‘I don’t know how to thank you, Alcar, for all the help you gave me.’

‘Don’t thank me, my son, thank God, who granted you this mercy and allowed you to experience all this.’

‘How can one ever perform these miracles, Alcar?’

‘These aren’t miracles, André.

Didn’t I make it clear to you that it’s nothing but attunement to love in the spirit.

This is the way Christ manifested Himself on earth to His apostles.

Christ Who was able to link up with planets and stars made Himself one with matter.

Also the people on earth believed they were witnessing a miracle, but it’s actually the power of the being who feels and possesses love.

If this is something even we are capable of, then how great must the power be of God’s perfect Child.

And He was the one they nailed to the cross, because the people didn’t know these holy powers and didn’t understand them.

The things they don’t know they reject.

Many truths, holy truths are lost in that way.

Everything is very simple.

There are no miracles here, all miracles are to be found within a human attunement and condition.

So we are the ones who are the miracle, that holy love lies within us, it can be found within us.

It enables us to perform miracles for those who aren’t that far yet.

We left them behind in a wondrous condition, but what are things like when one knows?

The power of love, the spiritual gold in the life after death, to others it will seem like a miracle to possess this, yet it’s nothing but happiness to those who bear it within.

Now we will go over to the first existential sphere in the spirit (the first sphere of light).

Those who live there, André, know that they have passed on on earth.

They know that they dwell in eternity, even though their feeling is material.

This sphere is therefore identical to the earth, yet as spiritual substance.

That’s why it’s the first existential sphere, which means that they truly attune in the spirit.

So here we have a natural condition.

Everything that lives there is true, it’s real because it’s an existential condition.

Is that clear to you?

So that’s where they start their development in the spirit, and they follow the road which everyone who now lives in this attunement must follow.

Men and women live there together, and younger people too, but no children.

The children live in other spheres, where the little ones find attunement, and later on, when they have reached the appropriate age they will enter into an existential condition.

The children’s spheres are situated in the higher areas, which we will visit.

But others, I mean the younger beings, have reached the age of fourteen when they arrived here from the earth.

Those who are younger, meaning from the age of seven up to fourteen, live in different spheres again than the even smaller beings that have left the earth.

In other words: there are different conditions for the small ones, namely the connecting spheres which lie between the third, fourth and fifth sphere.

The youngsters who live in the first sphere are together, as far as their parents aren’t in the same or other, higher spheres.

So if their parents possess a different attunement, then they’re alone until they have won themselves one single attunement and possess one love, which is their attunement in the spirit.

But we know that there are mothers who are alone, and fathers and children who are alone, just as various friends and relatives, who will all be united later on, to remain together in all eternity, in happiness, in love, in perfect holy happiness.

But this won’t happen until they have reached the first blissful spheres in the spirit.

Many are therefore impatiently awaiting the moment of their reunion.

Accordingly, man arrives here from the earth and believes he will meet his loved ones, only to find that they dwell in other spheres.

It makes these people very sad and we witness doleful scenes.

There is nothing more gruesome for man than to have to descend into the dark spheres.

Yet they cannot be together.’

‘Then don’t they see each other at all?’

‘Certainly they do; the higher attunement can link up with a lower one.

This is possible, but we too are bound by laws.

You will have noticed how the light in the sky keeps on changing, until we enter the first sphere, where the same light shines as on earth.

Look, we’re already in the first sphere.

You won’t notice the slightest difference between here and the earth.

It is the earth, yet in the spirit.’

André saw a country, as Alcar had said, which resembled the earth.

The sky was clouded and a stiff breeze was blowing.

He saw birds and flowers and trees, and greenery, he saw all the things that can also be found in nature on the earth.

‘How is this possible Alcar, we’re on the side beyond and yet on earth.’

‘Exactly, André.

All human beings know that they live in the spirit, but his feeling finds attunement to matter.

They are in the first stage of spiritual development.

They’re convinced that everything belonging to the earth is void of spiritual value.

They’re all trying to reach a higher sphere where they can and will arrive, but only if they help others to mean something to their fellowmen, which is the love that gives.

Is that clear to you?’

‘Yes, Alcar, all of it.’

‘Shortly, when we enter the second sphere, it will become clear to you how they must exert themselves before they’re allowed to enter a higher sphere.’

He saw many old people gathered, and young ones too.

There was nothing strange about them.

They were dressed in a coarse-material but some already wore beautiful garments.

He sensed what that meant.

These individuals might soon enter a higher attunement.

‘Well sensed, André.

They already dwell in the second sphere and are waiting until they’re permitted to pass on.

They all fight their heavy spiritual battle to ascend, they won’t rest until they have reached Summerland, the first happy sphere.

That’s why the first, the second and the third sphere are purification spheres where man casts off his material feeling.

