The Text - Section 20
20. GOD: THE CREATION
Greetings in the Name of the Lord! Blessed are all of you, blessed is this hour. My dear
friends, most of you believe that when I give a lecture I freely and arbitrarily choose the subject
myself on my own authority. This is not quite so. I think it will be interesting for you to hear briefly
how a subject is chosen and what is done in the spirit world about your little community.
In the first place, understand that as a counterpart for your community on earth which is
gradually growing larger, there exists a considerably greater community in the spirit world, which
governs everything pertaining to your community. This organization in the spirit world is helping
and guiding you, deciding many factors in connection with all of you, but on a much broader scale
than any of you can realize.
I want to stress that there is no coincidence here; none of you have been drawn to this
community by chance, not even those who come here once and do not stay because they lack either
the spiritual maturity to understand what is going on, or because they do not want to develop
spiritually and walk this path of perfection for which a continuous supply of spiritual food is
necessary.
It is also no coincidence that more people from this latter category come at the beginning
stages of your community. There is a purpose and a reason for this which I will now explain. Until
the people belonging to the inner circle who actively help to build this community have proven
themselves sufficiently aware of many of their weaknesses, the presence of people who cannot as yet
fully appreciate this communication with God's world is a test for them. Every test and trial results
directly or indirectly from one's own imperfection, and its inevitable purpose must also be to
increase learning and thereby strengthen awareness of each individual's weakness. You who belong
to the inner circle have great responsibility and therefore must become strong. This can only be
accomplished through all sorts of happenings, even seemingly unimportant and apparently
coincidental ones. All those who really walk the path actively and with open eyes will observe and
test everything that happens to them in the course of a day so that they may further increase their
self-knowledge. To the extent that you grow stronger both spiritually and emotionally and become
more perfect, not only will your personal conflicts diminish but also the character and spiritual
development of most of the people joining your group will change. So you see, it is not mere
chance that at the beginning the majority of people coming to you are not of the caliber you may
desire. You have probably noticed that this has begun to change already and it will change even
more as time goes on.
At the same time, people who fall into the above category and approach you at the beginning
of such a community are not guided here at random either. They may have certain merits from
previous lives -- or from the same life, for that matter -- through which they deserve special help and
guidance to enable them to progress spiritually farther and faster. However, it must always be left
according to law and to their own free will as to whether or not to accept that help. In spite of these
merits, they often lack the otherwise necessary spiritual maturity to accept help. Nevertheless, the
chance should be offered them. If they grasp it, it means a great victory for them and also for the
world of God. If they reject it, their rejection serves the good purpose of necessary testing and
learning for those people with strong arms and shoulders, spiritually speaking, in order that they may
be worthy of the great fulfillment awaiting them.
Some of you who think you come here by chance, just for the experience or even out of
curiosity, need to know there is a great deal more to it than that. There is an organization in the
spirit world that governs you and decides who should be chosen and who should be bypassed at
least at this time. Particular spirits who have this task and are trained for this work are being sent as
scouts to consider all the relevant circumstances pertaining to the individuals in question. If it seems
that a person should join you or at least should be given the chance to, then these spirit scouts get in
touch with that person's guardian spirits: the latter guide their proteges to someone in your circle
and perhaps inspire that person to propose the idea of joining your group. This will give you some
idea of how much work and care is involved concerning even the smallest detail.
The choice of lecture subjects also necessitates a considerable amount of work in the spirit
world, for the appropriate subject at the appropriate time is not always easy to determine, and I
personally could not possibly do this alone. You have not the vaguest idea what a world of order
and organization God's spirit world is! The efficiency of the spirits who are trained expertly for their
particular tasks and of the teamwork involved is something which surpasses your comprehension.
For instance, there are a number of more exalted spirits above me whom I have to consult for the
selection of a lecture subject and for the advice given to certain individuals, as well as for various
other decisions. On the other hand, these spirits also take my opinions, my experiences, and my
advice into consideration. I have a number of helpers whom I am sending out or who are helping
with other tasks in connection with the building of your community. After considering all these
reports coming in from spirits involved with this work, each subject is decided upon, and so are the
limits of how far I may go in answering certain questions that may come up unexpectedly. These
decisions are made on the basis of the great number of components and situations wherein all the
pertinent laws are to be considered. It is a type of bookkeeping work, if I may call it that, where
many details have to be painstakingly considered and weighed.
