André had set up a circle that held séances from time to time.

He would invite various people for those evenings. Many of them would return home feeling strengthened in body and soul.

Alcar always addressed those present through him.

He always made sure that the room reserved for the séances was filled with flowers. Even if these weren’t as beautiful as those on the side beyond, he was still convinced that they would please the spirits that came to him.

Incense was burnt while he and the guests all waited in humble anticipation.

He also held many beautiful drawing and painting séances.

Nobody ever knew beforehand what would happen, so they were always curious what they would get to see.

He had already received some beautiful pieces of work, though he had never taken any lessons in either drawing or painting.

This all happened without his knowledge, he was merely the instrument.

Yet there were always some who took it all for granted. It was completely lost on them.

It meant nothing special to them, and what he himself went through wasn’t worth a second thought.

He regretted that, he would have liked them to pursue the matter and think it over. It might put them on the right track and link them up with the Hereafter.

When he went into a trance, his spirit parted from his body and his organism was then taken over by an intelligence.

Wasn’t this something to set people thinking? After all, this was something special.

It proved beyond any doubt that dead is not dead, and that those who died here on earth live on and can even produce beautiful paintings and lots of other things.

They took notice of the pieces of work, but people soon forgot how they had come about.

It was their inability to see behind the veil, like he could.

So he couldn’t really blame them or be angry at them.

He ought to feel superior to all that, Alcar had said, and he shouldn’t let himself get hurt by anyone.

To him everything was sacred, because it had its origin on the side beyond, and the gifts he possessed had come from God.

He didn’t care what people said, and so he kept on giving them the chance to experience these things.

Yes, it was miraculous. He had no skilled knowledge, and yet everyone had to admit that these were works of art.

He found that people were very earthly, without any sense for the spiritual aspect.

He had to be careful about these people.

They misunderstood him, although he was always honest.

Quite a few took advantage of him.

It saddened his heart.

You could never express all the good feelings you felt within, you had to shut them off.

Alcar said that many people wore a mask and didn’t show their real selves. He ought to watch out for that.

Recently someone had spread the rumour that he bought these pieces in some other town.

That’s what people were like.

Even if they saw things with their own eyes, there would still be some who couldn’t or wouldn’t believe it.

He would try to convince them in another way by giving them fantastic proof, but it was often in vain, and those poor souls would remain doubting Thomasses forever.

They were often dissatisfied when he passed on the messages he received just as Alcar had phrased them.

They expected something different, something more material, but Alcar only gave things from a spiritual aspect, and very often that wasn’t to their liking.

What they were told was difficult to digest. It meant strife, and they lacked courage.

They knew best.

Help was lost on that kind of people, and advice too, because they hadn’t the courage to walk the spiritual way.

Their path ran through matter. They loved material things, it was so much easier.

He found it difficult to remain friends with this kind of people.

He could have made any amount of friends, as long as he did what they wanted.

Of course he would never do that.

They couldn’t understand that all his thoughts should centre on his spiritual work and on Alcar.

Any attention he paid to them would take him away from his work, for the mere sake of some triviality that was foremost in their worldly minds. It might have their interest, but not his.

He had to follow his leader scrupulously, and dedicate himself entirely to his gifts.

He wanted to free himself from matter as best he could, and make good use of the years which still lay ahead of him on earth.

Every day was precious to him.

They didn’t think that way, so the things that lay hidden behind the veil remained a mystery to them.

It didn’t get through to them that he hadn’t received his gifts without a cause.

They always misinterpreted or misunderstood him when he talked about these things, and they blamed him for not fitting in. Then the friendship would wane because he didn’t comply with other people’s wishes.

He was a lonesome figure, and life became a burden.

But there was one whom he could always turn to: Alcar, the friend whom he could trust, and who was his leader and master in all things.

Alcar was continually at his side and always understood him.

Alcar knew how he felt inside, how he meant things, and that he loved the people.

He often said: ‘ Be strong, André, people don’t want to understand you.

They won’t take the trouble, and they’ll try to draw you over to their side.

Beware of that, or else others will lead your life for you, instead of you living your own life.’

He often knew gloomy days. They were hard to handle, and he’d be at odds with everyone.

He would sit and ponder the situation, and Alcar would have to come and raise him up again.

He could fathom people when he felt that way.

He could read them like a book and sense what they were at.

It made him feel all sad inside.

Oh, how difficult life was for him in such moments.

He saw and felt how evil people could be, and he longed to be where Alcar was.

Oh, whatever would happen if Alcar didn’t cheer him up ...

But he knew he could rely on that.

People needed to read into each other’s hearts before they would believe him.

He had seen and experienced enough to know that.

They never got their fill, they always claimed more.

They would never face you openly.

This all happened on the quiet, behind your back.

When people didn’t understand the spiritual work he did, they would say he was imagining things, and that would set the rumours going, not openly, but behind masks which no-one could penetrate.

Yet he saw through all of them.

Alcar had developed him to a level where he could see and feel this.

People did everything on the quiet, and before he knew he would catch a dressingdown that made his heart bleed.

And yet he would have to stand up to it, Alcar had said, because they knew no better.

