness; but they are also the most accessible in the spiritual realm.

1231. They only have difficulty with love, because in this world, they hold love for the greatest stupidity; but the reason for this lies therein that, under the concept of love, they understand merely the passion which is similar to a rage, by which the intercourse of the two sexes takes the form of a blind rage, and drives the animal-like fornication; putting the wisdom of man below the lowest animals. But, as is very easy to see, this is only a quite erroneous concept of love, where one takes a false and erroneous impulse of love for all love.

1232. If the spirits of these people are clear about this concept, then they are the most capable beings in the kingdom of spirits, at the same time the most willing, and the most punctual in the fulfilment of every business entrusted to them. This is something especially memorable about this people; for this reason they are described rather extensively here.

The original inhabitants of Sumatra, Celebes and Ceylon from a spiritual point of view (May 6, 1847)

Original content summary:

The peoples of Sumatra and Celebes. Those of Ceylon (that is, the natives). Land of the largest natural wonders. Reason for this peculiarity. "The Wild Hunt". Fata Morgana's nightly fireworks. Dancing fire columns. The apartments there in the holes of the earth. Their religious view; their chief priest is ruler. The most unselfish priesthood on earth. Effect of this behaviour, immense prestige and unlimited love. Miraculous power. Court of this chief priest, its inadequacy for Europeans. They are deists, their island is the world. Their other religious, spiritual, etc. views. Their opinion about Christ, otherwise good insights. This people has, in its simplicity, still the type of psychic abilities primitive times. They are Zendavesta-followers and NB. "Understanding," and loving Jesus, so they can easily come to the truth.

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1233. In the neighborhood of our previously described island of Java, there are two larger islands called Sumatra and Celebes.

1234. The peoples of these two islands are generally under the same constitution, and it would be unnecessary to repeat here what has already been given; only so much can be said that Sumatra is in every respect closer related to the island of Java than to the island of Celebes, which it is much more truly Chinese and sometimes also Borneonish, although there are Javanese among the Celebes.

1235. But that on both islands, and particularly on the coasts, Europeans also have access and even settlements, brought about by the present conquests of the English, sometimes even the French, the Dutch, and the Spaniards, scarcely need to be mentioned;

Ceylon

1236. Therefore we want to turn to another island, Ceylon, which, on it’s shores, has mostly European settlements, but still contains indigenous inhabitants in it’s many gorges, caves, and grottoes. This island is praised by many travellers as a land of incomprehensible wonders, and visited by many naturalists, because of the strange phenomena.

1237. It is true that this island, of purely volcanic origin, has the greatest subterranean connections, which are even connected with the living bowels of the earth through large canals; that this causes some strange phenomena, which do not occur elsewhere, will be easy for you to understand, if you look back on everything that was communicated to you in the natural part of the earth's body, and partly also in the spiritual part of it.

1238. The phenomena of the so-called "wild hunt", which are not unknown to you, not infrequently manifest with such intensity that it’s din often grow to such a vehemence that the inhabitants hide themselves in the deepest holes in order to prevent damage to their hearing.

1239. In addition to these disturbing phenomena, there is an even greater quantity of meteoric phenomena, which, at certain times, occupy no less the eye than the noise would the ear.

1240. Mirages of the rarest kind are almost in the order of the day, but they are always gentle, and tend to enrapture the observers rather than fill them with any fear;

1241. but terrifying and frightful are the nocturnal fiery phenomena, which also occasionally cause small local devastations. These fiery phenomena sometimes consist of a multitude of the so-called "shooting stars," which shoots in all directions, sometimes very low, sometimes only a few klafters above the ground.

1242. This fiery appearance is the least feared; somewhat more terrifying are those which sometimes flocks in thousands on the ground, and sometimes only a few feet above these, the fire-men, fire-dragons, fire-snakes, and the like. These phenomena are indeed very surprising and terrifying, especially because of their beautiful bright white light; but they are not dangerous to anyone because their light is quite cold.

1243. More feared are the fire wheels and fire wreaths, which are of course a little rarer.  These set certain materially related objects on fire, and people and animals, if they are touched by these wheels and wreaths, get electric shocks and sometimes also significantly painful burns; but the most feared in this country are the so-called dancing fire columns, which are basically nothing but fire tornadoes.  These cause the greatest devastation where and when they appear.  However, they occur only rarely, barely two or three times in a year, and usually only in certain places, and when they appear, they are announced a whole day in advance by a certain crackling in the air, which becomes louder and louder, at which appearance people and animals flee into their hiding places;

1244. For in the interior of this island there are almost no huts at all, and even fewer houses, and, as has been shown before, people and animals live in holes in the ground, which the people who inhabit them decorate with all kinds of clumsy carvings and braidworks.

1245. The inhabitants of this island have no king, but only a kind of chief priest, who has the reputation of a sorcerer, and whom the people believe to be the master of all these wonderful phenomena of this country. This sorcerer also has a considerable amount of assistants whom he teaches and then places them in all parts of this country which have the business of instructing the people in the particular religion, and also to prescribe the manner of behaviour necessary to avoid any damage from the phenomena.

1246. The rare thing about this matter is that this chief priest, together with his assistants, is the most benevolent priesthood on the whole surface of the earth, for he does not require any gift in the least; only the assistants are allowed to accept food and drink when they go among the people.

1247. But the people, perceiving the benevolence of this priest, is eager to give him the most beautiful and exquisite animals of their herds, of which he never takes anything more than what he needs for his very simple household supplies.

1248. But for this reason he enjoys such a tremendous respect among the people, and a love so unlimited that he only need to be waving in case of need, and the whole nation, great and small, would be equiped and on their feet to be his greatest benefactor, as well as his protector.

1249. You may find it strange about this so-called spell-priest that he, as well as his assistants, really possesses a magical power by means of which he can command all the animals, and they follow him on a wink, and no animal from the greatest to the smallest on this island is excluded. This, however, also procures him the greatest respect when he sometimes passes through a whole pack of rapacious animals completely uninjured as if through a flock of sheep. Serpents, snakes, crocodiles are an ordinary sight on this magician's yard, and not one of these animals dare to make the slightest movement without his hint; only when he commands them do they move quickly from their court, and seek their food.

