André kept on receiving more and more proof that life goes on forever after physical death. This served him to try to convince mankind that the spiritual body is a separate body and that man, after casting off his material body, enters eternal life.

In addition he was shown that the spirit is the intelligent body and stands for the body of sensitivity.

The many disembodiments which he had been allowed to experience, thanks to Alcar, had convinced him that man dwells on earth in order to develop his feeling in the spirit.

And this is brought about by love.

After his last journey to heaven and hell there was nothing left in him that doubted this truth.

If something or other bothered him, Alcar made him undergo experiences that acquainted him with various problems so that he developed in the spirit.

It was a great blessing to him to experience so many conditions which made him familiar with the spiritual life.

The things he witnessed under these conditions are certainly worth telling.

The following event was very remarkable also.

Some time before he was allowed to experience this problem he had been reading a book by a well-known author about the life of the holy Frances of Assisi.

He thought the story, in the way the author had described it, was very wonderful and it had touched him deeply.

His great faith, and the love which Frances had shown for his fellowmen set him thinking.

There was one situation which wasn’t clear to him and he pondered a lot about it; it was the chastisement which Frances inflicted on himself.

Whether this had really happened or not, this case was of special interest to him.

He didn’t want to criticize his sanctity, but he didn’t understand that Frances could have developed himself through self-chastisement.

Quite some people would think he was stupid, but he couldn’t let it rest; it had been in his mind for months.

He (Franciscus) thought it was marvellous to jump into a thornbush naked, causing blood to run down his body on all sides, but whether Frances had acquired his high spiritual attunement in this way, that was the thing which puzzled him.

André felt a lot of respect for the saint.

He (Franciscus) was a man with deep, sacred feelings and it made him bow his head deeply.

But he thought it was wrong to keep on thinking about him.

He too wanted to make progress, and as Alcar had made it clear to him that man should experience life, he couldn’t understand how all this was possible or could be.

A woman who bore no children on earth and yet yearned for motherhood would return to experience it.

Would that same mother be able to free herself from that yearning in some other way?

These were problems, and he didn’t see how they could easily be solved.

Would a woman, yearning for motherhood, be able to destroy and conquer her yearning by chastising herself?

Was that possible?

Then what was the purpose of life?

He often answered his own questions, but he never arrived at a solution.

Surely self-chastisement was not the way to reach such an exalted condition within a short earthly life.

The holy man prayed day and night, sacrificed himself for all forms of life, but then what was self-chastisement needed for?

To suppress passion?

He lived a pure life; wasn’t that sufficient?

Again, he didn’t want to belittle his sanctity, but he couldn’t put it out of his thoughts.

He continuously caught himself thinking about Frances, and there was no way he could let go of it.

In addition – and this ranked high – André wanted to make something of his earthly life.

He wanted to mean something to others.

And whatever means might be needed, he wanted to apply them to acquire spiritual possession so that when he too was to pass on, he would possess light in eternal life.

He would do anything to reach that goal, he gave himself in pure love for every being and he would give his life for no matter whom if he was required to do so.

It wasn’t vanity to strive to be something, he knew how trivial he was.

Beautiful paintings were made through him and yet he wouldn’t dare to call himself a painter.

If Wolff and many others stopped painting through him, then his talent would be gone too.

It was the same with seeing and healing.

If Alcar didn’t help him, his diagnosis would be worthless.

After all, he knew he could never do it without their help.

He was nothing and remained nothing, he was an instrument.

But what he did understand very well was this: If he exerted himself and genuinely wanted to give himself, Alcar would develop him in the spirit, which meant spiritual gold on the side beyond.

Was this vanity?

Surely not!

He merely wanted to be something for others; that’s why he made every effort to acquire the treasures of the spirit.

That’s why he was caught up in this problem.

One evening he went to bed early, exhausted.

But sleep would not come, Frances was occupying his mind.

He wondered whether Alcar knew how he was fretting.

Did this not concern him?

Or were these conditions not Alcar’s business?

It had been on his mind for months and he saw no solution.

After he had experienced his last wondrous condition, he no longer had the courage to ask Alcar for something, because whenever it was necessary, he got help.

At the moment his leader would find this all very ridiculous and he would have to fight this out by himself.

Why didn’t he mind his own business?

Why had he read the book and taken everything literally?

Of course this was wrong, but how could he alter this situation now?

Dismiss everything from his mind, but how?

How often had he flung these thoughts away and yet they sneaked back into his soul.

He got angry and sensed how weak his powers of concentration still were.

