69. In The Realm Of Demons And Phantoms
To be able to follow this explanation, it is necessary for the reader to know and understand that mankind on this earth belongs to Subsequent Creation which is the further development of Original Creation. It is only the latter which is the eternal Spiritual Kingdom which man calls Paradise, at the very summit of which stands the Castle of the Holy Grail, the portal to the Divine sphere which lies outside of Creation.
Subsequent Creation is what is called the world. It rotates eternally below Original Creation, but its several solar systems, not being God's own handiwork, like Original Creation which is everlasting, are transient; they come into being and mature, they grow old and disintegrate.
Subsequent Creation owes its existence to the will of the pure beings God made in the beginning and it is subject to influences coming from human spirits in process of development on their appointed course through its planes.
This accounts for its imperfections and deficiencies which are not to be found in Original Creation, for that is subject to the influences of the Holy Spirit alone. As time went on, these deficiencies became more and more flagrant and palpable to the despair of God's first created beings. To comfort them a voice came from on high, calling out: “Await the coming of One I have chosen ... to help you!” In these words the legend of the Holy Grail has fairly accurately described what happened.
To return to the subject in hand: Every proceeding of mortal man is but the external expression of an inner process by which intuitive volition is meant. Intuitive Volition is spiritual activity which either furthers or retards man's spiritual advance. It is decisive for his whole being. This volition must never be put on the same level as the decisions come to by the brain, for it is his intuitive volition which represents the real man himself. What the physical brain wills and resolves on, is of less moment. And although the result may not be visible on the surface, both have unfailing Karmic consequences. No physical activity is necessary in order to create Karma. But all physical activity must be preceded either by intuitive volition or by decisions come to by the brain. Thus physical activity depends either on the decisions of the brain or on intuitive volition.
Man pays less attention to what his intuitive volition, than to what his brain tells him, and yet it is the former that decides whether he goes forward or backward. He must submit to the logical consequences of his want of discrimination. He must learn that intuitive volition is the only organ with which he can draw forth and command the latent power that lies dormant in all Creation waiting for the will of man to summon it into intensified action. Up till now he has scarcely, if ever, even noticed this important, nay all-important fact.
Thus I shall continue repeatedly to call man's attention to an apparently simple matter, but one which indeed is of all- embracing importance. It is this latent energy or power that pulsates through all Creation. This neutral power lies inactive till it comes into touch with the human spirit with its intuitive volition. But it is only his spiritual activity that can arouse it. Intellectual volition has no access to this source of spiritual energy, much less have the thoughts his brain engenders. This again shows how vain it is for him to hope to utilise this power for his inventions! That possibility is denied him. Man neither knows this great power, nor what it can accomplish, although he lives in it.
The primeval power that some few scholars and inventors dream of and seek for, is something else. When this inferior order of energy is discovered, men will be able to do astonishing things with its aid, but this will not bring the operator one step nearer to the all-powerful spiritual energy above mentioned. And yet, the human spirit all unconsciously utilises it in daily life. Man trifles with this power, takes no heed of the terrible consequences of his levity. In his ignorance he throws all responsibility on the Creator, but this does not exculpate him; on the contrary, he is guilty of remissness in not wishing to gain knowledge.
Here is an example of the working of this power: let us take the feeling of envy in man. First it arises as a vague, general sensation. Until it has reached the brain and clothed itself in definite thought, man is hardly aware of its existence. But this inner feeling or intuition, being spiritual, has the key to the source of living energy, and before it becomes thought, it spans a bridge over to this reservoir of strength. No sooner is this done, than a portion of this energy corresponding in strength to the intensity of the feeling passes into it. This influx of energy animates man's vague human sensation with spirit and endows him with astonishing productive power to construct forms in ethereal matter. This ability must not be confounded with creative power; still it makes man the first of all created beings and lord over all creatures, it gives him immense influence over all Subsequent Creation and makes him a personally responsible being which no other creature is beside him. Man alone is vested with spiritual power; he alone has spirit in his composition, and that is what gives him access to the spiritual energy pulsating through Subsequent Creation.
The spirit of the First Created (Urgeschaffene) in Paradise is not the same as the spirit of mankind on this earth. They are in connection with a superior and much more powerful wave of living energy which they can consciously utilize, and thus produce results vastly superior to those produced by human beings on earth. The power man has at his command is a lower gradation of the energy in Original Creation, in the same way as he is on a lower stage of spiritual development than that of primeval man in Paradise.
Up till now man on earth had no knowledge of the many gradations descending from Original Creation, nor did he know what signification these had for him. When this knowledge has been spread and generally accepted, man's presumptuous pride will cease and the upward path be cleared of a great error.
The preposterous idea of claiming to be beings of the highest order and even of Divine origin will be dispelled, and relief sought and found in a feeling of shame. The pure beings originally created who stand so much higher and are so much more valuable beings, are not thus blinded by presumption. They smile indulgently at the earth-worms, as parents smile at the fantastic chatter of their children.
But to return to man and to his spiritual intuition: the first vague sensation of envy, when strengthened by the influx of spiritual energy from without, forthwith produces unconsciously and independently a form which exactly embodies the man's sensation and reproduces it in a definite shape. At first this form only exists within its author; then it stands beside him, united to him by a cord (ligature) by which it receives nourishment. At the same time it becomes linked to the central nucleus of all similar sentiments in obedience to the law of attraction, and from there it is strongly reinforced. This then is the invisible atmosphere surrounding the man in question.