Not until they’re in the third sphere will they feel free from matter, and there they prepare themselves to enter Summerland, which you visited during your previous journey.

So their battle is a battle to conquer themselves.

You must feel how hard it is, because they have to dismantle themselves bit by bit.

All the earthly pedestals crumble down on this side.

First they must demolish what they thought they possessed.

Their earthly possessions are nothing but a hindrance in the life on this side.

Many return to earth again to help loved ones they have left behind.

They convince them that their life goes on forever, and they urge them on to develop themselves in the spirit.

Others descend into the dark areas to help the unfortunate because they want to mean something to others and in that way they take themselves in hand.

On this side man can only develop by giving, which is the love that serves.

The development of those who merely demand comes to a standstill.

Life on earth cannot be compared to this life, even if the outward appearance of this sphere is similar to the earth.

Don’t forget that earthly conditions are meaningless in the spirit.

Here people live for each other.

On earth a person may be a servant.

Those who have lots of property let themselves be served, but there’s an end to that here.

So all who have reached the first sphere are convinced within of their spiritual life.

This sphere also encompasses other conditions, which are also intermediary spheres where those people dwell who closed themselves off on earth, to spend their life in solitude.

Here they go on living that same kind of life, because the attunement of their feeling doesn’t change.

But when we point their situation out to them, they reply: ‘I’m happy, don’t you see my light?’

Of course they’ve got light, but what is their light compared to the light of those who live in higher spheres?

However, if they continue in this way, then hundreds of years will pass and they will remain in this attunement all that time.

Their development will be at a standstill because they close themselves off to life.

You see from all these conditions that only those will be happy who become one with all of life; this is the path of love they must follow.

‘You told me, Alcar, that someone with a higher attunement may descend into a lower sphere; aren’t they allowed to stay there?’

‘They may and can do as they wish.

But if they mourn along with them about not being one, then both will perish; in other words: their own development is hampered too, because they feel pity with those who live on a lower plane.

This shows once again that pity can lead to a person’s downfall.

Occasional reunions with their loved ones will urge them to take themselves in hand.

They too must rise and will free themselves from their situation.’

‘In that case a spiritual separation will be harder to endure for man than an earthly one, won’t it?’

‘Well sensed, André.

On earth man lives for a limited time, here they’re in eternity.

The separation on earth may be short, here it can last for hundreds of years.’

‘Can people develop faster here than on earth?’

‘On earth it’s easier to develop spiritually than on this side.

This has the following reason: on earth, in a material condition, a heavy battle must be fought to acquire spiritual happiness, and it demands a lot of power and effort.

Matter is the means, through matter it can be attained.

Life on earth isn’t hard when one possesses all the things that make life more pleasant.

Matter can enable one to develop by helping others.

This means freeing oneself from all existing material conditions.

But matter is the downfall of many people.

Cutting oneself loose from the earth, in other words enriching oneself spiritually in a material condition, that’s what we’re after, that’s what God wants from all His children.

The lives of many, as I said, are ruled by matter.

During one’s life on earth a single deed may suffice to make a person happy.

One deed, performed as an act of love, entails development in life.

The earth is in deep darkness, and it takes a lot of power to emerge out of the darkness into the light.

Those who are capable of that will see light when they pass on.

They see the light which they carry within, and will find their attunement here.

How is life lived on earth?

We know all about that here.

Why do we visit the earth from here?

To help others.

On earth it’s very difficult to reach man.

I already made that clear to you while we were in the Land of Twilight.

We will now go on to the second sphere.’

‘Look, Alcar, a lot of spirits are gliding past.

Where are they going to?’

‘They will visit certain conditions to get to know the laws of the spirit.

They are all students.

Here they can continue the studies they started on earth, and acquire further skills.

But first they must learn how connections are brought about.

They are all happy spirits.

On earth one can acquire the skills of one’s choice, but that’s not possible here.

Here one must possess love and have reached a certain grade before one can qualify for some study or other.

They would otherwise be unable to sense the psychic laws.

So all the wisdom on this side stands for love, nothing but love.

And love is wisdom in the spirit.

Life here cannot be compared to that on earth.

Attunement is needed here.

On earth one learns to possess, here one learns to give, to make others happy.

That is why the goal of life on earth is not understood.

To many people their study and scholarship is fame and destruction.

However learned the scholars may be, on earth possession means sensation to many of them.

Here one qualifies to serve life.

To experience life as happiness, that is what the study, the wisdom of many here is all about.

On earth one can train to become a physician to comfort suffering mankind, to obtain a quality which will alleviate its misery.

But how many sense their calling?

Some of those you just saw are scholars who once lived on earth, and now they are guided along by those who weren’t learned, who never studied.

What does that tell you, André?

The latter possess love, and love is wisdom.

No material skill can bring that about.