And he felt he could now, for he spent a lot of time in the spheres. That’s where his thoughts roamed constantly.

His physical part remained on earth, but his spirit was up there, where harmony prevailed, and happiness too.

How overjoyed he would be, together with Alcar, after he had died.

That’s why he had to fight this battle.

He had often prayed that he might die, because he longed to remain forever where at present only occasional visits were allowed: the happy sphere, where constant harmony is found, to stay with those who are in the light.

Over there you can speak your mind to everyone, and your words aren’t misconstrued.

Promises are kept, and everyone is honest and true.

On earth idle tales are told ‘in confidence’ to any willing ear.

This happens in the dark spheres too, as Alcar said, but you know this beforehand and you can bear it in mind.

The spirits that dwell there can’t be trusted, they live in darkness and bleakness.

Those who ‘confide’ in others would find out how trust is betrayed in the dark spheres.

On earth your body prevents you from seeing through your fellowman, but once you arrive in the Hereafter and are stripped of your material body, the spirit can no longer hide from others.

Up in the higher spheres great trust is put in everything. Without this trust you wouldn’t belong there, nor would you be able to stand it because you wouldn’t be tuned in to it.

The light which one possesses in the spheres would also be too much to bear.

Over there people are like open books to one another, because you read each other’s thoughts.

You lead an honest and decent life, in perfect harmony.

On earth this seems impossible.

And yet that is where we’re heading for.

On earth matter covers everything spiritual, the good qualities included.

And if these must be continually suppressed, then the courage to express your opinion or to show your real self is lost.

During all of life on earth you have to hide your innermost feelings.

Why is this necessary?

Why?

If you don’t, you’re faced with opposition from all sides, no matter how well you behave.

Hatred and jealousy are behind it all the time.

Whenever he saw people as they really were, something inside of him would smile; it did him good, because then he was aware of their intentions.

He felt prepared and it enabled him to protect himself against evil influences.

Never did he exploit what he read in people’s minds; it would have kept him busy for days on end.

He simply took no notice, but he complied with their wishes as much as he could.

It made him feel superior to them, whereas they believed he didn’t sense this.

He let them have their way as long as they kept their limits.

He knew Alcar would warn him in time.

Once he had visited a big city abroad, where war had raged some years ago and heavy battles had been fought.

His friends seemed unperturbed, but he was unable to feel happy in that place.

All the sorrow and the sadness, all the suffering and the grief of former days weighed him down.

The impact of the hatred and the fury made him feel sick.

It was dreadful in that town, and he was appalled how insensitive all those thousands of people were to it.

He felt utterly miserable. He saw the soldiers wandering through the streets, not as physical beings but as spirits.

They were still fighting and just couldn’t stop because of the hatred that consumed them.

His spiritual eyes made him see all the misery, and no matter how he tried, he couldn’t withdraw from it,.

It was a beautiful town so they said, but he felt as if he were choking, although nobody noticed.

He clearly saw the soldiers marching by in their various uniforms, all of them wild and savage.

It was a real war; to him everything appeared to happen as if it were true. He heard them cursing and swearing, and shouting: ‘Murder, murder.’

What had people achieved with that war?

Nothing but untold misery.

People were incited against each other.

Woe betide those who are guilty of that, those stupid people; something terrible awaits them.

Millions will be waiting for them once they pass over into the Hereafter.

They will just have to pray a lot, a great deal, when they are still on earth, so that God can protect them from these demons, even if they also belong amongst them.

Because it are demons who are waiting for them because they caused them all that suffering and all that sorrow.

He also had deep sympathy for those who had such a crime on their conscience, because they will not escape their punishment and cannot pay for the crime for the time being.

He distinctly saw all those poor spirits and the blood too that flowed through the streets and stained everything in its course.

Yet everyone was happy and nothing seemed to bother them.

He felt and saw the dead, so he knew that it hadn’t ended yet, but that they were still fighting on.

Even now, after they had left their material body behind.

Physical eyes could not perceive this.

He wanted to flee, far away from this evil town.

He could no longer be lighthearted and cheerful.

His friends thought he was strange and couldn’t understand his sad mood. Why wasn’t he interested in the things around and enjoying himself?

This hurt him, and he felt sorry for them because he didn’t want to offend them. Yet he couldn’t tell them anything, because he was afraid they would laugh at him.

Oh, this was hopeless.

What should he say?

After all, they weren’t aware of it, and they would ask him why he should brood over all that misery.

To them this all belonged to the past.

Yes, of course it belonged to the past, at least for physical eyes, and yet he was being forced to see it, feel it and experience it, just as it had all happened in reality.

The world as it basically was. It opened his eyes to the curse that war laid on mankind.

Who gave any thought to the innumerable victims, the so-called dead, who aren’t dead but were suddenly torn out of their physical bodies and thrust into the Hereafter, where they kept on fighting as spirits because they couldn’t be brought to their senses.

Spiritually it made the world fall back for centuries.

And what about the victims who still lived on earth, the wounded, those poor handicapped and mutilated, who were blind or had lost arms or legs? They went unnoticed.

They populated the streets, and he had seen hundreds of people pass them by without a pittance.