Meanwhile the sensation (envy) has arrived at the brain, where it causes thoughts of the same nature to be generated. These start off in a definite direction with the intention of injuring a person, if the opportunity offers.
If, however, the victim they have fixed upon is pure-minded and has pure intentions, they find no weak point to assail, no anchorage. But even if repulsed here, this does not make them harmless. The envious thought-forms wander about singly or attach themselves to thoughts of the same nature. Divine law decrees that all things of the same spiritual weight must dwell together, they form a plane on which only such as they are retained. From their haunts they still menace all men whose hearts are not single, and whose minds are not set on what is good. Finally they prove fatal to their authors with whom they maintain contact, and whose envious feelings they continually reinforce with new energy from the rich store at their disposal. Therefore, the author of such forms is sadly hindered and deterred when he tries to cultivate purer thoughts. It is a much greater effort for him to climb than for one who is not so hampered. It is not easy to sever the link connecting him with evil. If this link is gradually to wither, shrivel and fall away, good thoughts and good intentions must be diligently and unremittingly cultivated. And should the author of such evil forms be successful in doing this, he would be free — provided that the form he produced has meanwhile done no harm. If it has done harm, new ties have formed, and these also must be destroyed.
To free a man from obligations which tie him to the injured person, it is indispensable that he should once again cross his path either in this life on earth or in the ethereal world, so that he may be made to see his fault and be forgiven. From this it follows that the author of such forms cannot himself soar upwards before those who have suffered through him, do so.
The threads of fate which entangle him hold him back until he has atoned for his sins and been forgiven.
And yet this is not all by any means: these forms, strengthened as they are by the living energy which has animated them, not only people the ethereal world but direct the destiny of all Subsequent Creation to which our earth and the world surrounding her belong, thus they influence gross matter also, for good or for evil, either building up or destroying. This indeed should open men's eyes to the utter folly of their habitual proceedings; and instead call them to do their duty and make use of their abilities for the benefit of this subsequently created world and all its creatures.
Man often asks why there should be this conflict in nature. . . Does he not perceive that nature in Subsequent Creation adapts itself to the example given by man? Always excepting what belongs to primordial nature as that was created by God.
The forms that man's intuitive volition has created, do not disintegrate when they are severed from their author, but go on living independently as long as they receive nourishment from people of their way of thinking or of people of similar propensities, it must not necessarily come from their author. They seek opportunities to attach themselves to those disposed to receive them or even to those whose power of resistance is weak. When their propensity is evil, they are demons born of envy, hatred and malice, and like passions, and if of good propensity, they are benevolent entities anxious to make peace and to encourage progress.
None of these happenings need necessarily be made evident by a visible act; nevertheless they spin new threads which in their turn have to be severed in the material world, and if this cannot be done in one life, a reincarnation takes place.
These forms produced by the intuitive volition of man and animated by the living, neutral energy which permeates the universe, have independent power not only because they are the product of the spiritual volition in combination with the neutral energy, but because they have also absorbed some substance of animism, that substance of which gnomes and their like are formed. The volition that animals have at their command has not this power, for their soul does not proceed from the spiritual kingdom but from that of nature.
Thus only forms produced by man's intuitive volition have this power. If their author's volition is good, the forms he produces will be great blessings; if evil, the forms will do incalculable mischief — they can even harm physical matter by virtue of their own motive power. Thus man's responsibility is enormously increased, for, corresponding to the nature of his intuitive volition, he can produce well-meaning entities as well as living demons. Both these are the fruits of man's spiritual abilities in Subsequent Creation. The spontaneous movement and activity of such forms cannot be controlled, for they do not proceed from animistic substance with power of volition like the animal, but from a lower gradation without this power.
In the Kingdom of Nature there are as many different spheres and planes as there are in the Spiritual Kingdom, but I must deal with this in detail another time.*
The beings belonging to the Kingdom of Nature also have access to a central source of living energy. It is of an order lower than that to which man has access. It is through these possibilities and impossibilities of connection and combination that strict order is kept in the process of birth and development, of decay and dissolution in Subsequent Creation.
If you consider how far-reaching man's spiritual power of activity is, and then look at the man of the present day, you can imagine what mischief he has already done, especially when you think of the further consequences to all mankind, resulting from the work of these living forms. The stone once flung is no longer under the control of the thrower.
Besides the forms produced by man's intuitive volition, it would need a separate volume to depict their extended activity and influence, there is another variety closely connected with them but less potent. Still they are dangerous enough to trouble many, even to cause men to stumble. These are thought-forms and phantoms born of the human brain. They likewise have their own will-power, but, not having access to the source of neutral energy, as the spiritual or intuitive forms have, they are not independent and self-acting. We may call them reflexes of the Animal Soul.
In the same way as forms produced by intuitive volition continue linked with their author, so also do thought-forms. Through this channel they have access to reinforcement and it also transmits the return due to the author who sent them forth. I have already fully described this in my lecture Thought-forms and so need not repeat what I have already said there.**
Of all cosmic reactions those of thought-forms are the weakest, yet they are mischievous enough to bring ruin to the individual, to the masses and even to whole continents, if men go on reinforcing and encouraging them, as they have done during the last couple of thousand years, in the course of which their power has become enormous. Thus man alone is to blame. His undisciplined will, whether it proceeds from the spirit or from the brain, together with his reprehensible and careless negligence in all these matters has caused all this evil. Hence mortals must necessarily live in two domains: the realm peopled by creations of the intuition (spiritual volition) and the realm peopled by forms produced by the brain (mental volition). The latter domain is the field in which the great “magicians” and “masters” of all time have worked, in which they have entangled themselves and which will finally retain them when their time comes to go over. And what do we see today?