A few nights ago he had even dreamt about it.

He thought this was terrible.

He couldn’t even get a quiet night’s sleep lately.

He dreamt that Frances had called for him and told him about his life.

He had said the following words to him:

‘I am aware of your thoughts and I know what to do about it, come along with me.’

He had taken him along into a large garden behind a monastery and told him: ‘Look, just you jump in, and all of a sudden you will know how everything is.’

Frances pointed a thornbush out to him.

He looked at him as if he wanted to say: You wouldn’t dare. And André jumped into the thornbush naked so that the blood streamed down his body on all sides.

But when he awoke in the morning and remembered his dream, there was nothing to be seen on his body; so it had just been a dream.

And now he was brooding over the same problem again.

It would turn his mind if he wasn’t delivered from this soon.

He concentrated as he had never done before, because he wanted to sleep.

Lying awake half the night and dreaming meaningless dreams, that wouldn’t help him in the least.

I’ll keep on praying, he thought, until I fall asleep.

He succeeded; the prayer sent him into a deep sleep.

He wasn’t aware how long he had been asleep, when suddenly he thought he heard his name being called.

He looked around, but saw no-one.

Again he heard: ‘André?’

Who was that calling him?

Was he being fetched again for something or other?

Hey, what was that?

He was standing next to his body.

He immediately thought of his previous nightly journey.

Did someone need his help?

Who had set him free?

Alcar?

Where was his leader?

Were other problems ahead which he was going to experience?

That time when he was allowed to heal Annie, two persons who were unknown to him had also come to fetch him, and after everything had been made clear to him, they had proved to be Alcar and his master.

How badly he had thought of them, he wanted to prevent this from happening again.

Yet he would have to be careful and not just go along; after all, he couldn’t be certain that these beings weren’t some unfortunate beings who had come to call on him.

Again he heard: ‘André, would you follow us?’

Follow, he thought, where to?

He heard by the tone of voice that these weren’t unhappy spirits because it revealed love; in the spirit one could immediately sense and hear this.

On this side a demon wouldn’t be able to conceal himself, he would be recognized by some token or other.

Before him stood two beings, enveloped in a haze of light.

He saw them, and yet they seemed like shadows.

Still he had heard nothing from his leader.

At that same instant he felt a power of love flowing through him; he had experienced the same feeling when they had come to fetch him for Annie, and this made him determined to go along.

He stepped towards them and felt how he was lifted up and that they moved away from the earth.

I see, he thought, so this is a journey to the spheres.

So this condition was different from that of Annie’s.

They left the earth in rapid flight and he was very curious where they would be taking him to.

André looked up at the sky and got a shock.

Something was wrong here.

He wasn’t familiar with a condition like this, Alcar had never shown him anything of the kind.

The sky was yellow.

This couldn’t be true.

How could a sky ever be yellow?

He had never heard of such a thing.

Did skies such as these exist on this side?

He thought it was abnormal, it just wasn’t natural.

He knew the light of the skies, right from the dark areas up to the fifth sphere, but a sky such as this he had never perceived before.

He decided to be especially careful.

He saw a landscape with yellow trees and yellow plants, everything appeared to be yellow.

Could this be real?

Of course not.

It was a fake.

Was he being taken to unnatural conditions?

Was he being put to a test?

What was behind it all?

They kept on gliding along and he felt himself being drawn forward by the two invisible spirits.

At last they halted.

He was standing on a high hill and looked down on a deep valley that stretched out before him.

André felt that he had been placed before a certain condition, because in front of him there was a path that wound its way through the valley.

On the other side he saw a large building.

The only one to be seen in this endless space.

Should he descend?

Was that their intention?

And he immediately sensed that this was what they expected of him; he was to follow that path.

How strange everything was, so unnatural and mysterious.

Why didn’t they speak to him?

Wouldn’t it be better for him to go back?

There was nobody to stop him.

He had learnt that much, and he knew how to concentrate if danger threatened.

And yet he was curious to find out what the meaning of all this could be.

He descended and it took him quite a while before he had reached the opposite side.

Finally he found himself standing in front of a castle that seemed to have emerged from out of the ground.

He stopped to think.

It was an old building, made of yellowish building stones.

That wasn’t natural either.

Not a being to be seen, and there was an oppressive silence which made him feel uncomfortable.

A large door that looked more like a portal blocked the entrance.

Again he looked around in the landscape but didn’t see a living soul, and his companions had disappeared too.

The silence scared him.

Life had gone to sleep here.