Where was their charity?

Couldn’t these people part with anything at all?

Were they without means?

A few pennies would suffice.

A fair amount of small fry would see them through.

After all, it was the war that had turned these poor men into invalids.

He had felt the hurt, and there was no way he could enjoy himself amidst all that misery, amidst all those cold-hearted people who didn’t carry the smallest spark of light.

He had gone over to one of these poor fellows and had given him all the money he had on him. He didn’t remember how much.

It might have been twenty or thirty francs or more.

That poor maimed soldier had been dumbfounded!

He simply couldn’t believe his eyes.

André heard an inner voice tell him that he had done right.

It had been a lovely feeling.

It had been the only bright spot in that dark town.

And when he walked on, the invalid had raised his crutches to thank him.

‘Have yourself a treat today, you’re welcome to it’, he had called out to the poor fellow.

Tears of joy had been in the soldier’s eyes. André hadn’t been able to stand it any more and had flown.

But afterwards he had felt a short touch of happiness because of the poor soldier’s luck.

They were everywhere, these poor people, but he had nothing left to give them.

Their faces were drawn and showed deep sorrow and misery.

He couldn’t bear to look.

How could anyone sit at a restaurant window with a tasty meal in front of him, in full view of one of those poor invalids on the opposite side of the street.

He hadn’t been able to, he had felt a lump in his throat.

Yet many did and never even noticed anyone standing outside.

Nor did they hear the curse that penetrated the place.

There stood their brother, who had fought at their side but now had nothing to eat. He had to stay outside in the rain and the wind while they sat feasting themselves inside.

That’s life, that’s mankind for you!

He had written home how totally unhappy he felt in this beautiful city where he saw nothing but misery and sorrow.

How was he supposed to gather new impressions and gain strength again, while everything around him wracked his nerves?

He had made up his mind: never in his life on earth would he ever set foot in that city again.

Hardly had they left town on the way back, when strangely enough all the sadness was taken away from him.

Out in the country, away from that dark atmosphere, he had felt relieved and able to breathe freely, and he was cheerful and happy again.

The Hereafter, with its spheres of light where everything stands for harmony and happiness, beats the darkened earth by far, there’s no doubt about that.

Most people are afraid of death, they’re scared to die.

But there is no need for that once you realize how happy you can be in the spheres, and you’re prepared to appear before God’s throne.

But this doesn’t dawn on those who aim for happiness in the material things of daily life.

They are impervious to it and therefore don’t accept it as the truth, until the time that they too become convinced of the value of a higher life.

It will give them a completely new view on life on earth, and they will judge their fellow humans differently.

The things they say!

The war (World War I, 1914-1918) had ended and the invalids around were beggars putting on an act.

But what he had seen was no act, it was nothing to laugh at, it was a living tragedy and they weren’t beggars either, they were poor handicapped people who were unjustly lumped together with bad characters.

Alcar had told him that he had shown him all this misery to make him even more aware how bad the inhabitants of earth are.

He preferred to be in his room, between all the paintings which he had received from the side beyond.

There he saw the spheres when Alcar linked him up with them, and the great light too, that was no longer visible in that city.

That’s where he was happy with his leader, as in the country side where gloomy moods soon passed away.

After his arrival home he had told many people what he had seen, but it didn’t seem to trouble them. He had expected that.

They couldn’t really believe his story nor any other of the invisible truths he had seen and gone through.

Alcar told him that it might take ages before these unfortunate spirits would find peace.

This is what war brings on, and when it’s over everything is forgotten, on earth anyway, and it soon loses its sting because people cannot or dare not look the consequences in the eye.

One war hardly comes to an end before the next one is in the making, causing even greater damage and disaster.

‘Why can’t you humans come to your senses?

What’s the purpose of it all?

Decide for yourselves why you need to murder your brothers’, Alcar said.

People’s feelings go out to matter and to nothing else.

They’re tuned in to it and they idolize it.

The works of art in that city were beautiful, but even the most precious objects lose their value when they are stripped of spiritual energy.

This is something people don’t want to understand, nor do they see it, just as they don’t see that the world is sick.

They have no feeling for these things, nor do they want to feel them.

Alcar said that the earth is sick and bad, and that the mankind is mentally ill.

That’s even worse than suffering from the most dreaded disease.

They have lost all feeling and all the light within.

The bad influence almost made André choke.

This had nothing in common with the influence his spiritual friends brought down to earth. That was sacred and pure.

But on earth things are stripped of light and warmth, and passion prevails wherever you go.

Where was the real love that Christ had once spread?

It has become unknown, and what you meet is self-love.

People were reckless, he thought. They didn’t even notice that they often toyed around with the sacred fire of love as if it were a plaything.

Some day people will find out that they had trifled with true love. It will really make them suffer, and they will repent.

But before long they’re at it again in a way that will cause blood and tears to many.

That’s how cruel people can be.

He just couldn’t imagine why they didn’t want to show more understanding towards each other.

Didn’t they know that love is God’s greatest creation, and that they could tune in to all those beautiful things that stand for happiness if they would only follow the road leading upward?