The great occultists, the “illuminated” of different sects and orders … they are no better off. They are only masters in realms peopled by self-constructed forms, and can only be masters there but never in the next life proper. Their power does not extend so far.
Whether they practise the white art or the black art depends upon whether they will good or evil. In either case they are to be pitied. They imagine themselves great in spiritual power, and in truth they are less than an ignorant man. The simple man stands far above the plane on which these marvels of erudition work. From the spiritual point of view he knows more than they do in their blind ignorance.
All would be comparatively well, if the results of their activities rebounded on themselves only, but unfortunately these masters agitate the lower spheres by their work; they stir them up by their efforts and by increasing their strength make them dangerous to all those whose resistance is weak. Others need have no fear, a simple-minded, harmless man, one who enjoys life like a child, safely passes over this swampy ground which these occultists seek to probe, and out of which they finally cannot free themselves, being retained by the forms to which they have given life and strength. Tricked out in ridiculous frippery, puffed up with false pride and presumption, they creep and crawl about in these realms, busily endeavouring to animate them. Truly a shadow-land, a world of deception and pretence, capable of shamming all that is possible and impossible. And he who first conjured it into existence can no longer undo his handiwork, and thus must succumb to its power. Zealously they dig and delve in these low regions, priding themselves on the height they have attained. A simple- minded man need never give all this a thought, for he runs no danger of being retained there.
Of what avail to say more of such “Great Ones” — not one of them would listen. In their sham world they can pretend for a certain time to be that which in real life (that is existence in the living Spirit) they could never be. There their playing at being master must cease, and they must serve. Thus they refuse to be enlightened, for the truth would rob them of what they cling to. Who would have the courage to stand this exposure? Who would be willing to let all that his imagination and his vanity has created, be pulled down? One who could and would do this, would be a truly great man, and such a one would not have fallen into the snares vanity had laid for him.
It is sad to think how few there are, who are so clear-sighted and have so steadfast a faith, how few there are that possess the simple gaiety of a child that they could safely traverse these regions so wantonly formed and so persistently reinforced. To all others they are a constantly increasing danger.
If only man's eyes might be opened to see the truth, how much mischief could be avoided. Purer hearts and purer thoughts in each individual would soon lighten these dark and dismal spheres, and weaken their influence. Those also struggling there could sooner be released.
In the same way as the great “masters” (magicians) here on earth are convinced that the forms that surround them are living realities, the spirits of the departed also imagine their surroundings are real, and experience fear, joy, despair or relief according to whether they are in a lower, darker region or a brighter, lighter one. And yet, they are not in a realm of real life, they themselves are living here, nothing else! And yet all the while their manifold and everchanging surroundings are only what they and those who on earth think like them, have conjured up.
Hell itself has been produced by human spirits. Hell exists, it is true, and is a place of torment, but its existence depends solely on those whose spiritual attitude and thoughts continually reinforce it with the Divine neutral energy lying latent in Creation, at man's disposal. Hell, therefore, is not a Divine institution but the work of man!
He, who understands this and wisely makes use of his knowledge, will help many. He also will be helped on his upward journey to the Light, for there alone all is real life.
If man could only develop so far that he could at least guess what a treasure lies hidden for him in Creation! Every human spirit should seek to secure it, for it is there to be used by him consciously. It is the neutral, primeval power I so often point to. It knows no difference between good and bad, for it is superior to these distinctions. It is simply living energy.
Every act of intuitive volition is a key that gives access to this treasure-house: good-will as well as malevolent will. Both are reinforced and animated by this great power which responds to human intuitive will, but to nothing else. Man alone decides whether it is to be for good or for evil, for the energy is neutral. It is only what man wills that this power vitalises. This animating energy is not within a man, but his intuition (spiritual perception) has the key to it.
He is the steward of this creative power and must give account of his stewardship. He makes use of it every hour, playing with it as an ignorant child plays with fire and all unconsciously may do great mischief. But there is no necessity for him to be ignorant. It is his own fault if he is. All the prophets and finally the Son of God Himself tried by teaching and by parables to enlighten men on this point showing them how they should feel, think and act in order to do right.
But it was in vain; men continued to toy with this stupendous power that was lent to them, as they thought best, without listening to the warnings and advice from the Light. And so they continue on the road to ruin, and finally they and their work will be destroyed. For this same power, being neutral, works for good and for evil according to man's directions; it will not hesitate to wreck the car and its occupants, just as happens to a car when it is badly driven on the physical plane. Surely the subject has been illustrated sufficiently clearly. By their will and by their thoughts men, without knowing it, not only decide their own fate, but also the fate and fortune of Subsequent Creation. They promote growth and decay, they cause harmony and discord, as is seen by the confusion that exists at present. Instead of wisely spending their time in reconstructing, they lose it and waste their strength in petty nothings. Serious persons call the confusion existing today punishment or judgment, and they are right in a certain sense, and yet it is men themselves who have ordered all that is happening at present.
There were thinkers and scholars enough who surmised all this beforehand, but they erred in attributing this power to Divine properties of the human spirit of which they took it to be a confirmation. This error only came from judging by appearances. The human spirit is neither God nor Divine. Such wiseacres only see the external shell and not the core of the matter, and thus confuse the result with the cause. This proceeding has been unfortunately the cause of many false doctrines and of much presumption. For this reason I earnestly repeat: the Divine energy which pulsates permanently through Creation is only lent to man. He can guide it when he uses it, but it is not in him, it is not his own. That power lies in Divinity alone. Divinity only uses this energy for good, because Divinity knows no evil, but human spirits to which it is lent, make it serve thieves and murderers.