1250. The court of this chief priest is roughly in the middle of this island, and is completely inaccessible to any European, partly because of very dense scrub, partly because of steep, near unsurpassed rocky mountains, and partly also because the many troops of animals are here more abundantly at home than anywhere else. The natural phenomena discussed above, which even the most courageous Europeans do not trust so much, are a considerable obstacle; and so this island remains accessible only along the coasts at the European settlements, but the interior knows as little about the Europeans as does the interior of Africa and many other countries.

1251. The religion of this people is just as rare as their country; they believe in a god, who, however, is not visible to any mortal and is conceivable in his way. But this god from time to time consecrates a man who, in his name, takes care of the earthly affairs because they are too petty for God, and too unworthy of Him.

1252. They hold their island for the whole world, which floats like a nut on the endless waters.

1253. Sun, moon, and stars are ruled by god alone, but the management of the earth, which is too small to be guided by God alone, is the concern of the chief priest consecrated by God; for the people have the grandest idea of the stars, and holds the smallest star as infinitely greater than the earth.

1254. But God is in the sun, therefore the sun is also worshipped by them; but they regard the moon as a heavenly world, where they and their chief priest go after the death of the body, when they have lived uprightly and modestly on their small earth.

1255. Only with the stars do they fare somewhat worse; for these people merely populate them with animal souls, which, according to their belief, are much greater and more perfect than on their earth.

1256. They know little about Christ, and now and then there are some who know nothing at all about Him. They are of the opinion that He was once a chief priest on their island, but He had removed His hand, and went to some other Earth, to make the people happy there, because their ancestors became disobedient to Him; for though they regard their land as the only earth, they nevertheless believe that there may be in the sea, which is infinite in their opinion, other floating world-bodies on which similar people reside, but they are nowhere as perfect as they are; they came to this conclusion due to circumstances, having had not infrequent encounters with Europeans, discovering that they are not so perfect masters of animals as they themselves are.

1257. They have also sometimes seen the fleets of ships, and have heard the cannonade; but they think that this is a pure play of children, for the fireworks which their chief priest brings out is not to be compared with the triviality of a cannon flash, and the floating ship they hold for a merely floating hollowed out egg, which has laid by a mighty fire-dragon.

1258. They exceedingly despise the luxury articles offered to them by the Europeans, for they say, We bring about greater things with our will than you do with your hands”; there is therefore no trade possible with this people.  The coastal inhabitants deal only with elephant teeth, which are usually obtained free of charge from the indigenous people. The island offers besides this, nothing commercial.

1259. By this account you can easily see that this people is still very simple, and knows very few needs; exactly because of this simplicity, however, there still exist in the vigorous type of psychic sphere which was natural to the primitive peoples of the earth. They still have the same spiritual power which once the first people of the earth possessed; According to their religion they are still the purest Zendavestas, and have also, up to the present, neither added nor taken away anything from it.

1260. With these people, it is an easy task in the spirit-world to introduce them to the gospel, for they easily love Christ, and are initially of the inclination to follow Him in the beyond as their chief priest initiated by God in their world whom their ancestors not readily obeyed, transferring this original sin to all descendants; therefore, everyone the afterlife needs to please this insulted Man of God.

1261. This reason is, indeed, somewhat ridiculous, but it is easy to see that, in spite of that, it is nevertheless a good point of reference, whereby the people of this country can come to the light of the true gospel.

1262. There is nothing more worthy of note in these people, so we shall return to another country, next time.

Madagascar from a spiritual point of view (May 8, 1847)

Original content summary

The actual inhabitants of Madagascar are from Asia and from there populated South Africa.  They are the actual Cainites, therefore their intellectual formation is still low. They alone put the female gender above the male. Feminine manner, their philosophy. A peculiar religion, and the reason for it; the greatest chastity on earth. Whites are only half-men. An Eldorado Lucifer. Difficult accessibility of the coasts of the country, and likewise entrance of these people in the hereafter. Fate of these souls after death - reincarnation.

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1263. After the island of Ceylon, the larger island of Madagascar belongs to Africa.

1264. This island is inhabited by a very peculiar people who settled here from Asia during the prehistoric times. But it is not to be thought that this people inhabited this island from Africa, but it was in fact the reverse; southern Africa was mostly populated from this island.

1265. The inhabitants are mostly Moors; while the inhabitants of the former island are either brown, sometimes dark brown in colour, the inhabitants of Madagascar have a perfectly black skin colour, among them only very few a dark copper brown.

1266. These people, with a few exceptions, are still the very actual Cainites, in whom the formation of the spirit is still at the lowest level.

1267. They have a concept of a supreme being; but this is as dark as her skin colour.

1268. This people is the only one that sets the female gender above the male; therefore a queen, and never a king, of a perfectly divine appearance, sits upon the throne, and governs her people completely at whim and despotically.

1269. But the reason for the fact that the feminine gender prevails here is that their wise ones, who are all women, teach the people to think that the woman is more perfect than the man; the man is seen in his muscular pits, that he is not yet filled, while the woman is already finished with what is only beginning with men. Thus the man has no breasts, therefore he cannot have such deep and wise feelings as the women. The man is also much more hairy than the woman, thus closer to the animal gender than the woman; the man also has an animal elongated extension between the legs like the monkey, which no longer occurs in women. Then the woman is much more noble and beautiful than the man, and the human race comes only from her. She would demand intercourse; but yet, how little value creation has placed on the work of the man, and how much woman stands higher than the man, could be seen most clearly from this generational work. The work of the man only lasted for so many moments as he has fingers in his hands, but for the woman, it would cost so many months; the duration of time clearly determines the hardly calculable advantage of the female gender above the male.

1270. From such philosophies, these feminine modes of their gender, show incalculable virtue, and even prove that the supreme being, if it be somewhere, is itself a most perfect woman.

