5. Responsibility
This question is always one of the first, since by far the greatest number of people would like to shift all responsibility off themselves and onto something other than themselves. The fact that this in itself is a devaluation of the self is of no importance to them. In this they are really quite humble and modest, but only in order to be able to live on it all the more merrily and unscrupulously.
It would be so nice to be able to fulfil all one’s desires and to let all one’s cravings go unpunished, even towards other people. Earthly laws can easily be circumvented in an emergency and clashes avoided. More skilful ones can even escape successfully under their cover and do many a thing that would not stand up to closer scrutiny. They often even enjoy the reputation of being particularly capable people. With a little cleverness, one could actually live quite comfortably according to one’s own views,...if there wasn’t something somewhere that awakened an uneasy feeling, an occasional rising uneasiness about the fact that some things could be something other than one's own wishes.
And so it is! Reality is serious and inexorable. People’s desires cannot bring about any deviation in this respect. The law remains: “What a man sows, that he will reap many times over!”
These few words contain and say much more than many people think. They correspond precisely to the real process of the reciprocal action resting in Creation. No more apt expression could be found for it. Just as the harvest is multiplied by the seed, so man is always multiplied by what he awakens and sends out in his own feelings, depending on the nature of his thoughts.
Man therefore bears spiritual responsibility for everything he does. This responsibility already begins with the decision, not only with the accomplished deed, which is only a consequence of the decision. And the decision is the awakening of a serious volition!
There is no separation between this world and the so-called Beyond, but all is but one great Existence. The whole mighty Creation, visible and invisible to man, interlocks like an astonishingly skilful, never-failing gear, and does not operate one beside the other. Uniform laws carry the whole, which, like strands of nerves, permeate everything, hold it together, and mutually affect each other in constant reciprocal action!
If the 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 Divine Force constantly flows through the whole of 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 man. There is nothing where it is not.
And just as it flows through everything, it also flows through the human being without interruption. The human being is now of such a nature that it resembles a lens. Just as a lens collects the rays of the sun flowing through it and passes them on united, so that the warming rays unite to scorch a point and ignite a fire, so man, by his special constitution, collects the Creative Force flowing through him by his feeling and passes it on collected by his thoughts.
Depending on the nature of this feeling 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? Imagine in all simplicity the image of the pure Power of the Creator flowing through you and you directing it with your thoughts towards the good or the bad direction. With this you have everything without effort and without headaches! Consider that it is up to your simple feeling and thinking whether this mighty Force will bring about good or evil. What force it gives you to promote or to destroy!
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 upliftment!
Let go of this time-consuming game, which has so often become a tormenting ordeal, which means nothing else than the earlier self-flagellations and mortifications in the monasteries. It is only another form of the same, which can bring you just as little profit.
The so-called occult masters and disciples are modern 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 alone, you only need to direct it. And this happens in all simplicity and plainness! This does not require any erudition, not even reading and writing. It is given to each of you in equal measure! There is no difference in that.
Just as a child can turn on an electric current by playing with a switch, which has tremendous effects, so it is given to you to direct Divine Power 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 dawn, the hand of the Lord, whose Force you misuse with it, would strike you through this self-acting reciprocal action, wherever you wanted to hide.
Evil is brought about with the same pure, Divine Power as good!
And this way of using this unified Divine Power, which is free to everyone, carries with it the responsibility that no one is able to 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 who are ignorant and weak, for you have been given the same power as the strong! So do not make it too difficult for yourselves! Do not forget that the pure self-creating Force of God also flows through you, and that you, as human beings, are also capable of giving this Force a certain direction through the nature of your inner feelings, that is, your will, for good or for evil, devastating or building up, bringing joy or suffering!
Since there is only this one God-Force, the mystery of why darkness must give way to light, why evil must give way to good in every serious final battle, is also clarified. If you direct the Force of God towards the good, it remains unclouded in its original purity and thus develops a much stronger power, whereas with the clouding into impurity a weakening takes place at the same time. Thus, in a final battle, 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 brood over it would only confuse. Dull brooding is a waste of energy, like a swamp, a tough morass that paralyses and suffocates everything that can be achieved. Fresh cheerfulness, however, breaks the spell of brooding. You have no need to be sad and 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 Divine Force always flowing through you, then you yourself will shrink from directing this purity into dirty channels of evil thoughts, because you can reach the highest and noblest in the same way without any effort. You only need to direct it, the Force will then work in the direction you want.
You have happiness or unhappiness in your own hands. Therefore, hold your head proudly and your forehead freely and boldly. Evil cannot approach unless you call it! As you will it, so it will happen to you!