Thus I urgently adjure all men to see that their intentions and thoughts be pure, then they will be peace-makers and be happy. Then at last Subsequent Creation will begin to resemble its prototype, where all is light and joy. All this lies in man's hand, in the power of every self- conscious human spirit who then will no longer be a stranger in Subsequent Creation.
Among my readers there will be some who would like me to illustrate, for their better understanding, what I have said by some example from real life; others would think this undesirable, and others again may think that examples from everyday life would detract from the gravity of what is said and would appear to everyday man as flights of fancy, or clairvoyant experiences. Similar criticism was passed when I published my Lectures entitled The Holy Grail and Lucifer. Those who delve deeper, and whose spiritual senses are awakened feel what is meant, and for these alone I will give an illustration, for they will know that this picture owes nothing to imagination or to clairvoyance. Here is the case of a mother who has drowned herself together with her little child of two. When she awakes to consciousness on the other side, she finds herself in the act of drowning in muggy water in a dismal place (for the last terrible impression on the soul has become alive in the ethereal world) where all those are assembled who are in the same position as she is and are likewise suffering perpetual torment. She has her child in her arms and it is clinging terrified to its mother, although really she had thrown it into the water before. She must suffer these agonising moments for a longer or shorter period, always on the verge of drowning but never accomplishing it, never losing consciousness. It may be, scores of years will pass before the true call for help will come from her uttered in all humility. This was not easy, for she was surrounded by her own kind and there was no light. She was obliged to listen to curses, maledictions and coarse language and to witness every sort of brutal unkindness.
Time may at last awaken the desire in her to save the child from the torment into which she herself dragged it, to protect the child at least, lift it out of its terrible surroundings to save it from the constant danger and torment. At the risk of submerging herself, she anxiously holds it up above the noisome slimy surface of the turpid water, whilst other beings near her are clinging to her and would drag her down into the depth.
Although they have as yet not taken a precise shape, still these heavy leaden waters are the ethereal, living thought forms of those who have committed suicide by drowning and of those still on earth whose thoughts are of a similar nature. These thought-forms unite and, in mutually attracting each other, they are unceasingly aggravated by new reinforcement, thus the torments are endlessly renewed. These waters would necessarily dry up, if instead of the continual reinforcement of analogous matter, brisk, happy, life-affirming thought-waves were sent from earth.
The nervous anxiety for the child, dictated by maternal instinct can intensify to anxious fear on its behalf; this would then be the mother's first step out of the terrible situation into which the self-determined premature termination to existence on earth plunged her. The desire to save the child from the torments into which she herself dragged, generates nobler feelings in the mother which, in time, empower her to rise into a less gloomy and dismal region.
The child in her arms is not the living soul of the child she drowned with herself. No such injustice would be possible. The living soul of the child, in most cases, is merrily gambolling in sunny meadows, whereas the child in the arms of its struggling mother is but... a phantom, a form representing the inner feelings of the mother, who has committed murder and of the child, produced under the pressure of conscious sin, of despair, of hatred or of love. In any case the mother thinks it is the living child itself, because it exactly resembles it in looks, in movements, in voice (when it cries), etc.
It would be possible to depict numberless happenings which in the same way, are always bound to the deeds that preceded.
But I will give one more instance to show what a soul can experience on its leaving this world and arriving in the next. Take the case of a woman or a girl who becomes pregnant against her wish, and who (as it often happens) has taken measures to miscarry. Even if all goes well (in specially lucky cases) without doing any bodily harm, the sin has not been expiated. All happenings are carefully recorded in the ethereal sphere to which the soul passes after death. From the moment the transgression was committed a small body of ethereal substance fastens itself to the invisible ethereal body of the unnatural mother, where it remains clinging to her neck till the deed is atoned for. The woman (or girl) does not notice this as long as she is on earth in her physical body, (because the little body is as light as a feather in comparison with her material body) unless, may be, a vague feeling of misgiving oppresses her at times. Women of the present day are mostly much too obtuse to feel this light burden. Not that this insensibility is a sign of progress or of robust health; it rather points to atrophy of the human soul. As soon, however, as the woman dies, the weight and density of the child's body corresponds to hers and then the burden of the child dragging at her neck will be just as irksome as if both were in the flesh. In some cases the mother will be tormented to suffocation, all this depends upon what happened on earth and what she is guilty of. She must now drag the child about with her in the other world, and will not be released from it until maternal love awakes in her, and she cares for and nurses the child unmindful and careless of her own comfort. It is a long and thorny path to get to such a point.
These happenings are not without tragically comic aspects. Imagine someone at a family gathering or at a party, who is able to see on both sides of the partition that divides gross material matter from ethereal matter. There will be a group of ladies engaged in lively conversation, one of them (unmarried perhaps) expresses the greatest indignation at the immorality of her contemporaries and freely pronounces her condemnation; and all the while our visitor sees one or more children's bodies hanging at the neck of this proud and zealous disclaimer.
Not only this person but every one has the works which his volition has produced hanging on to him, distinctly visible to those who can see. These are often in grotesque opposition to their words, to what they would like to appear, and to the character they would keep up in public.
Many a judge has a far greater burden of sin on his shoulders than the delinquent on whom he passes sentence. How soon the short span of life will be over; then he will stand before his judge where other laws are valid. What then?
Unfortunately it is easy for man to deceive in the material world: in the Ethereal World it is impossible. Fortunately, there, man must really reap what he sowed and, therefore, every wrong thought must be expiated, even if it has never developed into activity.
