5. Responsibility
This question is always one of the first, as the vast majority of people are all too eager to shift any responsibility away from themselves and onto something other than themselves. That this, in itself, is a form of self-debasement does not matter to them. In this regard, they are indeed quite humble and modest, but only so they can live on all the more merrily and unscrupulously.
It would be so nice to be able to fulfil all their wishes and let all their desires towards all others go unpunished. Earthly laws can easily be circumvented in the case an emergency and clashes avoided. The more skilful can even make successful hauls under disguise and do many a thing that would not stand up to closer scrutiny. They often even enjoy the reputation of being particularly capable individuals. So, with a little cleverness, one could actually live quite comfortably according to one’s own views if...there was not something somewhere that awakened an uneasy feeling, an occasional rising unrest about the fact that some things could be something other than one's own wishes shape them to be.
And so it is! Reality is serious and unrelenting. Human desires cannot bring about any deviation in this regard. The law remains: “What a man sows, that he will reap many times over!”
These few words contain and say much more than many realize. They correspond precisely to the real process of the reciprocation that is at work in Creation. No more fitting expression could be found. Just as the harvest yields a multitude from a seed, so too humans multiply what they awaken in their own feelings, depending on the nature of their thoughts.
Thus, humans bear spiritual responsibility for everything they do. This responsibility begins with the decision, not only with the act that follows, which is only a consequence of the decision. And the decision is the awakening of a serious wish!
There is no separation between this world and the so-called Beyond, everything is just one great existence. The entire mighty Creation, visible and invisible to man, interlocks like an astonishingly skilful, never-failing gear, and does not operate side by side. Uniform laws carry the whole, which, like strands of nerves, permeate everything, hold it together, and mutually affect each other in constant interaction!
When schools and churches speak of heaven and hell, of God and the devil, that is correct. Wrong, however, is a declaration of good and evil forces. This must immediately plunge every serious seeker into error and doubt; for where there are two forces, logically there should also be two rulers, in this case two gods, one good and one evil.
And that is not the case!
There is only one Creator, one God, and therefore only one Force that flows through, animates and promotes all that exists!
This pure, Creative Force of God constantly flows through all Creation, lies within it, is inseparable from it. It is to be found everywhere: in the air, in every drop of water, in the growing rock, the striving plant, the animal, and of course also in humans. There is nothing where it is not.
And just as it flows through everything, it also flows through humans without interruption. The human constitution is such that it resembles a lens. Just as sunbeams flowing through a lens accumulate and unify, causing warming rays that fuse at a point to singe and catch fire, so man, by his special nature, collects the Creative Force flowing through him through intuitive perception and passes It on collected through his thoughts.
Depending on the nature of this perception and the thoughts connected with it, he thus directs the self-acting Creative Force of God to good or to evil effect!
And that is the responsibility that man must bear!
You, who often try so hard to find the right path, why do you make it so difficult for yourselves? Picture, in all simplicity, the pure Force of the Creator flowing through you and you are directing it with your thoughts towards the good or the bad directions. With this you have everything without effort and without headaches! Consider that it is up to your simple intuiting and thinking whether this mighty Force will bring about good or evil. What furthering or ruinous a power that you have been given!
You need not exert yourselves so that the sweat comes to your brow, you need not strain at a so-called occult exercise in order to reach, through all possible and impossible bodily and mental contortions, some stage which is completely meaningless for your true spiritual advancement!
Abandon this time-consuming gimmick, which has so often turned into painful torture, which means nothing else than the self-flagellations and mortifications in monasteries in the past. It is only another form of the same that can neither bring you any gain.
The so-called occult masters and disciples are modern-day Pharisees! In the truest sense of the word. They are the true mirror image of the Pharisees at the time of Jesus of Nazareth.
Think with pure joy that you are able to effortlessly direct the only and mighty Force of Creation through your simple, benevolent feeling and thinking. Exactly in the way you feel and think, the Force will then take effect. It works on Its own, you only need to direct it. And this happens in all simplicity and plainness! This does not require any scholarship, not even reading and writing. It is given to each of you in equal measure! There is no difference.
Just as a child can playfully turn on an electric current with a switch, which has tremendous effects, so it is given to you to direct Divine Force through your simple thoughts. You can rejoice in it, you can be proud of it, as soon as you use it for good! But tremble if you waste it uselessly or even use it for impurity! For you cannot escape the Laws of Reciprocal Action that rest in Creation. And if you had wings of the morning, the hand of the Lord, Whose Force you misuse, would strike you through this self-acting reciprocal action, wherever you want to hide.
Evil is brought about with the same pure, Divine Force as good!
And this way of using this uniform God-Force, which is free to everyone, carries with it a responsibility from which no one can escape. Therefore I call out to every seeker: “Keep the hearth of your thoughts pure, you will bring about peace and be happy!”
Rejoice, you ignorant and weak ones, for you have been given the same power as the strong! So do not make it too difficult for yourselves! Keep in mind that the pure self-creating Force of God also flows through you, and that you, as humans, are also capable of giving this Force a certain direction through the nature of your inner feelings, that is, your wishes, for good or for evil, destructive or constructive, bringing joy or suffering!
Since there is only this one God-Force, clarifies also the mystery of why the darkness must give way to the Light, why evil must give way to good in every serious final struggle. If you direct the Force of God towards the good, it remains untainted in its original purity and thus develops a much stronger force, whereas with the tainting into impurity a weakening simultaneously takes place. Thus, in a final struggle, the purity of the Force will always have a striking effect and be decisive.
What is good and what is evil is something that everyone feels down to their fingertips, unspoken. To ponder over it would only confuse. Dull brooding is a waste of energy; it is like a swamp, a thick mud, which paralyses and suffocates everything that it can reach. Fresh cheerfulness, however, breaks the spell of brooding. You have no need to be sad or depressed! At any moment you can begin the path to the Heights and make up for the past, whatever it may be! Do nothing more than think of the process of the pure Force of God that is always flowing through you, then you will step back from directing this purity into dirty channels of evil thoughts, because you can effortlessly reach the highest and noblest in the same way. You only need to direct it, the Force will then work in the direction you want.
Happiness or unhappiness is thereby placed in your own hands. Therefore, lift your head proudly and your brow freely and boldly. Evil cannot approach if you do not call it! As you will it, so it will happen to you!