You have no idea how much work is involved in our world regarding this community of
yours; how much there is to consider as far as the future is concerned. It is so difficult to determine
which information may be harmful for some of the listeners and readers while also being useful for
others, depending upon the degree of their progress and the time it has taken them to progress. In
other words, it is difficult to find ways of furthering the progress of each individual belonging to
your group by giving just the right amount of spiritual food at the right time, and at the same time to
plan ahead wisely for the group's future as a whole.
You in your world are so blind. You only recognize what is right in front of your eyes. You
do not realize that often a truth heard too soon can be more harmful than if it were heard too late.
Yes, my friends, this is so! On the other hand, it may be of imperative importance for some people
to hear a particular truth or spiritual law at a particular time. In such cases the information to be
given has to be worded in such a way that it will not be understood by those not yet ready and
mature.
This may give you an idea of the organization in the spirit world that is the counterpart of
your group. This organization is deeply involved with many details you completely ignore; it is
working with love, care, and wisdom to guide everything to the best advantage of all concerned,
including those whom you do not know as yet but who will join you in the future. To compute all
these data demands trained experts, working with unceasing effort, foresight, and thorough
knowledge of divine law, as well as with great devotion to God and His great Plan of Salvation. The
proper growth of your community is of imperative importance in the Plan of Salvation and of
deeper significance than most of you sense. Through explanations you may understand a little better
what first appeared to you to be a chain-reaction of coincidences, but which is nothing else than a
great guidance put in action. Thus you may also grasp the fact that the inner picture of each person
coming here has been taken into account, even to the smallest details, so that not only the subjects
of the general lectures are determined by all these factors put together, but also the way certain
explanations are made and how certain subjects are treated. You will understand that I do not come
here and freely choose a subject. Whenever people succeed in contacting God's world, it never
happens that the spirit contacted has free choice of subject matter because too much has to be
considered and too much is at stake of which you know nothing.
Last time I said I would talk about the fall of the angels. In order to do this effectively so that
you may understand it as much as any human being is capable of understanding, I have to discuss it
in this order: God, the Creation, the fall of the angels, and the Plan of Salvation. I can only touch
on each of these subjects in the most brief and condensed way since I cannot possibly fit all of this
information into one lecture. In my last lecture I started with an explanation about the spirit of
Jesus Christ, who is an integral part of all these subjects. First, I will briefly condense this
information adding certain supplementary details later on. I do wish to stress most emphatically that
this lecture touches the greatest questions in existence and therefore it is most difficult to present in
such a way that it can be grasped, even by those who are spiritually advanced. Thus, you should not
try to absorb what you hear with your limited intellect alone; this would not get you anywhere.
Instead you should try to listen with your heart, with your soul, and with your innermost senses so
that you may feel the truth rather than understand it intellectually. Only this will give you real
understanding; in a sense it may be material containing seeds for enlightenment.
To begin with, what can I possibly tell you about God, my friends? He is so great that His
greatness can never be put into words. Particularly for a human being, it is impossible to sense, to
perceive, let alone to know what God is. I want only to say this much about the Creator: God is
person as well as principle. Human religions and human philosophies have always debated this
question. One opinion holds that God is person: the other holds that God is not of substance,
being solely principle and force. As I have already said, both views are true. God in His male aspect
is Creator and, as such, is a person.
The male aspect is the creative one, not only with God, but, originating from Him, it is the
creative principle in the universe with all beings. In this capacity, God makes decisions, dispositions,
and determinations. In this capacity, God as Creator and person created the universe with all its
laws and other beings, although the creation of the latter was in conjunction with the divine female
aspect. When it is said that God created His children in His image, it is meant that all divine aspects
reoccur in lesser degree within these created beings. Thus, the creative ability exists also to some
extent in every being.