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*) Lecture No. 49: The difference in the origin of man and beast.
**) Lecture No. 22: Thought-forms.
Subsequent Creation is what is called the world. It rotates eternally below Original Creation, but its several solar systems, not being God's own handiwork, like Original Creation which is everlasting, are transient; they come into being and mature, they grow old and disintegrate.
Subsequent Creation owes its existence to the will of the pure beings God made in the beginning and it is subject to influences coming from human spirits in process of development on their appointed course through its planes.
This accounts for its imperfections and deficiencies which are not to be found in Original Creation, for that is subject to the influences of the Holy Spirit alone. As time went on, these deficiencies became more and more flagrant and palpable to the despair of God's first created beings. To comfort them a voice came from on high, calling out: “Await the coming of One I have chosen ... to help you!” In these words the legend of the Holy Grail has fairly accurately described what happened.
To return to the subject in hand: Every proceeding of mortal man is but the external expression of an inner process by which intuitive volition is meant. Intuitive Volition is spiritual activity which either furthers or retards man's spiritual advance. It is decisive for his whole being. This volition must never be put on the same level as the decisions come to by the brain, for it is his intuitive volition which represents the real man himself. What the physical brain wills and resolves on, is of less moment. And although the result may not be visible on the surface, both have unfailing Karmic consequences. No physical activity is necessary in order to create Karma. But all physical activity must be preceded either by intuitive volition or by decisions come to by the brain. Thus physical activity depends either on the decisions of the brain or on intuitive volition.
Man pays less attention to what his intuitive volition, than to what his brain tells him, and yet it is the former that decides whether he goes forward or backward. He must submit to the logical consequences of his want of discrimination. He must learn that intuitive volition is the only organ with which he can draw forth and command the latent power that lies dormant in all Creation waiting for the will of man to summon it into intensified action. Up till now he has scarcely, if ever, even noticed this important, nay all-important fact.
Thus I shall continue repeatedly to call man's attention to an apparently simple matter, but one which indeed is of all- embracing importance. It is this latent energy or power that pulsates through all Creation. This neutral power lies inactive till it comes into touch with the human spirit with its intuitive volition. But it is only his spiritual activity that can arouse it. Intellectual volition has no access to this source of spiritual energy, much less have the thoughts his brain engenders. This again shows how vain it is for him to hope to utilise this power for his inventions! That possibility is denied him. Man neither knows this great power, nor what it can accomplish, although he lives in it.
The primeval power that some few scholars and inventors dream of and seek for, is something else. When this inferior order of energy is discovered, men will be able to do astonishing things with its aid, but this will not bring the operator one step nearer to the all-powerful spiritual energy above mentioned. And yet, the human spirit all unconsciously utilises it in daily life. Man trifles with this power, takes no heed of the terrible consequences of his levity. In his ignorance he throws all responsibility on the Creator, but this does not exculpate him; on the contrary, he is guilty of remissness in not wishing to gain knowledge.
Here is an example of the working of this power: let us take the feeling of envy in man. First it arises as a vague, general sensation. Until it has reached the brain and clothed itself in definite thought, man is hardly aware of its existence. But this inner feeling or intuition, being spiritual, has the key to the source of living energy, and before it becomes thought, it spans a bridge over to this reservoir of strength. No sooner is this done, than a portion of this energy corresponding in strength to the intensity of the feeling passes into it. This influx of energy animates man's vague human sensation with spirit and endows him with astonishing productive power to construct forms in ethereal matter. This ability must not be confounded with creative power; still it makes man the first of all created beings and lord over all creatures, it gives him immense influence over all Subsequent Creation and makes him a personally responsible being which no other creature is beside him. Man alone is vested with spiritual power; he alone has spirit in his composition, and that is what gives him access to the spiritual energy pulsating through Subsequent Creation.
The spirit of the First Created (Urgeschaffene) in Paradise is not the same as the spirit of mankind on this earth. They are in connection with a superior and much more powerful wave of living energy which they can consciously utilize, and thus produce results vastly superior to those produced by human beings on earth. The power man has at his command is a lower gradation of the energy in Original Creation, in the same way as he is on a lower stage of spiritual development than that of primeval man in Paradise.
Up till now man on earth had no knowledge of the many gradations descending from Original Creation, nor did he know what signification these had for him. When this knowledge has been spread and generally accepted, man's presumptuous pride will cease and the upward path be cleared of a great error.
The preposterous idea of claiming to be beings of the highest order and even of Divine origin will be dispelled, and relief sought and found in a feeling of shame. The pure beings originally created who stand so much higher and are so much more valuable beings, are not thus blinded by presumption. They smile indulgently at the earth-worms, as parents smile at the fantastic chatter of their children.
But to return to man and to his spiritual intuition: the first vague sensation of envy, when strengthened by the influx of spiritual energy from without, forthwith produces unconsciously and independently a form which exactly embodies the man's sensation and reproduces it in a definite shape. At first this form only exists within its author; then it stands beside him, united to him by a cord (ligature) by which it receives nourishment. At the same time it becomes linked to the central nucleus of all similar sentiments in obedience to the law of attraction, and from there it is strongly reinforced. This then is the invisible atmosphere surrounding the man in question.
Meanwhile the sensation (envy) has arrived at the brain, where it causes thoughts of the same nature to be generated. These start off in a definite direction with the intention of injuring a person, if the opportunity offers.