1271. They also have temples in which they worship and revere above all, the woman as the godhead; and the chief objects of worship in women are the genitals, and then the breast.

1272. When they perform their main service, which happens every full moon, the most sublime moment in this service is when a naked living woman stands on the altar, puts her hand on the genitals, and soon begins to urinate.  At the moment of urinating, all the male gender falls down on the face and is then urinated on by the female.

1273. A similar divine worship is also to be found in some tribes of Africa, who, of course, have brought the same from their motherland.

1274. The female genital, which is easily understandable, is so highly revered because from it the human generation derives it's origin.

1275. It is remarkable that there is no more chaste and prudent people living on the earth's surface than this one here, with regard to the satisfaction of carnal desire. Except for the temple, no procreation is allowed, having immediate death penalty; and this may only be carried out at a given time only once a year, after a number of acts of worship have been carried out according to their concepts; and when the generation takes place, it must be completely dark in the temple.

1276. The woman, however, has the right to be satisfied by her slaves more often if she desires it; but if a man were to demand a woman, that would already be a high crime.

1277. The white people are regarded as only half-humans, who can be hunted if one wants to have some good meat.

1278. If a captured white man pleases her well, and a Madagascar woman finds a special delight in him, she can give him life, and keep him as a ridiculous monkey for their entertainment, where he would, do understand, often do things which would, as you would say, is too bad for the devil. The men, when they are caught, fare still somewhat better; but the women are slaughtered and roasted without mercy and pardon, because the women of the whites are held by these black women for mere animals.

1279. How far these people are still from the spiritual formation, as still very inaccessible to the Gospel, can be seen from this little. There have indeed already been attempts, now and then on the coast; but up until now, everything had been in vain; for, it may be said, Lucifer still led his regiment quite unperturbed.

1280. The land itself, however, is also placed in such a way as to offer the greatest defiance to the entrance of every great power; because this island is only accessible on very few points. The sea is round about in great extent full of cliffs and shallows; with larger vessels it is almost impossible to access, but in a few places only in barges when the sea is calm, and visitors of this land must be very careful not to get into the hands of the Madagascarians, who are lurking everywhere.

1281. The queen of this country also continually supervises it’s coasts, and the whole coast is continually covered with impenetrable scrub, which is also populated by a multitude of evil vermin like all sorts of poisonous worms and insects, against which only the natives protects themselves by means of painting themselves with a certain plant.

1282. At certain times, especially in the spring, in the summer and half of autumn, all together half a year, this island is not accessible; for it is swarming with trillions of great flying ants, called muscats by some naturalists, which are much more annoying than the mosquitoes of the American islands. When, at that time a European would be at the coast, and is attacked by a swarm of these muscats, he will be a dead corpse within a few minutes. The natives, however, are not attacked by them, because the smell of the herb with which the natives smear themselves, is highly intolerable to them.

1283. From this brief description, you will easily see what it is with this more than pagan people in the spiritual world; it is very difficult to deal with them; indeed, they could more easily be washed white than to awaken their spirits for the gospel.

1284. Souls of such people either become the so-called nature spirits, or they are taken to another planet, where they are again given a lighter material covering, and thus still a material life, in which they become more and more receptive to the gospel; only very few will, after the death of their body, come to the right realisation with great difficulty.

1285. These nature spirits, however, are put into the flesh by procreation in the course of time either once again in a better part of the earth, or they are also led to another planet.

1286. Now you know enough of this very shrunken people of the earth; we therefore do not want to stay with them any longer, but instead go over to their neighbours.

Primitive inhabitants of South Africa (natives) from a spiritual point of view (May 10, 1847)

Original content summary:

The peoples of South Africa. Fetishists, they have neither king nor chief, but live in hordes, eat raw flesh, and drink blood. Cannibals. No articulated language. They are little good, their simplicity and curiosity. Great difference between these souls and that of the former in the spirit world. On the other hand are they much higher than the previous. The former slavery abomination. Compensation for the slave souls in the beyond. Their Lord 's Incense of Hell. Painful reflection.

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1287. These peoples, who inhabits the greatest part of Southern Africa, are first of all, still stuck in all sorts of more than heathenish customs and traditions; their religion is not infrequently even worse than that of the Madagascarians.

1288. There are the actual fetishists who worship very natural objects, whether they are of use to them or not, but simply because they have first seen them with their eyes on a certain day of the year; such objects can be a tree-stump, a worm, a crocodile, a bird, a monkey, or even a stone; in short, anything that is called a body can be used as a worshipful deity.

1289. These peoples have no king, no queen, in which they are very different from the Madagascarians.

1290. They live merely in hordes like the monkeys on the trees, and feed themselves mostly through all kinds of robbery and hunting.

1291. They eat their meat completely raw, and from the skins they usually make hammocks for beds, hanging from tree branches.

1292. They have only a few fruits; animal milk is almost unknown to them; they prefer to drink the blood of animals.

1293. These hordes also often wage war, especially at the time of larger animal hunts, where the hunters, less fortunate in the hunt, usually overthrow the happy ones, and chase them away if possible.

1294. The hunters, who have been killed on both fronts, are then also taken by the victorious party as a hunt for hunting, and gets consumed first.

1295. But white people are a treat for them; so that they often sneak up to the shores in order to hunt a white clad monkey, as they think, which species of monkey has the most savoury flesh for their palate.

1296. The strongest of such a horde is usually the leader, but he has nothing to command but merely to indicate what has to be done; and this indication is usually to instigate the attack, with the whole horde following his example.

1297. These peoples also have no articulate language; but they only communicate either by signs with their hands, or by certain clicks with the tongue. - The Europeans call these peoples by the names: Kaffen, Hottentotten, Buschmänner and Rock-climbers.