No wind to freshen up nature, nothing but staleness in the air, unnatural and mysterious.

Nobody could ever feel happy in this place.

He would rather be on earth and stay there.

Whatever would he meet with behind those thick doors?

People?

And those who had come to fetch him, where had they gone to?

Was this the end of the journey?

Was he supposed to enter?

All these questions went through his mind.

He went up a little closer, maybe a solution would present itself.

But after he had advanced a few yards the door opened up by itself; it scared him stiff.

He stopped dead in his tracks.

Now I’m in for it, he thought.

But no-one appeared.

His knees were trembling.

What was the meaning of this?

He peered into a long corridor, but saw no-one.

Was there somebody standing behind the door?

No, that was impossible, he saw at a glance that the door was practically flush with the wall.

But what, or who had ever opened it? Were they awaiting him here?

Where was Alcar?

After that question he felt again that Alcar was watching over him, and he went inside.

He had hardly stepped over the threshold when he saw his invisible friends before him.

The long corridor was laid out with tiles and again everything looked yellow and bare.

He was standing at the top of a long staircase, which he descended.

He counted the steps and at the same time he was surprised that all these trivial things came to his mind.

He got to the foot of the stairs and again faced a long corridor which led them to a large hall.

He stopped once more and thought it all over.

What kind of a building was this?

Why were they taking him to a subterranean hall?

He saw lots of pillars that served as foundations to support the building.

Here too everything was yellow.

There were no other colours to be seen.

He had got used to it and it seemed quite normal now, although he knew that it was nothing of the kind.

The hall was filled with a dense haze which he couldn’t see through.

Were they keeping everything invisible to him?

Were they planning to suddenly confront him with something?

He sensed his companions at a few yards distance before him.

Yet he was calm and already felt familiar with them.

He understood that he should go on, which he did.

Step by step he walked on, because he was sure that he was about to experience something new here.

After he had advanced about a dozen yards he heard a soft sound that he thought he recognized.

The first form of life he had heard on his long journey.

Was it a human being?

He kept listening attentively and it sounded like someone breathing deeply.

Again he went on, only to get a second shock.

There before him he saw three beings.

One of them was undressed and merely wore a loincloth which was wrapped around his waist.

Next to him stood two others, strong fellows, who both held a whip in their hands, which suddenly made him understand this scene.

They were wearing yellow garments, and the only other colour he had set eyes on in this country until then was the black cord tied around their waist.

He now felt that a part of the veil of secrecy would be lifted for him.

He had learnt in the life after death that colours meant light.

Those black cords meant that he would soon experience what they intended doing.

A ray of light filtered through, but where was the actual problem?

The one who had undressed was a handsome young person of about thirty years old.

What did they want of him?

Were those two strong fellows his tormentors?

Was he going to get a thrashing?

If that was the case, then he understood why they had come to fetch him.

Yes, the man was breathing deeply, so he was the one whom he had just heard.

The young man tried to gather all the powers he carried within.

His tormentors were waiting until he felt ready and André sensed that the man was going to let himself be whipped of his own free will.

Suddenly he stepped forward towards one of the pillars, took his stand and waited.

André trembled.

He was gathering all his strength, which he clearly sensed.

What was it they wanted to show him?

He concentrated on him and knew that he was willingly letting himself get whipped.

Now he understood it all.

This had to do with him and Frances.

This problem would now also be solved for him.

Here he would be able to experience whether self-chastisement meant spiritual development.

He sensed an enormous tension.

The tormentors were standing to the left and the right of him and were waiting for a sign that allowed them to begin.

André sensed how he gave them the signal.

The blows fell from the left and the right and every blow they dealt left broad red slashes on his body.

Soon he had been beaten black and blue, but he bravely stood up to it.

Self-chastisement!

At last the mystery was dispersed that had kept him in a terrible tension for months on end.

He was still being flogged, but he wouldn’t be able to bear it much longer.

The sweat that flowed down his body was red with blood.

He stood there, his head held high, allowing them to whip him.

He was a hero.

André felt an enormous tension building up within him.

Now he was being given a chance to show what he wanted, what he could do.

The young man smiled with every beating he was given.

And he was all aflame too, wanting to experience the same.

At last the two stopped and carried him away.

He had stood up to it.

Would he be convinced that this had brought him spiritual development?

A pity that he had gone, he would have asked him.

Was he here for the same purpose as he was?

He felt a strong power rising in him.

Yes, he was prepared.

And when he had made this inner decision, his two companions jumped forward, ready to flog him.