It made him shiver to meet such people.

To him sacred love meant eternal happiness.

He got annoyed when people came to him who wanted to take part in a séance for kicks or just to pass the time away, and then left without a second thought.

That kind of people would attend a painting evening or a séance in which Alcar spoke through him, and soon forget all about it because they had no eye for the sanctity and no feeling for the support and the happiness it could give them.

These were people who spoilt things wherever they went.

But to him this work was sacred. He fought, like thousands of others, for the great cause: to convince the people of the truth of a life after physical death.

Alcar always warned him against those who refused to believe.

‘Beware of them’, he said, ‘because they are a danger to our work.

Shut yourself off from these beings, I will help you to.

Our pure knowledge will enable you to answer them.

We see and know the state of every soul.

We see through them all.’

He was afraid of these people and kept them at a distance.

Not long ago he had held a wonderful painting séance and many had attended.

Alcar had told him to buy a large canvas which was intended for a German marine painter who had been killed in the war, and now he wished to paint through him.

He had bought the canvas (footnote in first edition: 0.90 by 1.50 metres) along with paint and utensils, and he was curious what that large canvas would bring forth.

He always held these séances in the afternoon. This wasn’t strictly necessary, because drawings had already been produced in the dark without any loss to the frequently beautiful technique.

Before he was brought into a trance he had to pray. Then he seated himself before the easel and waited for the things to come.

The intelligences never kept them waiting, and within seconds he was in a trance. Then his spirit abandoned his physical body, and a spiritual painter then took control of it.

The guests had all arrived punctually, and that afternoon there were a few artists amongst them.

The painter who came through composed the picture with an amazing technique.

This was very interesting to all those present because, as both the painters said, such a technique could only have been mastered by someone who had really studied it.

The work took two hours to accomplish. It showed a sea with rocks and it was titled: ‘On the Irish coast’.

André’s spirit then returned to his body.

But not long afterwards Alcar put him into a trance again and told the guests:

‘As you see, my beloved, it’s possible for us, after our physical death, to work on earth.

This beautiful piece of work was made by a German painter, named Erich Wolff.

This young artist, who was killed in your last world war (upon the publication of this book in 1933 this is World War I), painted on the Scottish and the Irish coast during his earthly life.

Many relatives send you their greetings. God bless you all.’

The séance had come to its end.

Some time later more pieces from this painter came through to him.

One of them had been particularly realistic.

It was titled: ‘On the Scottish coast’.

Alcar gave it to one of André’s friends.

He had done work for Alcar without knowing the purpose.

It had all been Guidance.

After Wolff had finished the painting he showed André clairvoyantly how and where the ships sailed around that coast.

He mentioned this when he took the painting over to his friend, which the latter found very interesting.

It was a remarkable mass of rocks, seen on a beautiful summer evening, with two long peaks that were surrounded by the sea.

The painting had been on the wall for some time, when a brother-in-law, an engineer in the merchant navy, came to visit him and on entering the room immediately recognized the Scottish coast.

‘How did you come by this Scottish coast?’ he asked.

‘Did you buy the painting in England?’

But André’s friend just laughed and let him continue.

‘This is the way we sail around the coast’, the seaman told him, while he indicated the direction, ‘when we’re bound for Holland.

These peaks are visible from afar and we often take our bearings from them.

On board we say: ‘The peaks are in sight.’

It’s a striking piece of work, painted true to life.’

After his visitor had had his say, André’s friend told him that it had been received by a medium who first of all couldn’t paint under normal circumstances and secondly when he did, he was unaware of this as he did it in a trance and thirdly had never seen or visited either Scotland, Ireland or England before.

The seaman thought this was extraordinary and he kept on looking at the beautiful picture for quite a while.

This proved once more that someone else had done the work.

That it hadn’t been André who had accomplished this, but another person who made use of his organism.

Wolff made six large paintings for him in this way, all of them masterpieces.

André was happy, very happy with his gifts and with all his work.

That is why he wanted people to pursue this in greater depth.

They considered this kind of work to be devil’s work.

So Alcar, Wolff and the other spirits were supposed to be devils?

No?

Up to now he had got to know them as spirits of love.

Recently he had received a wonderful example of Alcar’s protection, and how sparingly his gifts were put to use.

André felt ill, he had caught a bad cold.

Nevertheless he had done his work that day, though he longed for his bed.

Towards the evening he developed a high temperature and intended going to bed soon, but to his dismay Alcar conveyed a message at seven o’clock that he wanted to paint.

André said to himself: ‘For heaven’s sake, I’m ill.’ But he immediately heard Alcar for the second time saying: ‘Make sure to be ready around eight o’clock. We’re going to paint, André!’

It was no good sighing.

Alcar wanted something, so it must be all right.

When he told his parents, they were rather surprised and advised him strongly not to fulfil this wish.

How could he ever paint with a sick body?

He was in doubt, and his parents finally persuaded him to refuse, so he decided to go to bed.

But what nobody had expected happened.

Suddenly he was put under an influence, went into a trance, and Alcar spoke to his parents through him: ‘You see, my beloved, there’s no limit to what we can achieve if we really want to.