If, however, the victim they have fixed upon is pure-minded and has pure intentions, they find no weak point to assail, no anchorage. But even if repulsed here, this does not make them harmless. The envious thought-forms wander about singly or attach themselves to thoughts of the same nature. Divine law decrees that all things of the same spiritual weight must dwell together, they form a plane on which only such as they are retained. From their haunts they still menace all men whose hearts are not single, and whose minds are not set on what is good. Finally they prove fatal to their authors with whom they maintain contact, and whose envious feelings they continually reinforce with new energy from the rich store at their disposal. Therefore, the author of such forms is sadly hindered and deterred when he tries to cultivate purer thoughts. It is a much greater effort for him to climb than for one who is not so hampered. It is not easy to sever the link connecting him with evil. If this link is gradually to wither, shrivel and fall away, good thoughts and good intentions must be diligently and unremittingly cultivated. And should the author of such evil forms be successful in doing this, he would be free — provided that the form he produced has meanwhile done no harm. If it has done harm, new ties have formed, and these also must be destroyed.
To free a man from obligations which tie him to the injured person, it is indispensable that he should once again cross his path either in this life on earth or in the ethereal world, so that he may be made to see his fault and be forgiven. From this it follows that the author of such forms cannot himself soar upwards before those who have suffered through him, do so.
The threads of fate which entangle him hold him back until he has atoned for his sins and been forgiven.
And yet this is not all by any means: these forms, strengthened as they are by the living energy which has animated them, not only people the ethereal world but direct the destiny of all Subsequent Creation to which our earth and the world surrounding her belong, thus they influence gross matter also, for good or for evil, either building up or destroying. This indeed should open men's eyes to the utter folly of their habitual proceedings; and instead call them to do their duty and make use of their abilities for the benefit of this subsequently created world and all its creatures.
Man often asks why there should be this conflict in nature. . . Does he not perceive that nature in Subsequent Creation adapts itself to the example given by man? Always excepting what belongs to primordial nature as that was created by God.
The forms that man's intuitive volition has created, do not disintegrate when they are severed from their author, but go on living independently as long as they receive nourishment from people of their way of thinking or of people of similar propensities, it must not necessarily come from their author. They seek opportunities to attach themselves to those disposed to receive them or even to those whose power of resistance is weak. When their propensity is evil, they are demons born of envy, hatred and malice, and like passions, and if of good propensity, they are benevolent entities anxious to make peace and to encourage progress.
None of these happenings need necessarily be made evident by a visible act; nevertheless they spin new threads which in their turn have to be severed in the material world, and if this cannot be done in one life, a reincarnation takes place.
These forms produced by the intuitive volition of man and animated by the living, neutral energy which permeates the universe, have independent power not only because they are the product of the spiritual volition in combination with the neutral energy, but because they have also absorbed some substance of animism, that substance of which gnomes and their like are formed. The volition that animals have at their command has not this power, for their soul does not proceed from the spiritual kingdom but from that of nature.
Thus only forms produced by man's intuitive volition have this power. If their author's volition is good, the forms he produces will be great blessings; if evil, the forms will do incalculable mischief — they can even harm physical matter by virtue of their own motive power. Thus man's responsibility is enormously increased, for, corresponding to the nature of his intuitive volition, he can produce well-meaning entities as well as living demons. Both these are the fruits of man's spiritual abilities in Subsequent Creation. The spontaneous movement and activity of such forms cannot be controlled, for they do not proceed from animistic substance with power of volition like the animal, but from a lower gradation without this power.
In the Kingdom of Nature there are as many different spheres and planes as there are in the Spiritual Kingdom, but I must deal with this in detail another time.*
The beings belonging to the Kingdom of Nature also have access to a central source of living energy. It is of an order lower than that to which man has access. It is through these possibilities and impossibilities of connection and combination that strict order is kept in the process of birth and development, of decay and dissolution in Subsequent Creation.
If you consider how far-reaching man's spiritual power of activity is, and then look at the man of the present day, you can imagine what mischief he has already done, especially when you think of the further consequences to all mankind, resulting from the work of these living forms. The stone once flung is no longer under the control of the thrower.
Besides the forms produced by man's intuitive volition, it would need a separate volume to depict their extended activity and influence, there is another variety closely connected with them but less potent. Still they are dangerous enough to trouble many, even to cause men to stumble. These are thought-forms and phantoms born of the human brain. They likewise have their own will-power, but, not having access to the source of neutral energy, as the spiritual or intuitive forms have, they are not independent and self-acting. We may call them reflexes of the Animal Soul.
In the same way as forms produced by intuitive volition continue linked with their author, so also do thought-forms. Through this channel they have access to reinforcement and it also transmits the return due to the author who sent them forth. I have already fully described this in my lecture Thought-forms and so need not repeat what I have already said there.**
Of all cosmic reactions those of thought-forms are the weakest, yet they are mischievous enough to bring ruin to the individual, to the masses and even to whole continents, if men go on reinforcing and encouraging them, as they have done during the last couple of thousand years, in the course of which their power has become enormous. Thus man alone is to blame. His undisciplined will, whether it proceeds from the spirit or from the brain, together with his reprehensible and careless negligence in all these matters has caused all this evil. Hence mortals must necessarily live in two domains: the realm peopled by creations of the intuition (spiritual volition) and the realm peopled by forms produced by the brain (mental volition). The latter domain is the field in which the great “magicians” and “masters” of all time have worked, in which they have entangled themselves and which will finally retain them when their time comes to go over. And what do we see today?
The great occultists, the “illuminated” of different sects and orders … they are no better off. They are only masters in realms peopled by self-constructed forms, and can only be masters there but never in the next life proper. Their power does not extend so far.