1298. Many of these hordes, of which there are thousands, have been cultivated as much as possible, especially along the coasts; but many more in the interior of the country are still in the old complete animalistic brutality. The only good thing these peoples have is that they have the very least needs of life, and they are very inquisitive; if missionaries come to them, of course, at first, with proper escort, they have an easy game with these peoples, provided that they understand each other, but this is not too difficult, for these peoples, because of their natural minimalistic needs, and few quite natural signs, are initially often easy to deal with.

1299. As wild and near completely animalistic these peoples are, are they in the spiritual world far superior to the inhabitants of Madagascar; and such peoples are over all either very difficult, or not accessible at all, due to their internal country-political causes; and these above-mentioned savage peoples are just as easy to reach as the things of the earth, to which they are attached.

1300. One can put everything to use, no matter how inconspicuous, if one can only get hold of it; but the glorious things occurring in such places on the earth that cannot be reached and entered into by anybody can be used for nothing, and is as good as if they were not present.

1301. More to the western part, on the coast of this world region, there are indeed tribes under a king, also here and there under a queen; these tribes are the most miserable because they are used for human trafficking, and some kings have gone so far as to raise human studs, as you would with animals, to produce more slaves for the trade to America.

1302. The strongest and most fertile women are gathered into thousands for these studs, and slept with by the strongest men. If they fall pregnant, they must do their ordinary work; only a few days before the birth, they are driven back to the designated place to give their fruit to the world, which fruit they have to sustain for a year with their breasts.

1303. After this time, the children are taken from them and handed over to the public nutrition center. Six weeks after the birth, such a woman must be laid with again, and so on until some of them have not infrequently given birth to 26 children.

1304. If such a woman is still strong enough for such a service, she can still be sold as a slave; but if she is too weak, she is expelled, and must find her own food.

1305. In addition to this manipulation, however, do these black rulers, wherever possible, let the slaves be kept in confinement in order to be available for trade.

1306. Presently this horrible disorder has indeed already been fairly controlled in many places; but in the more remote areas there are still a lot of such abominations.

1307. The sold slaves have in this world, unfortunately, a dreadful lot with the Christian peoples and for this reason are they in the hereafter being kept back to be as harmless as possible;

1308. But those disgraces of kings and queens are the most terrible carcasses of hell; for their wickedness transcends all concepts, and the hardness of their hearts can crush a diamond.

1309. With these, in the spirit-world, nothing else can be done than to use them for the incense of the lowest hell.

1310. There are among them queens who want to be worshipped as the actual Godhead, and when such a queen dies, which is certainly a shameful thing for the godhead, and to alleviate the shame, at least a few hundred have to die with the goddess, and some may even be buried alive with her, lest the Queen in the tomb become bored.

1311. That very little can be achieved with such people on the other side, and no extraordinary successes can be expected even by a second incarnation, can easily be seen from the fruits which have so far escaped from the numerous attempts at the correction of Satan; but this is really not much.

1312. If a potter has a pot which does not want to succeed, what is it if he demolishes it and throws it out into the street, where it may be used as road dirt, if it has already proved itself to be a useless pot or what is it for a musician with a free imagination, if he has played a piece but did not put it to paper? Does he not have the ability to put all the other thousand pieces he have played and lost before on paper, whenever he wants to?

1313. Therefore we leave these wayward pots of peoples, and return to another nation.

Primordial inhabitants of Australia (Aborigines) from a spiritual point of view (12 May 1847)

Original content summary:

The original inhabitants of Australia, the largest island. They are pure natural beings, they are usually peaceful, have no fear of death, nor of pain. Snake eaters. Abhorrence of clothed people. They are Cainites of the best kind, with vague knowledge of the Prehistory of God. Magnificent bird world there. The philosophy of these people about it. Their food treatment of different types of meat. Their primordial style dwellings. Wise installation of these dwellings etc. Half-monarchic tribes there, especially in the north. Their sharp smelling ability. The religion of these northern ones are more Chinese. These are, on the other hand, more difficult to bring to the truth than the first true aborigines. The latter are masters of grass weaving. These are better off in the hereafter than many cultured Christian sects!

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1314. In addition to these wild African tribes, there are also the same races, in what you call, the fifth part of the world, called Australia. This part of the world, or rather this largest island on the earth, has, especially in it’s interior, a considerable number of peoples, to which almost no ray of human formation has yet reached;

1315. there are still, as you say, pure natural people, but they have nothing evil in themselves. They are exceedingly peaceful; they know nothing of war, although they don't fear death in the least; on the contrary, they often have a great longing for it.

1316. They can also endure physical pains with an indifference which is scarcely comprehensible to you; therefore they can bear the greatest hardships of life with the greatest equanimity.

1317. Battles with wild beasts are an entertaining game; They are also the greatest masters of serpents, and they always go out with the greatest desire for this catch, because these animals are the most delicious treats for them.

1318. When they see some strange newcomers somewhere, they usually take flight, less out of fear than from a sort of revulsion which they have for the clad Europeans, as well as Asians; for nothing is more disgusting and more annoying to them than a clothed man.

1319. They are also Cainites, but of the best kind, and have a vague concept of primordial times and of a supreme Being.

1320. They do not worship the supreme Being, however, but leave this to the birds in the air, which animal species is nowhere more beautiful and so rich than in this part of the world.

1321. These people say: God does not look for worship, but only for man's work, and has created heavenly figures flying over them, observing what they do; and when they have observed them, they soon fly up again to the stars, and tell it to the supreme Being how the people below perform on the earth.

1322. These people are therefore also very happy when they see a lot of birds flying around; for they conclude that God is very interested in them, when He presents them with a great many observers.

1323. They consequently have little regard for the non-flying birds like turkeys, of which there are many, as well as a great many other poultry, so they eat them, but always raw; for it is the rule that the poultry must be raw, the meat of the tame four-footed animals merely salted, and dried in the air; the fish must be boiled, and the earthworms - as there are all sorts of snakes, lizards and crocodiles - fried in the fire.

1324. But fruits must be enjoyed as they grow, when they are ripe; but the best fruit of all is the coconut, which gives them everything: drink, butter, and some kind of bread.