Well now, so they were his tormentors?

And yet they were not, it was he who wanted this. They wouldn’t do this if he decided against it.

But if he went through with this, it would rid him of all his misery.

He thought it over, what should he do?

This was no thorn­bush, but it was self-chastisement all the same, and it would teach him something.

No, he didn’t want to back out now, he wanted to experience this too.

Only now did he see that they had thought of everything.

He was wearing the same kind of garment they had on, although he hadn’t noticed this before.

Had he received this here, now, while he had decided to go through with it?

He had no time to think. He flung the garment from him and positioned himself in front of one of the pillars.

He had to stay about two feet away from the pillar, as he felt how he could go no further.

He understood that they wanted to beat him from the front as well as the back.

The other one had pressed himself against the pillar.

Was this a different condition?

André sighed deeply to gather all his powers.

He decided deep down that they were allowed to begin and at that same moment the first lashings hit him.

How terrible was the first beating.

His soul cried out and trembled.

He flinched with every beating.

Terrible, he thought, whatever did I let myself in for!

I’ll give in any moment now.

I can’t bear this.

He looked up and thought he saw some other source of light.

Strange, he thought, if I concentrate on that light, I don’t feel the beatings so intensely.

Was it Alcar?

But all he could see was a dim haze.

Was he being helped?

Was Alcar letting him feel this?

With every beating his concentration went to pieces; he felt the beatings slash into him.

His body glowed like fire.

The sweat poured from all over his body and his was coloured red too.

There wasn’t a spot left unmarred, he had been beaten black and blue from top to bottom.

Only his head and his feet remained untouched and his hands stayed free of slashes too.

He had no idea where he got all that strength from.

How strong a person could be!

He felt how his entire concentration was focussed on this condition.

Yet he realized that his strength was waning.

His whole body was tense, his muscles were being beaten to jelly.

Never before had he felt such power deep within.

He gave everything he had, not wanting to keep back any reserves.

He still taxed all his energies, as he felt how he might give in at any moment.

He wanted to remain upright, just like that other fellow.

Oh God, he thought, whatever made me do this.

He looked up at the light, because he was on the verge of collapsing.

He now felt that if he wanted to stop, they would immediately cease.

With every raising of an arm he felt the blow even before it had been dealt to him.

No, he could take no more and they instantly stopped their beatings.

The light had vanished too.

There he stood.

How terrible his body looked.

He was a dreadful sight.

His hands, head and feet hadn’t been touched, but all the other places were a mass of red slashes.

He had the feeling that his eyes were protruding out of his head, and everything was taut.

Where was his spiritual possession?

He didn’t feel the slightest change.

And yet he had bravely persevered!

It was a bitter disappointment.

He hadn’t changed a bit; he had remained the same deep down.

He had become convinced, but had undergone a woeful experience.

He had had to pay dearly before this problem had been solved for him.

He cursed the moment the book had fallen into his hands.

What an influence books could have on people.

He had gone through all of this for nothing.

It was his own will and his own fault, and Alcar would be angry with him.

Tears of remorse about this big disappointment ran down his cheeks.

A few moments ago he had been able to hide them, but now this was impossible to him.

He felt broken, body and soul.

Had he done wrong?

Everything had been unnatural from the very start.

He should have turned back.

He had paid a high price for this knowledge.

Every step on this path he had had to pay for with a flogging.

How many floggings would some beings have to receive before they too became convinced that they were on the wrong track.

When they arrived in the hereafter, he knew this for sure, many would willingly submit to a flogging to make amends for their wrong-doings, but by then it would be too late.

The thought that this had opened his eyes was like ointment on his wounds, and it eased down the cutting pains.

What was left for him to do in this place?

Nothing at all.

He wanted to return to his body, go back again to earth.

Would even that prove to be impossible?

A terrible fear came over him.

He felt himself being lifted and in a flash he was taken away.

He had soon reached the earth, and returned into his physical body.

He awoke with a slight start and he was aware of everything he had experienced in the spheres.

He felt dead-tired.

He could neither move his arms nor his legs.

His first thoughts were with his leader.

He heard nothing from him.

Was he in his bad books now?

Surely not?

Couldn’t anything be done about it?

After all, he knew his leader as a spirit of love and all he wanted was to convince himself.

It would turn his mind if he had to do without Alcar.

Oh, how this tormented him.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was six o’clock in the morning.

He always returned at this time after he had been allowed to visit the spheres with Alcar.

Did Alcar know all this, and had he maybe helped him?