This evening I myself am going to paint, and you won’t understand until afterwards why I chose this very moment to take possession of his body.’

He went up to André’s room, got everything ready and started to paint.

André remained in a trance from a quarter to eight until nearly ten o’clock and when he awoke he immediately sensed that the fever and the illness had gone.

This was marvellous to him and he hurried to his father and mother to tell them about it.

A little later Alcar said to him:

‘The flowers I painted aren’t very good.

I intended to make you feel better and I succeeded completely.

There was no better way to go about this than by taking possession of your body.

So you see, my son: always give yourself, always trust me.

Your physical body is under my protection.

I keep watching over you.’

That evening André wept for happiness and gratitude that the spirits were so good to him, and his parents also thanked Alcar in their prayer for the great help and for the marvellous proof they had received from him.

This was pure and perfect love, spiritual love from on high.

He thought of all the people he had been able to convince, due to the proof which Alcar had given them.

Then shouldn’t this sacred cause be guarded scrupulously?

Weren’t they good devils?

Weren’t they devils who loved mankind?

No stone was left unturned to provide them with proof, to convince them of a life after their physical death.

Spiritualism and everything connected to it was a sacred thing to him.

Those who work behind the scenes, expecting no words of gratitude, they’ll do anything to bring happiness and truth to the people.

Then shouldn’t one kneel down humbly and except everything gratefully?

After all, they want the people to be happy!

No, they are no devils, these spirits of love, although the people on earth, in their would-be wisdom repeatedly believe they are.

They think that their worldly wisdom will suffice to understand spiritual things, and that’s a fallacy.

They need to be attuned to it deep inside to sense this, but they have become too materialized.

Worldly wisdom is not a spiritual power and the two have nothing in common.

As if we weren’t all equal before God!

Does a king necessarily have a higher spiritual status on earth than a carpenter?

No, of course not.

Yet this is current opinion.

He had often seen so-called important persons come through in séances. There were scholars amongst them, even theologians, who proved to be deeply unhappy and begged for help.

Only then had they grasped the beauty of spiritualism.

All their studies and their wisdom hadn’t brought them one inch further on the spiritual path.

They hadn’t practised what they preached.

Yet some learned men had found light and happiness on the side beyond. They had lived a better life on earth. They had not forgotten God and had served their fellow men.

That was the goodness they bore within, as God expected of them.

These people wore no masks as others did, for whom a certain day will also dawn on the side beyond.

There all masks are dropped and they will stand naked and devoid of power.

But on earth they are the ones who spoil everything, and against whom Alcar kept on warning him.

This was bad enough, but there was worse. Those who foul up things under the pretext of spirituality are lost.

They erect a spiritual wall around themselves and shoot their material arrows off from there, aiming to hit honest, simple folk.

That’s what their masks cover up on earth.

A life under the guise of spirituality.

To them everything is a mere pastime.

Spiritual work is too sacred for that.

But their hearts are cold, and remain cold towards everything, and beauty never shows through in them.

The Divine Spark that could attune them to the higher spheres and to everything that carries beauty no longer glows in them. Its fire has perished; it expired like a candle in the night.

He had experienced a lot of strife at the hands of such people and now, at this stage, he understood their aims and played around with them. He had acquired the power to do so.

He now saw through everyone.

Alcar had brought him to that level and had developed his spiritual sense.

That is what these people lack, for they fall back into their material world time and again.

Yet Alcar still wanted him to give himself; everyone should get his fair share, since those who were honest also came to him.

‘Feel that you’re superior to all that’, Alcar said, ‘and don’t close off your heart to the good ones.

You will soon be able to sense when an open heart comes your way, because that heart will shine you in the face.

Always be prepared, no matter how big the battle may be. Fighting will toughen you.

So have faith, we’re at your side and will remain your invisible helpers.’

Alcar often talked to him in this way and it did him good because sometimes things overwhelmed him, and now and again worries and sadness almost prevented him from going on.

People kept on wanting more until everything lost its value for them in the end.

What would happen tonight?

Maybe they’d think the world of him today, but they would dish him again tomorrow.

But come what may, he would be prepared.

Alcar and his friends never did that.

They are fine and pure in their answers.

They never hurt anyone and always follow one way only: the path of love.

They have only their task in mind: to work for spiritualism.

The people don’t understand even half of it, nor do they nor want to learn from it, in spite of the beautiful lessons they receive.

Yet they receive them for their own good, because it will help them to develop.

Contact with those who have died on earth isn’t made to get a thrill out of it.

That’s not what the spirit world is after.

Mankind must advance and rise, and get on the road to God.

But halfway up they’re exhausted and fall back to the stage where life becomes easy for them again.

It takes no trouble, the going is smooth.

So they muddle on; life is brought to completion and amounts to no more than a bag of worldly pleasures.

His gloomy mood still persisted, but it gave him a better understanding of the enormous sorrow which Christ suffered.

Christ had given Himself for the people.

He kept on giving, more and more, until He could no longer give, and then they beat Him up.

Christ let them have their way, and it got worse still because they wanted even more.

They wanted His Flesh and Blood.