1325. These people rarely have houses or huts; and if they have anything like that, they still have it almost in the way the primitive people have had. Dense groups of trees are encircled with a kind of living fence, and an entrance is left on only one side. Such a living tree group is usually the house of an entire family, often very numerous; in the interior, everything is entirely shaded, but it looks like an impenetrable thicket, so that it would not be easy to get into such a house anywhere else than through the usual entrance gate, which leads into the actual dwelling with the most curvatures possible.

1326. Such a door, or better said an alley, is not infrequently an hour long, and is a true maze which a stranger does not easily pass through without losing his way at least a hundred times. This entrance, however, is so cunningly made, that one of a foreign nation or wild beasts cannot find it and attack it at night.

1327. Along this winding paths, for the sake of greater safety, are not infrequently two klafter deep pits, usually as wide as the path itself, about 3-4 feet, and one and a half klafter long. These burrows are covered in daytime, but at night they are uncovered again, and this is a good protection for their house; for not even a mouse can pass through the undergrowth, which has grown so densely together that one cannot easily put a finger through it, let alone any other animal or man, especially in old dwellings, where the living fence-garden surrounds the dense old tree group at a distance of 3 to 400 klafter.

1328. The most terrible thing for them is when a tree of their living house begins to wear out due to old age. Everything is done to revive such a tree; but if all is of no use, it will be carefully removed from above, as a house among you, from branch to branch, and down to the root; the old tree is completely removed, then fire is made on it’s trunk, and the whole tree is slowly burned. This incineration process often lasts several days long, and when the ground has cooled down, a different tree is planted and nurtured in it’s place so that it can replace it’s predecessor as soon as possible.

1329. It is, however, very unfortunate that these people, when - especially in the present time - frequently, greedy Europeans come to their beloved dwellings, and ignite them from outside, which of course force the poor inhabitants to leave their dwellings if possible; but in most cases they are suffocated by the dense smoke; these actions of the Europeans also fills these poor innocent people with an indelible revulsion against clothed people.

1330. There are similar original tribes now only in mid-South Australia; for the East, the North and the West are for the most part under English and Dutch rule.

1331. In some northern regions, however, there are indeed some tolerated primordial tribes, which, however, differ from the actual ones in that they have a kind of royal leader, and they have a constitution quite similar to that of the Borneans; these chiefs also have a kind of military, which still has the usual bows for weapons; they also have a very keen sense of smell, by means of which such an Australian warrior smells an enemy an hour away.

1332. The sense of smell is indeed very acute among the native inhabitants of this part of the world; but they make less use of it than the conquered tribes of the north of this continent.

1333. Religion in the northern countries is already more Chinese, although sometimes also primordial Australian; therefore they are not so easily moved to Christianity in the spirit-world as the original inhabitants of this part of the world.

1334. A greater degree of culture is present in the case of the northern inhabitants though, than in the very simple southern inhabitants, who, apart from a kind of pickaxe and a kind of carving knife, do not know any other agricultural implements, but they are masters in the weaving of all sorts of wattle grass, roots, and a kind of cotton, but these are only used to decorate their dwellings; otherwise they are mostly naked, and they sometimes tattoo their skin instead of clothing, but this is not the case with all of them.

1335. The fact that these simple, innocent, exceedingly good-natured people in the spirit-world can very easily be introduced to Christianity has already been mentioned, and it is not necessary either; because it fares much better with such a man on the other side than with a stupid, imagined sectarian.

1336. But we need to know nothing more about this people, because everything else is only for statistics, but not for our spiritual view of the people; therefore we shall move over to another tribe.

Primordial inhabitants of New Zealand, Central Africa and America from a spiritual point of view (May 14, 1847)

Original content summary:

Native inhabitants of New Zealand These continue to grow easily in the spirit world. Their just reverence for the Supreme Being. They soon accepted the redeeming doctrine of the incarnation of the Lord, and they longed to know Jesus personally. They become exquisitely good and solid spirits. What important works are entrusted to them. Hover over the peoples of the many other islands. "The Wild" in America. The humanity in Central Africa. Cockroaches and gazilla's (whites and piebalds) with albino eyes, they have the second face, are gentle souls, and they have a genuine inner gospel.

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New Zealand

1337. There is still a very important island in the south of the earth: New Zealand; it actually consists of three main islands, and then still from a lot of small islands and very many coral banks.

1338. The priests of this island have already been shown to you, like many others, on another occasion, in their nature, in religion, and in their precarious relations with the Europeans; so you can read it there for a closer look at this people.

1339. Nevertheless, it can still be said here how this people is received in the spiritual world.

1340. In the spiritual world, it is fairly easy; for they have an extraordinary reverence for the supreme Being, and for all wonderfully shaped things. If then, in the spirit-world, as in the real world of miracles, they would be led to phenomena which presuppose them to the incarnation of the Lord, they soon ask with curiosity about the actual development. They will immediately receive what they are told.

1341. When they acquire such a knowledge, they have a very great joy in it, and soon desire nothing more than to know the Lord personally as soon as possible, but this must be done with caution, otherwise these human spirits would be grabbed by a sudden, too strong love, which would rather weaken than strengthen the spirit through the sudden, too great strength.

1342. When, however, they are gradually prepared, they will find themselves in the presence of the Lord with that wise temperance of love, which condition is most beneficial to them.

1343. But once they are introduced into the presence of the Lord, then they remain fixed, and they are unchangeably active in all the works of love.

1344. They are chiefly entrusted with the supervision of the South Pole of the earth, as well as with the principal direction of the moon, in which business they remain as long as it is My will, who knows exactly how long I have to leave the spirits in certain offices. What happens after such offices with such spirits, is determined by their inner abilities acquired in such entrusted business.

1345. But since there are many dwellings in the house of the Father, there will be many further more occupations.

1346. You also do not need to know more; for this will be reserved for the right moment in time, when you yourself will gain the right experiences in your spirit.

1347. In addition to this people, there are still a number of inhabitants of smaller islands whose spiritual fate has a certain resemblance to one or the other of the before mentioned peoples; so it is not necessary to propertyally portray each of the thousands of islands which would be useless, and would cause unnecessary extensive work.