He wanted to turn around but he couldn’t.

His entire body was taut.

Everything hurt.

He fell into a deep sleep and awoke around eight o‘clock.

This time it was easier for him to move than it had been at six o‘clock.

This relaxation had done him good.

He quickly got out of bed to get dressed.

He took off his pyama and got the biggest shock he had ever had.

Whatever had happened to his body?

It was covered from top to bottom with slashes.

It was black and blue, just as his spiritual body had experienced this.

There wasn’t a spot left untouched, it was terrible to look at.

Only his face, hands and feet were unscarred.

He looked for quite a while at his poor physical body and relived what he had gone through the previous night.

He saw himself standing before the pillar and felt every blow that had been dealt out to him.

Again he experienced the sorrow he had felt after the flogging.

How strange, he thought, yet I feel intensely happy, what could this mean?

He didn’t know what it was, but it had a meaning.

His sense of disappointment vanished on the spot.

What he had experienced in the spirit had been taken over by his material body.

What was this miracle that had taken place?

This certainly was a miracle; he had no doubt about that.

What were these powers which he was linked up with?

Had this been Alcar’s intention?

The physical body had taken over the spiritual condition, he had never experienced anything like this.

He felt exhausted, but it didn’t hurt, even though his skin was stretched tightly over his whole body.

He beseeched Alcar to please help him but he got no answer.

Were they demons, who had caused him to experience this?

No, that was impossible, he had wanted this himself.

He got dressed quickly, because his mother would be terribly shocked if she saw him like this.

This was all very odd.

His spiritual body had been thousands of miles apart from his physical body, and yet the spiritual body had imprinted these experiences on matter.

How could this happen?

He knew that when he disembodied, he still remained connected by the fluid cord with his body.

The fluid cord was the vital strand which linked up both bodies.

He thought he saw the solution.

If this were true, it would be marvellous, yet very simple.

In fact there was no other possibility.

Even though the strand was invisible, both bodies formed one condition.

He returned in the spirit to that same place in order to determine how he had felt there.

Perhaps he could perceive something.

He felt himself sinking and moving, and he focussed his powers of concentration.

Now he saw a thin silvery thread which ran from him towards the physical body and which he could clearly follow.

He saw and felt that it was alive.

Could this cord have conveyed the things he had experienced?

It would make it very simple.

But wasn’t this merely his own phantasy?

Was he that sensitive?

After all, Alcar had told him that he couldn’t perceive the fluid cord, contrary to those who did have cosmic attunement.

But he was still very far removed from that level.

But then what?

It surprised him that he was busy solving his problem.

Never before had something like this occurred to him.

He had always waited until Alcar explained everything to him.

It was also clear to him that this process had been so totally different from all the previous conditions which he had been allowed to experience.

Now he was busy analyzing these things, but he also felt alone, because he heard nothing from Alcar.

Had it been the latter’s will to let him experience this?

His thoughts returned to the vital thread.

He must have become very sensitive, if this were the truth.

Here he was shown that his feeling had been greatly developed and that the vital thread possessed that sensitivity, which could be experienced by anyone who developed himself spiritually.

Now that he had gone through everything from beginning to end, it no longer presented a problem to him.

The self-chastisement had convinced him, but this couldn’t possibly have anything to do with his physical garment.

After all, he hadn’t been inside his physical garment, had he?

Frances might be a saint, but this wasn’t the way, he had sensed that very clearly.

Now he saw a different aspect: to him this had, since long, become an established fact, but to science this would present splendid proof that the spiritual body was a separate body that continued to live on in an eternal condition.

That he hadn’t thought of this before, or wouldn’t the scientists accept this?

To parapsychologists this was the sub­conscious.

Or could they set up more theories to destroy this proof, to prove the opposite?

Were these subconscious forces?

This couldn’t be true, after all, he had experienced all this consciously.

What was that he now heard a voice say?

‘Stigmatization?’

Who was saying this to him?

It wasn’t Alcar’s voice which he heard.

‘Stigmatization, or suggestion, or concentration on various conditions, which is suggestion and manifests itself on the body.’

The voice had spoken clearly.

Suggestion?

Suggest?

How could that be?

Is that what they would say?

Couldn’t science come up with something else?

How could he concentrate on himself while he wasn’t even within his own body?

Didn’t they believe that he disembodied?

When he was painting and a spirit made use of his body, he had also disembodied.

And yet a painting was produced.

Would that be possible if he himself knew nothing about it?

Would he have to lie to himself and admit that this was the case?