This divine substance which God possesses to a maximum degree, and which Christ possesses
to a lesser degree, but to a degree greater than all other creatures, can best be described as a fluid
substance of the most radiant matter. It is the life force. God, as well as all creatures in their highest
form of development, can dissolve this fluid substance so that the compact personality becomes a
flow, a principle, or a divine stream. This does not mean the annihilation of individuality as a
thinking being capable of making decisions. In this flowing state, the divine female aspect is
prevalent. It is the state of being and the state of slow growth and organic building. Whenever God
wills it so, the fluids may be retracted so that His male aspect becomes prevalent again. The same
holds true for all created beings in their highest state of development. If their female aspect is
prevalent, they merge with God in a state of being. With their male aspect prevalent, they help in
the Creation according to the will of God and in accordance with divine law. I realize that all this is
impossible for you to understand fully. It may be just a beginning for more profound insight which
is yet to come. Even the highest spirits cannot fully grasp the love, wisdom, and perfection of God
and the infinite variety of His creation. We can only stand in awe and rejoice and praise Him!
As I said in my last lecture, God put forth as His first creation the spirit of Jesus Christ and
most of this divine substance is in Christ. Therefore, some religions refer to God the Father and
God the Son. You can see that there is truth in this statement, although it is erroneous to consider
them one and the same person. After the spirit of Christ, many other creatures came into existence;
so many that you could not count them with the numbers you have available in your world. Once I
was asked, "Why did God create these beings? Being all-knowing, He must have realized that
misery could result from it." This is indeed an important question which I would now like to touch
on briefly.
God is love and love must share: this is the nature of love. Of course God realized that
because He created beings with free will, they could so decide with this free will that misery could
come into existence, either permanently or temporarily. Nevertheless, as an indication of His
greatness, God created beings who could choose freely with the power given them. They either
would have the wisdom of not abusing their power and thus living within the perfection of divine
law in a state of eternal bliss or, if they decided otherwise, they would finally come to comprehend
all the more the perfection of divine law, after having gone through the valley of death. Thus, they
would be more godlike than ever before. The temporary misery for those who might decide
wrongly is nothing compared to the bliss and happiness of eternity after the self-inflicted misery has
been experienced. The scales show this so clearly that a spirit does not even have to be very high in
development to recognize this fact.
Thus, God created many beings and many worlds, long before a material world existed:
worlds of harmony, happiness, infinite beauty, and infinite possibilities which unfolded creative
divine aspects for all beings. Here, the divine substance of each created being was freely active, and
not covered by foreign and un-godlike matter. I have often said that it is your task to uncover this
divine substance within you and to free it of these God-opposed layers which rob you of your unity
with yourself and with God. This divine substance is also referred to as a human being's higher self
or divine spark. It is also referred to, at times, as the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not one being,
nor is it part of a threefold God in the sense it is often interpreted: it is simply the divine substance
that every living creature possesses to some degree whether freed to some extent of other
substances or still covered up by them. So you can see that the idea of the Trinity has been often
misunderstood; yet there is also a great amount of truth within the misunderstanding.
Now you will want to know how these foreign layers came to cover the divine substance that
each being originally was. This is the subject of the fall of the angels, for another name for these
pure, Godlike beings or Holy Ghosts is angels. First, however, I would like to mention that it is a
great mistake to assume that this divine substance which exists in everyone is God Himself, or
identical with God the Creator. God is a being and what you possess within you is of divine
substance and has many of the divine attributes, although not to the same extent as the substance of
God Himself. The divine spark within you is Godlike. Only this purified and freed substance
within you is capable of uniting with God and therefore of being one with God. No substance that
is unlike God can unite with Him. It is erroneous to confuse the Godlike substance in each created
being with that of the Creator Himself.
People often advance the idea that God should not have endowed His creatures with free will
for then the fall could never have happened; or, they claim, God at least should have interfered
when the fall started. However, this view is so shortsighted and so blind. Happiness can only exist
for any created being through union with God. And to be in union with God, you must be of the
same substance and endowed with the same aspects and qualities; otherwise, you would be unlike
God and thus incapable of being in union with Him. Free will and free choice entails the possibility
of directing free will contrary to divine law. In choosing freely and correctly and in abstaining from
abuse of power lies divinity, love, wisdom, and a number of further divine attributes. It is of utmost
importance for all of you to grasp this idea, for then you will be able to answer many questions that
so far you may not have understood.