America

1348. Likewise, there are still a few savages in America who, in their spiritual state, differ very little from the wild tribes hitherto described.

African albinos and spotted people

1349. As a human rarity in the high Africa mostly at rivers, still exists an own kind of people; the one is completely white, and the other white and black spotted.

1350. The first species is called the rabbit people or cockroaches; the second kind the gazillas, or also Magpie people.

1351. Both kinds of people are in underground caves during the day; only at night time they go out to hunt something for their food.  The reason that they leave their caves only at night, is their extremely sensitive eyes.

1352. But while they flee the earthly day, they are no enemies of the spiritual day, and both kinds of people have therefore the continual second sight, and are as delicate and gentle in their souls as they are in their earthly physique.

1353. Admittedly, they have little external knowledge of the gospel here on earth, and rarely meet with missionaries; but all the same they have an inner gospel, which is more genuine for their nature than that which not infrequently is brought and preached to the savage tribes by missionaries who are extremely addicted to fame and greed.

1354. With these rare types of people, however, we have also come to the end of the actual spiritual description of the earth; therefore, in order to bring what has been said so far about non-Christian peoples to a proper understanding, we will only add a few more things and thus close this work with blessings for you.

Reason and purpose of these narrations to Lorber; the otherworldly author; Replies to criticism (May 15, 1847)

Original content summary:

Again about the "hay and straw" for the world scholars. The goal of this instruction - gives them matter for ruminating. This description of the peoples is given according to the inner truth, not in appearance, as in other descriptions, criticism of such. Authorisation of our b.Autor to these announcements. Reason for the announcement of this third part: to revive the spirit. Discuss the apparent contradiction. Who is the author? Consequences. Striking comparison. Life on earth in the body is like a being in a second mother-body, like the body needs to mature in this world, so here also the spirit is to mature. This gift (the revelation of the being of the earth) is, though presumably natural, spiritual. Basic law in the first mother: "Must", in the second "Shall". Heavenly Father's End Notes. Deo gracias!

Table of Contents:

- 'Hay and straw' for the world scholars and critics; material to ruminate on.

- The description of the people is given from the spiritual point of view and according to the inner truth, not according to the outer appearance.

- Justification, reason and purpose of these proclamations.

- Discussion of the apparent contradiction.

- Who is the real author?

- Consequences. Striking comparison.

- Purpose of life on earth in the material body.

- Spirituality of this revelation of the essence of the earth.

- Basic law in the first mother body: 'Must', in the second 'Shall'.

- Heavenly-fatherly final winks.

1355. What has been said so far about the peoples of other religions, has not so much been added for your sake, as for the sake of the world's spiritual representation of the earth, namely, as the prediscussed hay and straw for the worldly learned gray-colored mankind; -  as hay and straw, because it is not really part of the discourse of the spiritual earth, since it touches mostly the mere material condition of the non-Christian peoples, where, at the end, the spiritual fate of such peoples are always touched and shown.

1356. The scholars of the world will find a chief cause there; but it is precisely for this very reason, that they have something to chew on.

1357. Furthermore, this addition of the non-Christian peoples is also more or less hay and straw, because the scholars, who know the earth from the books, know here and there some relations as differently presented than they are indicated here according to the inner truth.

1358. Of course, the scholars do not consider that the other books, from which they got to know the earth, were not always written by people who had traveled the earth on all points themselves; such books were mostly written by people who firstly had enough time to write, besides the time, also had the opportunity to get their hands on all the lexicons and other travel descriptions in order to fabricate their so-called complete geographies.

1359. The chief statisticians, to whom the whole earth is, as you say, familiar, often know the entire conditions of the country they inhabit only in the smallest part.  Instead of going on expeditions to convince themselves of everything, they prefer to rummage around in thickly dusted archives and study out of them the conditions of the country and it's nature; but they should only cross a country from village to village, from community to community, from valley to valley and from mountain to mountain, and they will find there such a quantity of new relations, customs and habits, and such a great quantity of new names, of which they have had no idea until now.

1360. But if the land in which they live has so many things to show them that they do not know, how much more will the whole surface of the earth contain various conditions, relationships and a lot of all kinds of secrets, of which our more than omniscient scholars have never dreamed of; and therefore the world will allow Me to have spoken here also of some strange earthly conditions and circumstances, because I have known the earth certainly already very many years ago better than the scholars will ever know it.

1361. This communication on foreign peoples is true,  yet as already said,  hay and straw. But it is not so with the one who is awakened in the spirit; for these will easily convince themselves in themselves that it is so with the objects given, and cannot be otherwise, because this revelation is a true one, from the inside out, but not a false one, taken from the external darkness to the inner night of the heart.

1362. What can be of benefit to man, when he has filled his memory with pure geographical books, but cannot, however, ask anyone, and least of all, his own spirit, whether these things are in reality as they are printed?!  How much better is the man who learns it from the Spirit, and is drawn by Me, the Father Himself; for, in the case of such a person, all science is alive, whereas in the other, it consists only of dead fragments, for whose authenticity no other guarantee remains in the end than the authority of a library and an archive.

1363. But I have given you these strange situations, not to burden the memory, but to the revive the spirit. But since they were given like this, for your spirit to receive an exercise in wisdom, they are given as they are, and as they are not. As they are, the spirit finds in it’s light, and it becomes clear to him that these materially appearing representations are, at the bottom of it all, only spiritual - because all these relations are on the spiritual earth, which have nothing material, for I am , Who I am, Who gives this, a spirit, and indeed the Most High Spirit.

1364. There is no matter before My eyes, so every gift from Me is spiritual and not material, even if it seems so material.

1365. Whether I say it already or not, I only open My mouth in parables, so that the world may be offended by them, and with open ears not hear the spoken word, and with open eyes, see nothing; and the wisdom of the world may grind itself and sharpen it's sting as it will, it will nevertheless never pierce the bark around the actual tree of living knowledge.