Could he fool himself if the power, consciousness had left his body?

It was a different condition, a different talent, yet a disembodiment was a disembodiment and it meant that the spirit had left the physical body.

Oh, he certainly felt the great importance of this disembodiment and he wanted to make the best of a bad job.

How could these ever be subconscious forces?

After all, he had been asleep, and hadn’t been aware of anything.

His spiritual body was alive and experienced what it perceived in the spirit.

The body that dwelt in matter and guided matter, that body was the eternal body that continued to live on.

This spiritual intellect was eternal life.

What would be left of this great happening if it had something to do with the subconscious?

Nothing of course, but he didn’t simply want to submit.

After all, he had experienced it himself.

He knew from experience how the spiritual body could live in that other world and what all those attunements were like.

No, it had nothing to do with stigmatization.

It was much simpler.

If only they would accept that one circumstance, namely that the fluid cord was the force which connected both bodies and in that way, due also to its sensitivity, it manifested a separate gift in matter.

He suddenly remembered his dream.

He sensed that this too was somehow linked up.

It had to do with this miracle.

Frances had called him and he had jumped right into the thornbush without anything happening to his material body.

It had only been a dream.

He couldn’t yet bridge the gap between these two conditions.

What were dreams really all about, and why wasn’t he maimed when he awoke from his dream?

How could this be explained?

Did that dream belong to the subconscious?

In that case his subconscious was meaningless because it told him nothing.

He had experienced this spiritually, he had even been aware of everything that happened to him, and he had paid attention to all the things he had encountered on his journey.

Whereas his dream had been a real dream without any meaning.

The longer he thought about it, the clearer his mind could picture it, so that he was able to understand this miracle.

And how sensitive man was when he became attuned to the life hereafter.

As soon as he had expressed the thought: I can’t stand this any longer, it had ceased immediately.

On earth one would have had to shout it out at the top of one’s voice before they would have heard.

He was familiar with these powers, it was the possession of a higher form of love, a higher attunement than that of the earth.

Now he also understood why he had had to experience all this consciously.

He wouldn’t have understood the slightest thing otherwise!

The more he pondered, the more he felt himself treading solid ground, which gave him support in this condition.

Now he also understood why his leader hadn’t shown himself. He had to experience this on his own in order to analyze it by himself.

It had been his own will, but Alcar had offered him a chance to experience his problem.

He felt happy that Alcar had taken this opportunity to show what the spiritual body and the material body really are.

That was it, he sensed this clearly.

It was a beautiful and a splendid piece of proof that life went on forever.

Of course he didn’t yet know for sure whether things were really as he believed them to be, but it could hardly be otherwise.

He would wait until his leader explained it all to him.

Nonetheless, a total feeling of happiness surged through him; he hadn’t allowed himself to be flogged for nothing.

He would gladly let himself be whipped to death in exchange for this kind of proof, as long as it convinced mankind that the spiritual body continues to live on as the eternal intelligent body.

Science wouldn’t be able to raise any objections, because then this experience would have to be an involuntary autosuggestion and that was no science.

Sciences that had to do with the subconscious weren’t yet known in this world, and they had no chance to exist on earth.

It was nothing, because it was all subconscious.

Stigmatization and concentration or the impact of the subconscious were impossible. His experience had shown him that the spiritual body is the intelligent body which continues to live on forever.

He felt peaceful, and he was happy that he had been allowed to experience this.

In the afternoon he heard his leader Alcar: ‘Well, my boy.

Here I am again to explain a lot of things to you and make them clear.

It didn’t last too long, I hope, André?’

André was touched when he heard Alcar’s loving voice again.

He had longed for the sound of it.

‘I’ll explain certain conditions to you; the others you have already understood.

It was all my doing, André, because you wanted this yourself.

I have tried to make it clear to you how unnatural everything is and I made you experience all this in the spirit.

On our side these conditions exist in order to convince the spirit of the artificiality of certain things which it considers natural.

I also showed you that unnaturalness beforehand, but your eagerness to learn held you captive.

Again, it was not my will but your own to experience this.

So I used your will to show that the spirit is a separate body which goes on living forever.

I also helped you to analyze it yourself, which would give you an even better understanding of all these things.

So it was I who spoke to you, but the voice I used to speak was a different one.

I supported you in everything and I also admired your courage which makes me happy. It proves your will to convince mankind of a life that continues forever.

You have proved in this way that you would defy anything, no matter how it approaches you, in order to make people happy on earth.

But it wasn’t my will, don’t you ever forget that.