Whether they practise the white art or the black art depends upon whether they will good or evil. In either case they are to be pitied. They imagine themselves great in spiritual power, and in truth they are less than an ignorant man. The simple man stands far above the plane on which these marvels of erudition work. From the spiritual point of view he knows more than they do in their blind ignorance.
All would be comparatively well, if the results of their activities rebounded on themselves only, but unfortunately these masters agitate the lower spheres by their work; they stir them up by their efforts and by increasing their strength make them dangerous to all those whose resistance is weak. Others need have no fear, a simple-minded, harmless man, one who enjoys life like a child, safely passes over this swampy ground which these occultists seek to probe, and out of which they finally cannot free themselves, being retained by the forms to which they have given life and strength. Tricked out in ridiculous frippery, puffed up with false pride and presumption, they creep and crawl about in these realms, busily endeavouring to animate them. Truly a shadow-land, a world of deception and pretence, capable of shamming all that is possible and impossible. And he who first conjured it into existence can no longer undo his handiwork, and thus must succumb to its power. Zealously they dig and delve in these low regions, priding themselves on the height they have attained. A simple- minded man need never give all this a thought, for he runs no danger of being retained there.
Of what avail to say more of such “Great Ones” — not one of them would listen. In their sham world they can pretend for a certain time to be that which in real life (that is existence in the living Spirit) they could never be. There their playing at being master must cease, and they must serve. Thus they refuse to be enlightened, for the truth would rob them of what they cling to. Who would have the courage to stand this exposure? Who would be willing to let all that his imagination and his vanity has created, be pulled down? One who could and would do this, would be a truly great man, and such a one would not have fallen into the snares vanity had laid for him.
It is sad to think how few there are, who are so clear-sighted and have so steadfast a faith, how few there are that possess the simple gaiety of a child that they could safely traverse these regions so wantonly formed and so persistently reinforced. To all others they are a constantly increasing danger.
If only man's eyes might be opened to see the truth, how much mischief could be avoided. Purer hearts and purer thoughts in each individual would soon lighten these dark and dismal spheres, and weaken their influence. Those also struggling there could sooner be released.
In the same way as the great “masters” (magicians) here on earth are convinced that the forms that surround them are living realities, the spirits of the departed also imagine their surroundings are real, and experience fear, joy, despair or relief according to whether they are in a lower, darker region or a brighter, lighter one. And yet, they are not in a realm of real life, they themselves are living here, nothing else! And yet all the while their manifold and everchanging surroundings are only what they and those who on earth think like them, have conjured up.
Hell itself has been produced by human spirits. Hell exists, it is true, and is a place of torment, but its existence depends solely on those whose spiritual attitude and thoughts continually reinforce it with the Divine neutral energy lying latent in Creation, at man's disposal. Hell, therefore, is not a Divine institution but the work of man!
He, who understands this and wisely makes use of his knowledge, will help many. He also will be helped on his upward journey to the Light, for there alone all is real life.
If man could only develop so far that he could at least guess what a treasure lies hidden for him in Creation! Every human spirit should seek to secure it, for it is there to be used by him consciously. It is the neutral, primeval power I so often point to. It knows no difference between good and bad, for it is superior to these distinctions. It is simply living energy.
Every act of intuitive volition is a key that gives access to this treasure-house: good-will as well as malevolent will. Both are reinforced and animated by this great power which responds to human intuitive will, but to nothing else. Man alone decides whether it is to be for good or for evil, for the energy is neutral. It is only what man wills that this power vitalises. This animating energy is not within a man, but his intuition (spiritual perception) has the key to it.
He is the steward of this creative power and must give account of his stewardship. He makes use of it every hour, playing with it as an ignorant child plays with fire and all unconsciously may do great mischief. But there is no necessity for him to be ignorant. It is his own fault if he is. All the prophets and finally the Son of God Himself tried by teaching and by parables to enlighten men on this point showing them how they should feel, think and act in order to do right.
But it was in vain; men continued to toy with this stupendous power that was lent to them, as they thought best, without listening to the warnings and advice from the Light. And so they continue on the road to ruin, and finally they and their work will be destroyed. For this same power, being neutral, works for good and for evil according to man's directions; it will not hesitate to wreck the car and its occupants, just as happens to a car when it is badly driven on the physical plane. Surely the subject has been illustrated sufficiently clearly. By their will and by their thoughts men, without knowing it, not only decide their own fate, but also the fate and fortune of Subsequent Creation. They promote growth and decay, they cause harmony and discord, as is seen by the confusion that exists at present. Instead of wisely spending their time in reconstructing, they lose it and waste their strength in petty nothings. Serious persons call the confusion existing today punishment or judgment, and they are right in a certain sense, and yet it is men themselves who have ordered all that is happening at present.
There were thinkers and scholars enough who surmised all this beforehand, but they erred in attributing this power to Divine properties of the human spirit of which they took it to be a confirmation. This error only came from judging by appearances. The human spirit is neither God nor Divine. Such wiseacres only see the external shell and not the core of the matter, and thus confuse the result with the cause. This proceeding has been unfortunately the cause of many false doctrines and of much presumption. For this reason I earnestly repeat: the Divine energy which pulsates permanently through Creation is only lent to man. He can guide it when he uses it, but it is not in him, it is not his own. That power lies in Divinity alone. Divinity only uses this energy for good, because Divinity knows no evil, but human spirits to which it is lent, make it serve thieves and murderers.