1366. It is true that I know the earth in every single atom, and the more easily the individual superficial relations and conditions; but I am not a earthly statistician, but My statistics, provided the earthly sight is correct, is only statistics of the spirit.

1367. Or would you not call him a fool who would want to teach a child in the womb by some magnetic devices in which conditions it is in the small mother-world and how this is constituted; the child is certainly not for this purpose in the womb, but the purpose is the individual formation of life. When the child is first born, and after a few years attains the conceptual capacity, it is only by degrees that it is time to teach him more and more developed concepts; in so far as the child has to feed himself in the mother's body, sufficient strength is given to him; higher requirements are not needed in the mother's body.

1368. And so it is with the man in this world which is nothing but a second great mother's body, in which his spirit must be reborn and matured.

1369. It is, therefore, necessary for him to be given only that diet, and only as much of as is necessary for his maturity; if one were to do more to him, one would only harm him and never benefit him, for the actual school of instruction only begins whenever the spirit has already been reborn and became completely free.

1370. But every spirit there will grasp the true statistics of the earth and the whole universe with great ease; therefore it would be exceedingly foolish, if one would want to burden him, the spirit, here with silly burdens, which he still does not possess the abilities to carry here,  which everyone can easily see from the circumstance that there is certainly no man on earth who would have understood the surface of the earth only by learning from the books as completely exactly as a sheet of paper which lies rolled up before his eyes.

1371. How great would the book be, in which every detail on the surface of the earth would be described in the smallest details, and how much time would man need to read at least one trillion names and numbers, and then learn them by heart?

1372. Would it not be the greatest folly of Me if I would be a professor of statistics for your spirit, and here, in it’s second mother's body, wants to teach it through material magnetism, which the spirit in his free state could easily come to grasp and understand in a minute; therefore is everything I give spiritual, and no earthly statistic.

1373. If, however, earthly-statistical points are also touched in their correct proportions, then you should, however, only regard them as like the pillar feet of a great building, which do not make up the building itself; but nevertheless the whole great, glorious building rests on them.

1374. And so I do not give anything earthly in an earthly fashion, but if I give it, I give it for the sake of spiritual understanding. He who uses everything of the earth this way, shall therefore enjoy the nourishment offered for his spirit, but he who enjoys it differently, enjoys his own judgement; for he kills in himself what he should have revived.

1375. There is a difference between the first and the second mother's womb; in the first man is born by must, and in the second by ought.  In the first, man is still an animal, that is, in the first judgment; in the second, he only gradually becomes a human through knowledge and through the freedom of his will, which is a judge in him; therefore, everyone will then live according to his own judgment, and he will never have any other judgment than his own.

1376. In this sense you should also take this work and use it as a life-giving exercise for your spirit, and you will reap the right fruit.

1377. This is the true love for Me, as for your brothers; you will reach this right love all the more easily when you will recognize Me all the more deeply through the revealed miracles of My love, and realize how exceedingly humble and fully condescending I must be of heart to reveal such things to you for your greatest benefit, which is the ever deeper knowledge of My kingdom, in which everything else is also present as a bonus of My love.

1378. Heed these words well, and deeply consider who He is Who gives them to you!  If you will do this in everything and everyone, then My blessing will be bestowed upon you with this as with every other in all fullness here and hereafter forever, Amen! "- Deo gracias!