And not until He was nailed to the cross, did the people see Him as the true child of God.

When the clouds tore apart and God’s light appeared, all those people saw the simple man He really was Who had aspired to give Himself completely.

Christ was the son of a carpenter too, but He had much greater powers than André.

Christ performed miracles.

Christ was the Great Spirit.

He, André, performed miracles on a small scale.

Yet he was allowed to do the same work, and to heal the sick too.

But he couldn’t make the blind see, as Christ had done, because he was merely an imperfect human being, a man with many mistakes.

Christ was the Perfect human being, He was the Son of God, who had given all of Himself for the sake of the people. And yet they crucified Him.

Soon that great miracle was forgotten, and they kept on sinning on without end.

When he was in a sad, gloomy mood he felt full of understanding for the suffering that Christ had gone through. He sensed it in full.

Christ, the simple heart, tortured and flogged by his brothers and sisters.

His blood had flowed, and still it hadn’t been enough.

That’s what people are like.

Alcar had held Jesus up as his example and had told him:

‘Don’t worry and do your work, André.

Be prepared for all that may come, and take Him, Who suffered for all of us as your example.

You’re doing the same kind of work, my son, only on a smaller scale, and don’t try to compare yourself to Him.

Be satisfied with this happiness, and keep right on to this road.’

He had a lot to learn; he knew it, and learn he would, his whole life-long stay on earth.

Once he had felt the same great satisfaction which Christ must have felt, and it made him understand things even more.

He had been called over to a small child of nine months, seriously ill with a high temperature, that lay in its cradle, deathly quiet.

He didn’t know how it had happened and he didn’t want to be pretentious, but when he was standing at the cradle he had said to the parents: ‘Now I will show you how Christ healed.’

They gave him a strange look but said nothing; the situation was far too serious for that.

He knelt down and prayed ardently, as he always did when he had to treat a patient.

He begged God and Christ for help and prayed: ‘Give your emissaries the power to help me with this beautiful work.

Oh Jesus, help me.

In Your name I want to heal this little one just as You did.’

Suddenly – he would never forget this wondrous, great moment – his arm was lifted slightly by a strange force and brought to the child’s head, while a marvellous feeling of great happiness flowed through him.

After a few minutes his arm was led back, and straight afterwards the little one opened its eyes and started to laugh and cry out and kick about, and it was healed.

The parents looked at him full of admiration and tears came to their eyes.

Oh, what a day that had been!

What a miracle this was!

Alcar told him: ‘Because of your great love for Christ and for us you were allowed to do this.’

He felt as if he were in heaven.

In his prayers he always asked for help, but he understood quite well that he wasn’t able to perform instantaneous healings with every patient. It would have required him to be Christ’s equal, and that was something he couldn’t be, not in a thousand years.

For him it was a sacred commitment always to be ready to receive the flux from on high and to convey this to the sick.

He had laid his hands on the child’s head and it had been healed.

That’s how Christ had done it too during His life on earth.

True enough: he, André, wouldn’t be flogged, but he could be locked up in prison because he wasn’t a qualified doctor, and according to worldly laws he had no right to practise medicine.

Many centuries ago Christ had been the Perfect Human Being on earth, but never again will Christ reappear on earth to sacrifice Himself for humanity, because after all these hundreds of years Jesus is still not understood.

He spent that whole day pondering on these things.

He couldn’t get it out of his mind, and he was tired of all the thinking.

This had to stop, for the guests had already arrived and the séance was about to start.

He could count on Alcar to give him all the energy he needed, as always.

The séance started.

First many messages were received with the help of a cross and a board; there was something in it for everybody, and many renewed their contacts with members of their family or with friends they had temporarily lost.

It gave them strength, spiritual strength, and they were happy to get in touch with their loved ones.

How beautiful it was!

After this part of the séance there was a short interval, and then Alcar put him into a trance and, in a clear voice, addressed the following words to the guests:

‘Good evening, my sisters and brothers, today I want to talk to you about the human clock.

I’m able to help you, and I will do so.

I really want to help you, but how?

Many many times, again and again, I told you: I want to help you, if it’s God’s will.

You’re listening attentively to me now, to everything I’m going to say; you’re familiair with all of it, and have been for quite some time.

That doesn’t alter the fact that, even if you know it all and even if you think it over now and again, you, with your human thoughts, don’t always act accordingly.

Tick-tack, up and down, that’s time.

That is the pendulum on the clock.

Clock-like regularity: Tick-tack, tick-tack. Incessantly: tick-tack.

You think your life will keep on going with the same regularity as the clock that the clockmaker winds.

But does life continue on this smooth, regular round for everyone?

Does it hold for everyone, this tick-tack-tick of day-to-day worries, activities and tasks?

Or does it contain a sound you do not hear?

Doesn’t it contain a certain sound you’re aware of and which distinguishes you, human beings, from that daily monotonous ticking of the clock?

Isn’t it precisely that Divine Spark in you which sets you off and places you above all mechanical gadgets?

And doesn’t that Divine Spark contain the Divine Power of Love?

Isn’t it precisely that quality which people call love that makes life worth living and worth experiencing?