God has also put into Creation an infinite number of laws. These laws provided beforehand
for the possibility of a return to God if and when any of the created beings should misuse their
power and freedom given to them by God. These laws work in cycles which have to close; whatever
happens, these cycles follow their course and the laws work in such a way that ultimately everything
having once turned away from God and divine law will eventually come back. The greater the
distance from God, the more the misery, for only in God and with God lies happiness. But through
this misery arises a stronger incentive to return to God. This thought also lends itself very well to
deep meditations. By grasping some of this truth, you may come to understand many things which
have so far remained hidden from you. If your eyes and your inner senses become purified enough,
you will recognize this law even in your daily lives, even in small incidents.
So, spiritual worlds did exist for a very, very long time where all created beings lived in a state
of bliss, in a way that is unimaginable. The possibility existed for all creatures, ever since they came
into existence, to choose freely either to live within divine law or to act against it. At one time, one
spirit fell under the temptation to act against it. You can find the symbolic explanation of this in the
story of Adam and Eve in Paradise. Actually this happened in a very different way, although the
idea of temptation was there. Perhaps you are able to comprehend some of this when you imagine
that you may possess great power. You may know that to use this power in a certain way might
prove to be dangerous for you, yet as long as this power is not exploited, you may feel a curiosity
concerning what would actually happen if you did use it. This temptation becomes stronger and
stronger. The stronger it becomes, the less you can think of the means to counteract this
temptation. You will not even have the intention of continuing the use of this dangerous power, but
you feel you must try it out a little bit, just to see. All the theoretical knowledge you may possess,
that having once tried it you may not find it possible anymore to resist being swept away by it,
dissolves under the growing weight of the temptation.
Once the first spirit succumbed to the temptation, it set something in motion that could not
be changed any more. This spirit once knew that this would be so, but did not wish to remember
after he had succumbed. The result was not an immediate change, but a gradual one. The change
from harmony to disharmony took place just as gradually and as slowly as your personal change
occurs from disharmony to harmony. The latter is evolution; the former could be called a backward
evolution or devolution, and neither can ever happen suddenly. Here I would like to give you
another example of this process that may help you to understand it by trying to feel into it. Let us
suppose you are tempted to take an addictive drug, having the intention not to succumb to it
entirely, knowing, as everybody does, that this would mean your ruin in every respect. But you think
you can try it just once, just to see what it is like. After this one time, you cannot escape any more,
for you are caught. The same principle holds true to everything opposing divine law.
This one spirit who succumbed first generated a power running in the opposite direction to
divine law, but it was still the same power, only used differently. With this power the spirit could
affect and influence many other spirits, little by little. But not all spirits were affected. There was a
division between those who succumbed and those who did not. With the former, the "fall of the
angels" began. In this process, every divine aspect turned into its opposite nature: harmony turned
to disharmony, beauty to ugliness, light to darkness, wisdom to blindness, love to hatred, fear, or
egotism, and union became separateness. Then wholeness split even further the more this pull of
temptation proceeded. Thus evil came into existence.
Once I explained that the spiritual worlds, are psychological worlds, which does not mean that
they are unsubstantial and formless. Only in your material world are thoughts and feelings abstract:
in other worlds spirits create their own worlds wherein they live according to their states of mind.
Each state of mind creates as a reflex-action a sphere consisting of landscapes, houses, objects, and
so on. Thus only spirits of equal development can share a world, which, in certain states of
development, facilitates life in general but by the same token slows down individual development.
When you keep in mind that your attitudes, your thoughts, your feelings, your opinions, and your
goals create your world, you will understand that the world of the highest spirits is beautiful and
light, while the world of the fallen spirits has become dark and ugly. Since the great plan was put in
operation, many in-between worlds came to exist in various degrees of harmony and disharmony,
according to the state of development which the once fallen spirits had reached. Your material
world is one of these in-between worlds.
Most of you know that the individual spirit in its highest degree of development combines the
male and the female aspects of divinity. There is no inner division or disunity at that point. The
existence on earth of man and woman as separate entities is a result of this splitting, as you
understand it now. Therefore, each human being has its counterpart. The human urge to find the
right partner is nothing less than the deep longing for reunion with one's separated other part.