So it’s worthless if one doesn’t possess love.

The scholars of the earth ought to submit to them because they are beings with a higher attunement.

Here one bows one’s head before love.

Here one is filled with awe by love, because love is light and wisdom on this side.’

‘How beautiful it all is, Alcar.’

‘Everything is foreseen, my son.

God has hidden nothing from His children.

We will meet many of these groups.

Every being has his or her task in order to serve life.’

‘Are these guides invisible to the first sphere too?’

‘Not only to the first, but also to the second and third sphere, because they are beings who live in Summerland.

Only there can they join an order.’

‘Do they visit the earth, Alcar?’

‘Certainly.

You saw, while you were sitting at Wim’s sickbed, that they too had been brought there to experience how the physical human being is acted upon and how he can be helped.

They visit the earth to be of help there shortly.

There are many other ways to accomplish something on earth.

Everything is simple, André, if we possess the necessary love.

Only now will you be able to really understand the poem you were given.

Do you remember how it went:

‘Love is the richest treasure

Given to mankind.

Love makes life sparkle

And tremble with emotion.

Love is all, Love is God.

It makes the poor rich.

Without Love, what a destiny!

It would be without value.

Spirit of Love, guide us onward.

Penetrate us with Your Being,

We will await

the End untroubled, without fear.

Whether Life be short or long,

God’s Love brings on no dread.’

Now you will understand love even better than before.

It will be clear to you why one must possess love on this side to be happy.

Look, we have now entered the second sphere.’

André saw yet another country.

Everything looked different from the sphere where he had just been.

The sky was shrouded in a taut blue garment, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight.

The heavens resembled a full balloon that might explode at any moment.

He sensed this clearly.

This same power was inherent in nature too, which seemed very strange to him.

A curious feeling came over him.

He saw temples and buildings everywhere around, erected in a most beautiful style and made of a finer substance than in the first sphere.

It was just as if everything sensed more life and therefore existed on a higher level.

He saw many beings too, and it caught his eye how the garments were very different from those they wore in the first sphere.

They were all younger here too.

‘What does this tension mean, Alcar, that pervades everything?

Does it mean something?

It’s just as if everything is about to explode.’

‘You sensed this accurately too, André.

Everything that lives here has reached a transitory condition, and man senses a link with a higher attunement.

Nature, and man, will open up to a higher life.

And this inner possession causes an enhanced power of feeling in everything.

They focus on enhanced possession to test their inner condition.

You sense their struggle to reach the third sphere from here.

Here they must battle the fierce attacks of their own ego.

This is where they will have to dismantle themselves to get to the third sphere, where they enter the spiritual life for good.

The higher man rises, the harder his battle will become, because the conditions are finer and more beautiful, the spheres are less dense, and deep within they must attune.

So the big battle is fought to enter the spiritual and leave matter behind.

Do you sense how hard this battle is, how strained their condition, and how vividly they focus on this higher possession?

I could explain lots of things to you about this sphere, but some day you will get to know their life too.

We will go on to the third sphere now.

Later on, when we return, you will speak with them, you will see them at work, busy with their art, and in many other conditions.

I must now keep to a rigid plan; it would otherwise prove too much for you, because there are still other conditions which we must visit.

You will receive a great deal on this journey, André, and it will all mean wisdom to you.

The further we go, the greater the beauty the spheres, the art, the beings will display.

Everything will radiate, just as the life which lives there feels in accordance with the power of love they possess.

At present we are in a connecting sphere which links up the second and the third one, where the children of the earth live who have passed on at an early age.

But we’ll move on and will visit these spheres later.

We’ll visit the sphere of the angels too, because I want to offer some comfort to the mothers who have been left behind in grief and sorrow, and make it clear to them where their children are.

And don’t forget that a child that has reached an age between seven and fourteen passes from the earth into a purification sphere, just as every being that has entered a state of awareness on earth.

Look, my son, the first rays of light from the third sphere are shining on us.

Beyond, lies the third sphere where you were during your previous journey.

The tension you felt in the second sphere has changed into a soft yearning for the fourth sphere.

We have passed the border of the third sphere.’

André recognized it all.

The warmth and the great happiness which they bore here as their possession, he had already felt this once, and it had made him experience perfect happiness when he had returned to earth afterwards .

He saw the beings, dressed in exquisite garments and surrounded by the most beautiful spheric flowers, which radiated light.

Everything was alive, nature sang its pure, sublime song, the people who dwelt here were young and fresh like everything that lived here.

Life was beautiful, stripped of all the things that were reminiscent of matter; the earthly element had been destroyed: they had entered the spiritual life.

Here man was happy.

Love was what he saw, nothing but love.

Everything bore the elated feeling of mindful beings.