Isn’t that the most beautiful, the richest and most Divine aspect of man?

Everyone yearns for it, from a small child onward. I dare to say: even before birth there is that yearning for love.

And this love grows, and this love increases in beauty, it gets stronger and will move mountains.

Without this love life would be a wilderness.

Those who know love are the happy ones.

Those who have known love keep on carrying it in their hearts, and those who never knew love are happy when they feel that great power within, that great, holy power, the sanctity of what they would be able to give.

Do you understand that, my friends?

Do you feel that, my friends?

That your life could be a life that is led by (loving) thoughts?

How much could you give?

Let that which is in you be the most beautiful and the most sacred you possess, yes indeed: the sacrosanct, forever.

Did I tell you anything new this evening?

Weren’t you familiar with all this since quite a time?

And yet I wonder: didn’t I help you, didn’t I shake you awake a bit, and reveal to you the multitude and the beauty that is within man, which sets him apart from the machine?

And if God in His abundant goodness lets you feel this love during your life on earth, then be confident, my friends.

Never forget: it’s God’s will that such love prevails and that such a link of love exists.

Could it ever be the will of God that such a link be broken?

I tell you: No!

Then put all your trust in a life of sanctified love, and let life’s little clock keep on ticking confidently.

It is God’s will.

Some day the machine meets its end, it’s worn away and spent.

Then life’s clock stops ticking.

No more tick-tack to be heard, and you miss it.

You are left with a void and with great sadness because of that loyal friend, that faithful soul you dearly loved.

That faithful soul who supported you, whom you supported, who helped you, whom you helped, whom you gave love and who loved you, who is missed on earth so much.

Then, since you don’t believe in the Hereafter, emptiness comes into your life.

And when that little clock no longer strikes and ticks, then remember all the love this person radiated.

The abundant love he gave, and the abundant love he wanted to give yet couldn’t, because you, human being, with your human thoughts neither understood him nor felt the love he wanted to give to you.

You never saw the hands that offered it and which you pushed away unthinkingly.

You can help him a lot with your prayer to God, in which you ask to be forgiven for not wanting to see so much love.

You can ask Him in your prayer to let His light shine on the soul who gave so much love, or wanted to.

You can ask for his sins to be forgiven, because everyone sins, knowingly or not.

A person sins because he’s only human.

And when the time has come that it pleases God to stop your pendulum from swinging, then may many be around for you too, to send a prayer up to God that you may soon be brought into the light.

Trust in God, trust in God’s love and believe in your own love.

Amen.’

Alcar had finished speaking and had quietly left.

It had been a beautiful séance, and everyone felt how they were treading sacred ground.

Everyone was happy.

Oh, that beautiful magnificent truth that we will soon be allowed to live in the Hereafter forever more!

The evening had come to an end.

The guests went home and asked if they could be present at the following sessions to hear this beautiful, melodious voice again that had spoken to them with so much love.

A few days later Alcar already announced that he wanted to hold another séance, and André then invited some more people, so that the circle became even larger than last time.

Everyone needed the spiritual support and energy that the side beyond bestowed on them.

His father and mother were also able to help him now, because the prediction he had passed on to his father had come true in the way Alcar had revealed it to him in the very beginning.

That evening many came in contact again with their dear ones who already dwelt on the other side, and the pieces of evidence were overwhelming.

Everything testified to truth and love.

These were things you could count on, this was pure knowledge.

It was beautiful!

There was no need to call up the dead, they came of their own accord and spoke to those whom they had left behind.

No more doubt left, they knew that the dead live on.

The beautiful lessons they gave were free from self-love and selfishness.

Everything that came through was pure.

That’s how they who preceded them sent their messages.

And so happiness was shared, not only by those who still lived on earth but also by those who already dwelt on the other side, because God permitted them to bring this happiness to those who had remained on earth in sorrow and sadness, and had granted them the strength and the contact to do so.

The friends on the other side were happy because they could cry out: ‘We aren’t dead, we’re alive.

Don’t mourn over us, we come to you and will help you.

We can see through matter and can guide your ways through all marshes.

We see the danger, because we have been released from crude matter.

We are highly sensitive and live in the light.

This is the power which we, here in eternity, received from God.

Don’t close your ears, we are with you and want to help you.

Don’t look for us afar, we are near.

Don’t look for us in the grave, we’re alive and at your side.’

André had already heard these words so often, but to him and others too the words ‘We’re not dead, we’re alive’ kept on resounding like beautiful music.

First the information was received through the cross and board, and then Alcar came through who addressed the guests as follows:

‘Here I am again.

Good evening, my dear friends, sisters and brothers.

This evening I want to talk to you about Faith, Hope and Love.

One day we will be together forever.

Remember these words while you are still on earth.

It’s so wonderful to come to you to bring you the light from the side beyond, the light which God bestows on us, to bring it to you.

God’s love.

And why is it so wonderful to be here?

Because there is harmony among you; a merge of soul with soul, which is so desperately needed.

Because this harmony creates an atmosphere that is sacred and beautiful and seldom found amongst people.

And that is why I’m so grateful that I may come, to be in your midst.

Note that I said: may.