Every being passes certain incarnations with its true double or counterpart, because through the
happiness which such reunion entails lies a duty to fulfill something. Certain other incarnations
have to be gone through without this counterpart: in that lies fulfillment of a different sort.
However, this latter kind of incarnation without meeting one's true counterpart does not mean that
it is necessary to lead a life of celibacy. There may be other partners with whom not only great
happiness can be built, but also with whom other duties may be fulfilled, karma paid off, and so on.
So if you pass an incarnation without your true counterpart, but instead have another partner with
whom you have something to fulfill, do not think that your counterpart in the spirit world will be
hurt or jealous because of the love you may give to your present partner. This is not so. Things do
not work out this way in Absolute Reality. No matter how you learn it, if you learn to give love, you
come a step nearer to God, to your fulfillment, and to your liberation -- and thus also to your
counterpart. The urge for this kind of love in sex is the longing for union with your counterpart so
as to become whole again. That fulfillment, however, depends upon how you direct this force.
Lower developed beings, like animals and plants and minerals, are still in a state of further
splitting or division. The human condition, the state of being split in half, so to speak, is the last
form before reunion with one's original state can take place. The disharmonious worlds which came
into existence through the division from God and through the so-called fall of the angels are also
called hell. These worlds simply reflect the state of mind of the creatures living there; these spheres
came into existence as a direct result of the state of mind of these beings. But hell is not just one
sphere: there are many spheres there, just as there are many spheres in the divine world, or so-called
heaven. When the fall took place, not all who participated came into an equal state of disharmony
and evil. The degree was very individual and different. Thus, different spheres came into being
within the world of darkness, always corresponding to the individual's state of mind. However, on
the whole, one can say that every divine aspect turned more or less into its opposite.
As long as complete purification has not been achieved, some of the characteristics of the fall
are still going on within a person to some degree. It would be extremely useful for each one of you
to delve into your soul and clearly come to feel this process, thus making it conscious. When you
consider your individual faults, try to find the original divine aspect of them. For no fault could
come into existence by itself; it is only a distortion of something that was once divine. You can find
this divine aspect in all your faults. Then it will be so much easier to purify your faults and at the
same time lose your sense of hopelessness about yourself. You will lose your sense of inferiority.
Yet in order to do so, you must first find out what your faults are and face them courageously.
When these worlds of unhappiness gradually came into existence and the separation from
God took place for a great number of beings, divine law provided for the possibility to regain the
happy state of existence these beings had once known. However, certain decisions and changes had
to be made, always according to the free will of the fallen spirits, either individually or as a group.
This was also foreseen by God and provided for, with the timing left for the right moment. All this
is part of the Plan of Salvation for which God enlisted the help of all spirits who remained faithful
to Him, as well as the help of those who reached and are still reaching sufficient development after
their fall, to assist others. I will talk more about this the next time.
Think carefully of all I have said so far, even though there is still some information lacking
which will complete the basic picture for you. Yet, even through this incomplete picture, you will
find a number of questions answered if you take the trouble to think deeply, to meditate, and to ask
God to help you to understand. When you have gained this understanding, you will be in a position
to comprehend what life really means, your reason for existence here, and what your personal task in
this life is. There isn't a person without a task! Those who have peace of mind will have found their
tasks. Whoever has not found this peace has not yet found his or her place. Your innermost self
will give you the message whether or not you have found your task through the happiness or unrest
it communicates to you. All you have to do is ask yourself. If you still find unrest, haste,
nervousness, and lack of peace of mind, then ask God to help you find your task, to be open for it,
so that you can understand His guidance. What may still stand in the way between you and the
complete fulfillment of your life task may be your personal development. It may be that you are
blind to some aspects of your own personality and they stand in the way to your fulfillment. So do
not look too far in your quest for the answer. Right within your self are all the answers you need in
order to conduct your life in a way that God will be pleased with you.
Next time, I will go into greater detail concerning the Plan of Salvation in which Jesus Christ
plays a major role. Without him, none of the fallen angels could come back. It is very important to
understand this at a certain point in your development.
Be blessed.