Now that he had witnessed the darkness he understood how great their possession was and how terrible the battle to reach this attunement must be for those who dwelt in the dark.

How distant this sphere was now for them.

He didn’t even dare to think of the Valley of Sorrows and all those other conditions Alcar had told him about.

How many years would have to pass?

Would it ever be possible for them to enter this place?

Poor human beings they were, how terrible their attunement was.

Could they still be saved?

Alcar had told him that they too were Divine and would one day dwell here.

He could hardly accept it.

In his mind’s eye he saw all those dark spheres passing by.

One sorrow after the other.

He saw himself in that Valley of Sorrows, were he had been up in arms, at the edge of the bridge, peering into their infinite misery.

Now he saw and felt the depth of their miserable existence with even greater intensity than when he had actually experienced it.

How great and mighty the difference appeared when he compared these conditions.

Here he sensed happiness, down there its terrible impact took his breath away.

A mighty sight it was to perceive this difference in colour, in happiness.

He saw before him that formidable gap which they wouldn’t be able to bridge in a hundred years.

Here their loved ones lived in prosperity and happiness, while they themselves dwelt in deep misery.

Wasn’t it terrible?

Down there parents and children lived in deep darkness.

There were children whose mothers had fallen below the animal level.

Borders had been drawn, immeasurably deep and far, which man himself would have to abolish.

It demarcated the attunement of their feeling in the spirit.

It was a poignant truth: life was nothing but grief and sorrow down there.

It was heartbreaking.

Yet he felt fortunate to have been allowed to experience all this.

It urged him on to make something out of life on earth which would attune him to a happy sphere on this side.

That’s what he would put himself out for.

They were still children, those creatures who lived there in darkness. (By children this refers to: those who are spiritually not yet further developed.)

Why did you mess up your inner condition during your short earthly life?

Whatever for?

The images which Alcar had shown him were clear proof of their bestial life on earth.

How true everything was.

No-one would ever be unduly punished.

They punished themselves; how just God was.

Yet man rebelled.

What else could one expect.

He too had rebelled while he had experienced it all.

Look how beautiful those creatures are who live here.

Look at their rays, their oneness with life.

Look how great, how uplifting everything is, how pure their love is, and their inner attunement.

How gentle their feeling, they’re like children in the spirit.

Now, here in the third sphere, he really began to understand the meaning of conditions, attunements in the spirit.

Now he understood what spiritual possession meant to those who felt love.

Here he became convinced of all those truths.

Here he understood what darkness and light could mean in the life after death.

Only here had he begun to understand the meaning of heaven and hell.

And in the deepest depth of his soul he thanked God for everything he had been granted.

He was a blessed being of the earth.

Oh, people of the earth.

I would like to call out to you from here: Develop your love.

And you, mediums, you who see and hear, develop your feeling, it will enable you to help others, because you too will perceive what lies behind the veil and makes others happy.

From here I call out to you: Only through love can they who live in these spheres reach you.

Love and happiness await you, if you yourself wish to become the truth.

André looked at this man who had shown him and let him experience all this beauty.

‘How can I ever thank you, Alcar?’

But his leader wanted no gratitude and André knew why.

He called himself merely a child of love, and that child carried him along to unknown areas and was able to perform miracles.

Everything in the life of the spirit was simple and denoted humility towards Him Who reigned all, their Father in heaven, their God, who was nothing but love.

‘Before we leave here’, Alcar said, ‘I want to perform just one experiment to convince you how fast we can travel about and link up.

You know how faraway the dark spheres are, how terribly deep the Valley of Sorrows is and how distant all other conditions are from here.

But we can move along in a flash and link up with the Valley of Sorrows.’

‘It seems to me like years away from here, Alcar.’

‘Give me your hand and hold on to me tightly, and don’t forget to link up with me with all the powers of concentration you possess.

Nothing, and I mean nothing at all, is allowed to interfere.

No other thoughts may occupy your mind, only think of me.

Is that understood, André?’

‘Yes, Alcar.’

‘Get ready.’

André felt an enormous power surging up within.

At that same moment he felt himself being taken up and swept away in a flash.

He awoke from a slight trance and saw to his dismay that he was in the Valley of Sorrows.

A miracle had happened?

‘Concentration and strong will power, my son.

There, in front of you, are the ones we linked up with.

We arrived here in a flash and can return, right through all the spheres I showed you.

That’s the way we get to earth and link up with everything that lives.

Wherever man may be, we will find him.’

What a strength, what a power of love.

In the third sphere he had seen the dark spheres pass him by, and now he had returned to this misery in a flash.

‘We will return in a flash too.’

Again André felt himself sinking, yet he was aware of everything.

They had soon reached the third sphere, the spot they had just descended from.

It was wondrous what he experienced on the side beyond.

To a spirit in the light depths and distances no longer existed, they were one in everything.