Because it is not my will, it’s God’s holy will which I fulfil.

And I’m grateful that I may do so.

It’s so wonderful to be in your midst because I feel all the rays you radiate around me, and this fills me with confidence that nothing but good will happen here.

You all radiate goodness, because you know, and because you want goodness to prevail.

Because you are full of longing to do the higher things and want only the higher things.

And even if you don’t notice it immediately and even if you’re not aware of it yet, I want to tell you this because it may incite you to continue on this road, for it will strengthen you and build you up.

You know, everyone needs a bit of support in his life, and I know that a word or two from me will do you good.

There, look up there, everyone.’

Alcar pointed upward with his right hand.

‘There you see the Faith, the Hope and the Love, and of the latter you will see the most; it’s Love and it’s beautiful.

Oh, it’s so beautiful.

Believe in it and act accordingly, because without faith in the Hereafter, without hope for betterment and without the love that forms a link, life would be desolate.

Those three words, Faith, Hope and Love give you an insight into Divine mercy.

If God grants you Faith, Hope and Love, then that’s more than man deserves.

And if one didn’t possess them, would life then be tolerable?

If man didn’t believe in God, didn’t believe and trust that He will grant us all of that, wouldn’t life on earth be utterly miserable?

It’s so beautiful, so holy, this trinity, and so utterly characteristic of the soul of man.

It’s so great, so pure.

It’s more than you can fathom.

But even if you were to take the merest particle of it all and absorb it, and even if you had only a little faith, a flicker of hope and a ray of love, then you would grasp some of that infinite clarity, of that intense beauty, of that Divine.

And you, man, must take care that it grows, that it expands, that it gets stronger and increases in beauty, that a cloud of faith, a cloud of hope may live within you, and that you let a sun of love shine its blue radiance.

Only then will an ethereal aura surround you.

Then something beautiful, something wonderful will emanate from inside of you, and God will see his children as He wishes them to be.

Believe, have hope and spread love, and God will bless you.

And then you will be able to call upon God, prostrate yourself before Him in grateful humility and thank Him for the beauty, the sanctity and the Glory which He brought into your life.

This is the beautiful aspect in your life; this is the Divine Light.

But alas, there are still so many who don’t see the Light or don’t want to see it.

But if you carry Faith, Hope and Love within you, yet you don’t find them on your path, then the journey gets so difficult, so hard, so barren; then it is as if it's lost.

Then you find brambles cluster your path and the bushes need entangling by hand to find the right path again.

Your hands will bleed and the thorns must be removed from the flesh because they hurt so much.

Then the path is hard.

But Faith, Hope and Love must grow within you, and you must realize that with God’s help you will pull aside those branches to find the way to all things beautiful, high and holy.

You must trust that you can find that path, and in the end you will.

Have faith, have faith.

Believe in yourself, have hope in betterment and let love blossom within you.

The battle is worth it, my friends, the struggle will strengthen you, but the fight must raise you up to the triad: Faith, Hope and Love.

You must battle on until you reach this goal.

One day you will triumph.

But as long as you back away from the difficulties you meet on this road, your battle will get harder and harder and your road will get rougher.

Then you won’t find only thorny brambles on your way, but everything that carries thorns will grow on it, as high as mountains.

And you won’t get through until you bow before God’s will and kneel in submission and say: ‘God forgive me, I did wrong.’

And when you lift your head and you see the glorious colours in the distance, bearing the words ‘ Faith, Hope and Love’, then all the thorns will have vanished and the path will be smooth, glistening and open, like a path of light.

And then you will go towards the Light, your arms outspread, and grateful that you were allowed to reach this point.

Have faith, have hope, and know love.

Know love for your neighbour, know love for all God’s creatures, know love for those who have departed from you.

Know love for God and know love for those who don’t understand you.

Your path is not always easy, but with God’s help, with the Faith, Hope and Love He puts into your heart, you will come into the Light.

Trust in that, always trust in that.

It is so wonderful to be in your midst and to be able to give all this to you; to be able to tell you what’s on the heart, to find a willing ear that listens, a heart that understands and a soul that searches for the things on high.

May my words that are so simple and yet want to say so much, lay a bit of God’s almighty Power in your hearts.

May you all, in difficult times, believe, have hope, and live in God’s Love.

May God bless you!

Amen.’

The séance had come to its end and everyone returned home, withdrawn into himself.

Again an emissary from God had spoken to them and everyone felt invigorated, spiritually and physically, because Alcar’s words had given them wholesome rest and sacred strength for the spirit.

This was the influence from the side beyond, brought to them by the ‘dead’.

Again everyone had received proof of their continued existence, and so they were convinced that dead is not dead.

They felt the sanctity and the purity of these beautiful evenings.

‘More of these evenings are to follow, André’, Alcar said, ‘and we will go on bringing people strength from the Hereafter.

Be strong and pray to God that we may always receive this strength to give it to humanity through you.

I thank you, my son.

Now I must leave.’

Alcar had stopped talking, but yet André sensed him beside him, which will probably be the case as long as he remains on earth.

And he will go on beseeching God to let Alcar stay, as his work is sacred and dear to him.