Thus I urgently adjure all men to see that their intentions and thoughts be pure, then they will be peace-makers and be happy. Then at last Subsequent Creation will begin to resemble its prototype, where all is light and joy. All this lies in man's hand, in the power of every self- conscious human spirit who then will no longer be a stranger in Subsequent Creation.
Among my readers there will be some who would like me to illustrate, for their better understanding, what I have said by some example from real life; others would think this undesirable, and others again may think that examples from everyday life would detract from the gravity of what is said and would appear to everyday man as flights of fancy, or clairvoyant experiences. Similar criticism was passed when I published my Lectures entitled The Holy Grail and Lucifer. Those who delve deeper, and whose spiritual senses are awakened feel what is meant, and for these alone I will give an illustration, for they will know that this picture owes nothing to imagination or to clairvoyance. Here is the case of a mother who has drowned herself together with her little child of two. When she awakes to consciousness on the other side, she finds herself in the act of drowning in muggy water in a dismal place (for the last terrible impression on the soul has become alive in the ethereal world) where all those are assembled who are in the same position as she is and are likewise suffering perpetual torment. She has her child in her arms and it is clinging terrified to its mother, although really she had thrown it into the water before. She must suffer these agonising moments for a longer or shorter period, always on the verge of drowning but never accomplishing it, never losing consciousness. It may be, scores of years will pass before the true call for help will come from her uttered in all humility. This was not easy, for she was surrounded by her own kind and there was no light. She was obliged to listen to curses, maledictions and coarse language and to witness every sort of brutal unkindness.
Time may at last awaken the desire in her to save the child from the torment into which she herself dragged it, to protect the child at least, lift it out of its terrible surroundings to save it from the constant danger and torment. At the risk of submerging herself, she anxiously holds it up above the noisome slimy surface of the turpid water, whilst other beings near her are clinging to her and would drag her down into the depth.
Although they have as yet not taken a precise shape, still these heavy leaden waters are the ethereal, living thought forms of those who have committed suicide by drowning and of those still on earth whose thoughts are of a similar nature. These thought-forms unite and, in mutually attracting each other, they are unceasingly aggravated by new reinforcement, thus the torments are endlessly renewed. These waters would necessarily dry up, if instead of the continual reinforcement of analogous matter, brisk, happy, life-affirming thought-waves were sent from earth.
The nervous anxiety for the child, dictated by maternal instinct can intensify to anxious fear on its behalf; this would then be the mother's first step out of the terrible situation into which the self-determined premature termination to existence on earth plunged her. The desire to save the child from the torments into which she herself dragged, generates nobler feelings in the mother which, in time, empower her to rise into a less gloomy and dismal region.
The child in her arms is not the living soul of the child she drowned with herself. No such injustice would be possible. The living soul of the child, in most cases, is merrily gambolling in sunny meadows, whereas the child in the arms of its struggling mother is but... a phantom, a form representing the inner feelings of the mother, who has committed murder and of the child, produced under the pressure of conscious sin, of despair, of hatred or of love. In any case the mother thinks it is the living child itself, because it exactly resembles it in looks, in movements, in voice (when it cries), etc.
It would be possible to depict numberless happenings which in the same way, are always bound to the deeds that preceded.
But I will give one more instance to show what a soul can experience on its leaving this world and arriving in the next. Take the case of a woman or a girl who becomes pregnant against her wish, and who (as it often happens) has taken measures to miscarry. Even if all goes well (in specially lucky cases) without doing any bodily harm, the sin has not been expiated. All happenings are carefully recorded in the ethereal sphere to which the soul passes after death. From the moment the transgression was committed a small body of ethereal substance fastens itself to the invisible ethereal body of the unnatural mother, where it remains clinging to her neck till the deed is atoned for. The woman (or girl) does not notice this as long as she is on earth in her physical body, (because the little body is as light as a feather in comparison with her material body) unless, may be, a vague feeling of misgiving oppresses her at times. Women of the present day are mostly much too obtuse to feel this light burden. Not that this insensibility is a sign of progress or of robust health; it rather points to atrophy of the human soul. As soon, however, as the woman dies, the weight and density of the child's body corresponds to hers and then the burden of the child dragging at her neck will be just as irksome as if both were in the flesh. In some cases the mother will be tormented to suffocation, all this depends upon what happened on earth and what she is guilty of. She must now drag the child about with her in the other world, and will not be released from it until maternal love awakes in her, and she cares for and nurses the child unmindful and careless of her own comfort. It is a long and thorny path to get to such a point.
These happenings are not without tragically comic aspects. Imagine someone at a family gathering or at a party, who is able to see on both sides of the partition that divides gross material matter from ethereal matter. There will be a group of ladies engaged in lively conversation, one of them (unmarried perhaps) expresses the greatest indignation at the immorality of her contemporaries and freely pronounces her condemnation; and all the while our visitor sees one or more children's bodies hanging at the neck of this proud and zealous disclaimer.
Not only this person but every one has the works which his volition has produced hanging on to him, distinctly visible to those who can see. These are often in grotesque opposition to their words, to what they would like to appear, and to the character they would keep up in public.
Many a judge has a far greater burden of sin on his shoulders than the delinquent on whom he passes sentence. How soon the short span of life will be over; then he will stand before his judge where other laws are valid. What then?
Unfortunately it is easy for man to deceive in the material world: in the Ethereal World it is impossible. Fortunately, there, man must really reap what he sowed and, therefore, every wrong thought must be expiated, even if it has never developed into activity.
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*) Lecture No. 49: The difference in the origin of man and beast.
**) Lecture No. 22: Thought-forms.