THE END

Table of Contents

THE TOWER CLOCK 3

PART ONE 5

1.  The center of gravity of the Earth 5

2.  The heart of the Earth 8

3.  The location and changeableness of the heart of the Earth (31 December 1846) 10

4.  The nature of matter and it’s primordial spirits 12

5.  The inner structure of the Earth 14

6.  The centers of gravity and the fluids of the Earth (5 January 1847) 16

7.  The nourishment and rotation of the Earth (11 January 1847) 19

8.  The lungs and respiration of the Earth (12 January 1847) 22

9.  The spleen of the Earth (14 January 1847) 25

10.  The structure of the spleen and the preparation of blood (15 January 1847) 27

11.  The liver of the Earth (16 January 1847) 30

12.  The kidneys of the Earth (18 January 1847) 32

13.  The Earth as a man and a woman 34

14.  The male-female procreation of the Earth (20 January 1847) 36

15.  The general succession of living beings (22 January 1847) 39

16.  The material and construction of the second Earth (23 January 1847) 41

17.  The fortification of the fluids of the Earth (25 January 1847) 43

18.  The crust of the Earth (26 January 1847) 45

19.  The feeling skin of the Earth (27 January 1847) 47

20.  The nature and composition of the air (29 January 1847) 49

21.  The effect of light on the air (29 January 1847) 52

22.  The twelve heavenly constellations and their effect (1 February 1847) 54

23.  The Earth’s atmosphere and precipitation (3 February 1847) 56

24.  The eye of the Earth (5 February 1847) 58

25.  The nature of fire (6 February 1847) 60

26.  Appearances in the third region of the air (8 February 1847) 62

PART TWO 64

27.  The formation and purpose of matter (9 February 1847) 64

28.  The spirits of the uppermost region of the air 66

29.  The dwelling and bliss of the pure spirits (11 February 1847) 68

30.  The spirits of the second region of the air (13 February 1847) 70

31.  The activities of the spirits in the second region of the air (15 February 1847) 73

32.  The possession of matter by spirits (16 February 1847) 75

33.  Nature spirits and human souls (18 February 1847) 77

34.  Air spirits, mountain spirits, and wanderer spirits (19 February 1847) 80

35.  About witches and witch trials (22 February 1847) 82

36.  About magical mountains 85

37.  Mountains with infamous names 87

38.  The first, lowest region of the air 90

39.  The governing spirits of the lower region of the air (27 February 1847) 92

40.  The activity of the spirits in the interior of the Earth (1 March 1847) 94

41.  Substance and matter, power and material (2 March 1847) 96

42.  God’s work through spirits (3 March 1847) 98

43.  The impressions of matter on the soul and spirit (4 March 1847) 100

44.  Guardian spirits in the kingdom of nature (5 March 1847) 102

45.  Minerals, plant, and animals (6 March 1847) 105

46.  The composition of intelligence properties in living beings (8 March 1847) 107

47.  The Composition of Intelligence properties in living things (9 March 1847) 109

48.  The boundaries between nature’s kingdoms (12 March 1847) 111

49.  The animal soul and spirits’ influence on it (13 March 1847) 114

50.  Influences of the spirits during the procreation of human beings (15 March 1847) 117

51.  The development of the human fetus (18 March 1847) 119

52.  The soul and spirit in a human being (20 March 1847) 122

53.  Satana’s soul (23 March 1847) 124

54.  The law of the division of the soul (24 March 1847) 127

55.  Satan’s repatriation and redemption (26 March 1847) 129

56.  Satana’s nature and name (27 March 1847) 131

57.  The importance of knowing evil (29 March 1847) 133

58.  Phantoms and possession (30 March 1847) 135

59.  Carnal and sensual pleasures (31 March 1847) 138

60.  The devil of play and the rearing of children (1 April 1847) 141

61.  The nature and consequences of anger (6 April 1847) 144

62.  Fighting anger (7 April 1847) 147

63.  Addiction to rank amongst arrogant humans (8 April 1847) 150

64.  A variety of human laments (9 April 1847) 154

65.  A variety of human laments - continued (10 April 1847) 157

66.  Ceremonial ecclesiasticism (13 April 1847) 160

67.  Dreams and their interpretation (14 April 1847) 162

68.  About Superstition (April 16, 1847) 165

69.  About superstition – continued (17 April 1847) 168

70.  The Kingdom of God and rebirth (20 April 1847) 171

71.  True and false prophets (22 April 1847) 175

72.  The forgiveness of sins and idolatry (24 April 1847) 179

73.  Active faith (27 April 1847) 182

PART THREE 184

74.  Jews, Mohammedans and Brahmines in spiritual perspective (28 April 1847) 184

75.  The Chinese from a spiritual point of view (30 April 1847) 187

76.  The Tibetans from a spiritual point of view (May 1, 1847) 190

77.  The Japanese from a spiritual point of view (May 8, 1847) 193

78.  The primordial inhabitants of Borneo and Guinea from a spiritual point of view 196

79.  Primordial inhabitants of Java and other small Asian islands from a spiritual point of view (May 5, 1847) 198

80.  The original inhabitants of Sumatra, Celebes and Ceylon from a spiritual point of view (May 6, 1847) 200

81.  Madagascar from a spiritual point of view (May 8, 1847) 204

82.  Primitive inhabitants of South Africa (natives) from a spiritual point of view (May 10, 1847) 207

83.  Primordial inhabitants of Australia (Aborigines) from a spiritual point of view (12 May 1847) 210

84.  Primordial inhabitants of New Zealand, Central Africa and America from a spiritual point of view (May 14, 1847) 213

85.  Reason and purpose of these narrations to Lorber; the otherworldly author; Replies to criticism (May 15, 1847) 215

Table of Contents

THE TOWER CLOCK 3

PART ONE 5

1.  The center of gravity of the Earth 5

2.  The heart of the Earth 8

3.  The location and changeableness of the heart of the Earth (31 December 1846) 10

4.  The nature of matter and it’s primordial spirits 12

5.  The inner structure of the Earth 14

6.  The centers of gravity and the fluids of the Earth (5 January 1847) 16

7.  The nourishment and rotation of the Earth (11 January 1847) 19

8.  The lungs and respiration of the Earth (12 January 1847) 22

9.  The spleen of the Earth (14 January 1847) 25

10.  The structure of the spleen and the preparation of blood (15 January 1847) 27

11.  The liver of the Earth (16 January 1847) 30

12.  The kidneys of the Earth (18 January 1847) 32

13.  The Earth as a man and a woman 34

14.  The male-female procreation of the Earth (20 January 1847) 36

15.  The general succession of living beings (22 January 1847) 39

16.  The material and construction of the second Earth (23 January 1847) 41

17.  The fortification of the fluids of the Earth (25 January 1847) 43

18.  The crust of the Earth (26 January 1847) 45

19.  The feeling skin of the Earth (27 January 1847) 47

20.  The nature and composition of the air (29 January 1847) 49

21.  The effect of light on the air (29 January 1847) 52

22.  The twelve heavenly constellations and their effect (1 February 1847) 54

23.  The Earth’s atmosphere and precipitation (3 February 1847) 56

24.  The eye of the Earth (5 February 1847) 58

25.  The nature of fire (6 February 1847) 60

26.  Appearances in the third region of the air (8 February 1847) 62

PART TWO 64

27.  The formation and purpose of matter (9 February 1847) 64

28.  The spirits of the uppermost region of the air 66

29.  The dwelling and bliss of the pure spirits (11 February 1847) 68

30.  The spirits of the second region of the air (13 February 1847) 70

31.  The activities of the spirits in the second region of the air (15 February 1847) 73

32.  The possession of matter by spirits (16 February 1847) 75

33.  Nature spirits and human souls (18 February 1847) 77

34.  Air spirits, mountain spirits, and wanderer spirits (19 February 1847) 80

35.  About witches and witch trials (22 February 1847) 82

36.  About magical mountains 85

37.  Mountains with infamous names 87

38.  The first, lowest region of the air 90

39.  The governing spirits of the lower region of the air (27 February 1847) 92

40.  The activity of the spirits in the interior of the Earth (1 March 1847) 94

41.  Substance and matter, power and material (2 March 1847) 96

42.  God’s work through spirits (3 March 1847) 98

43.  The impressions of matter on the soul and spirit (4 March 1847) 100

44.  Guardian spirits in the kingdom of nature (5 March 1847) 102

45.  Minerals, plant, and animals (6 March 1847) 105

46.  The composition of intelligence properties in living beings (8 March 1847) 107

47.  The Composition of Intelligence properties in living things (9 March 1847) 109