There are a thousand other ways to convince man, besides this one.

Yet I’m happy.

This prepared you to receive other work which will enable you to help many people.

You have experienced how useful this disembodiment has been.

The psychic powers you became familiar with will mean wisdom in the spirit.

That is why everything was given to you consciously.

It was my impact which gave you your dream, I made you dream it.

I was Frances, André.

I used it to show you that a dream has nothing to do with a spiritual disembodiment.

If you hadn’t decided to let yourself be flogged, I couldn’t have given you this proof.

Is this clear to you?

But I didn’t doubt your powers and your will power and I therefore kept you linked up with this condition.

I maintained this connection for four reasons.

First of all to demonstrate that the spirit is a separate body that goes on living forever.

Second, to test to what extent you understand our work which is given to you in the spirit.

Third, to make you understand that self-chastisement is not the way to acquire spiritual development. And fourth, that spiritualism is truth, that we who have cast off the physical body, live a life of happiness and possess an intelligent body which guided our physical body along on earth.

And I was enabled to do this after you had read a book which mentioned self-chastisement.

If we possess instruments with a psychic attunement, we can convince science of a life that continues forever.

You replied to many of your own questions, because you clearly sensed the answers.

But I linked you up again in the spirit and made you see the fluid cord in visionary attunement.

Is this clear to you too?’

André understood because he had experienced it.

‘So I let you perceive by conveying a mental image to you.

I was the light you perceived while it happened.

I gave you support, but I let you sense the full forces, let you experience the entire event.

I will tell you how it’s possible for the physical body to take on spiritual experiences, in other words, how a flogging in the spirit can act on matter.

This happens by means of the vital cord – which you already sensed – and which connects both bodies even though the spiritual body is separated from matter.

Science, as I explained to you on our last journey, has performed experiments to make a medium disembody by force, namely through the power of a hypnotist.

That instrument was given a task and would carry it out.

The medium told them what it perceived at long distance and this perception and the spoken words were conveyed via the fluid cord.

The sound that came through was softer than the medium’s actual tone of voice.

You will experience these same conditions through your own medium­ship when they present themselves.

Science found this very wondrous but soon the wonder was destroyed.

It depends on the sensitivity of a medium whether everything it perceives afar will come through and pass onto the physical body.

This special gift, which you possess, has now reached a stage of development which enabled me to show you all this.

But there are a thousand other conditions besides flogging, my boy, which make it possible for us to experience all this.

So the transfer of these spiritual perceptions can only happen if the instrument possesses this sensitivity.

I will now try to explain to you what dreams are.’

André thought: Alcar knows everything, he knows how I think and how I feel.

‘A dream is like being in a trance.

In the sleep there are seven levels of trance conversions, of which the seventh equals apparent death.

These attunements are unknown on earth, it’s impossible for man to detect them.

It’s only possible for us who have shed our physical body.

To come back to your dream, it was no dream you experienced yourself, in other words, emerged from out of your inner condition, but it was imposed upon you by me.

So you dreamt because I wanted you to, by means of my will and the concentration of my thoughts, which is a condition in itself.

A person can therefore have dreams which have been given to him in the spirit.

Your dream was a condition of feeling, imprinted on your center of feeling by concentration and strong will power.

Is this clear to you?

As I just said, sleep encompasses seven levels.

The first, second and third levels denote the conditions in which man is at rest and withdraws the consciousness of feeling from matter, which means that feeling is transferred to the spirit.

The powers of concentration have then passed over into the spirit, which corresponds to the attunement during semi-sleep.

This sleep isn’t deep, it is proportionate to the condition of the physical body.

If the physical body isn’t in a state of normal health, the person is easily aroused from his sleep, as his sleep is disturbed by some illness of the nerves or other organs.

One must first possess a healthy body in order to get enough sleep.

When the nervous system is tense or when it contracts, normal sleep becomes impossible and the person will then suffer from insomnia.

So it’s obvious that under these conditions matter can have a disturbing influence.

In the fourth level of sleep the spirit withdraws from the material world and the physical body is released from all disturbing factors.

Those who are in this condition will sleep peacefully and will hardly awaken with a start, as the stage of semi-waking consciousness will have been surpassed.

In this condition man is aware of the life he has lived, depending on the state of health of the physical body, because the material garment will not allow the body of sensitivity to depart.

But this also encompasses thousands of attunements that each depend on man’s development in the spirit.

So it’s clear that the nervous system will react to the body of sensitivity, even when the person is in an unconscious state, equalling sleep.

The spiritual body is and remains as it lives and feels in matter.

So when the physical body is below its normal level of health, the powers of concentration return to matter and the body of sensitivity will pass through the third, second and first level of sleep and return to the condition of life where consciousness is keeping watch.

This is when one wakes up and the physical organs start functioning normally again.

The fifth (level) coincides with the attunement in which the spirit and the physical body split up, and feeling is transferred to the spirit which enables disembodiment.

Only then can the spiritual body leave matter behind and go wherever it wants to.

The spiritual body has then transcended the semi-waking consciousness and the spirit has entered the conscious spiritual realm.

There aren’t many people on earth who have reached the sixth level.

This is an enhanced capacity of spiritual concentration which can be attained after a long period of study.

Those who possess these powers and are able to govern matter by will power and concentration get more benefit from one hour of sleep than others do from eight hours, which is the time people normally need.

This condition transcends that of disembodiment.

Nonetheless, they cannot disembody if they don’t possess the necessary spiritual attunement.

If they tend towards matter, this will attract them and disable the spirit.

They will attune according to the way they feel and want.

So their inner attunement to spiritual life abides by a spiritual law.

Concentration has brought them this far, but they’re unable to acquire the treasures of the spirit like you can, since your feeling finds attunement in the spirit.

However, your attunement harmonizes with the fifth level, and it borders on the sixth.

We have already done these experiments together and you know their wonderful results.

So it will be clear to you that a person can only consciously disembody if he attunes in the spirit and actually possesses that attunement.

The seventh level of sleep equals apparent death.

Here the auras of life dissolve in the spirit.

This is clearly demonstrated by the physical body.

There are people who have achieved this through concentration and strong will power.

An example of this are the fakirs.

They can be buried and remain under the ground for days; they are even capable of prolonging their life on earth and invigorating it by draining off other people’s vital juices.

When they let themselves be buried, the physical body is fed and its condition maintained by the fluid cord.

The fakir needs a few hours of total darkness to attain this condition.

This darkness is necessary because the vital aura would dissolve in daylight, which would prevent him from reaching his intended goal.

Following this he can be buried and even after a long period he will reappear alive.

Their powers of concentration are focussed accurately on the physical body; it’s under their complete control and they can subject matter to their will power.

While we were in the dark spheres I told you how the auras of life function.

The auras are vital powers which feed matter by means of a person’s power of feeling.

If the aura of life cannot be withdrawn, then apparent death is ruled out.

The aura of life is the connection between breath and feeling.

When man lives, his breath passes through the appropriate organs but the aura of life completes the physical activities and constitutes the linking threads or lines between the spirit and the material body.

If one of these, the breath or the aura, is out of order, this will lead to the person’s death or cause a disturbance which will result in heart failure.

This is a spiritual disorder which has material consequences, causing the spiritual body to separate from the material body.

Accordingly, a fakir can reach this state of apparent death by withdrawing the vital powers from his material body, which means that it’s no longer under any spiritual influence, except for one single percent of energy.

When he returns into his material body, the aura of life will function like an electrical current reactivating the machine.

So the material body is alive but has been deprived of its activity.

This intense power of concentration is a gift, which is directly linked to mediumship. Nevertheless, it also requires spiritual help from this side to establish this.

So if they don’t possess the gift of submittance, they won’t be able to achieve this.

I could fill entire books on the subject of sleep and dreams if I had to dissect and analyze every transition of feeling.

I have made an effort to explain all this to you so that you would understand your own attunement.

I hope that it’s all clear to you now.

I could explain to you how the physical body demands energy and returns it, how the spirit operates and accomplishes its function during life on earth as long as it is one with matter.

But you will receive all this knowledge at a later stage, and I will tell you all about these transitions, which are neither known nor sensed on earth.

Each level of sleep is either a conscious or a subconscious condition of life, so you will now understand what happened to you and how your physical body could possibly take it on.

My boy, I thank you for your courage and your will to do our work, which will make your spirit receive the wisdom which only few on earth may partake of.

Your strong will to be someone for others is known to us and we feel it, and we will let you experience in accordance with your own powers.

In a few days the material phenomena will also vanish.

This morning I was allowed to ease your pains while you were in deep sleep.

Now I must leave, my boy, new problems will be explained to you.

Know that I will stand by you in everything.

Thank God for your great and sacred gift.

Your Alcar.’

Again a problem had been solved, and he had experienced another miracle.

How great Alcar was.

He thanked him for his help and his unfailing love, and God too, for everything he had received.