Source texts from the books by Jozef Rulof for the article ‘insanity’.
These sources presume the prior reading of the article ‘insanity’.
Explanation at soul level
In the book series ‘The Cosmology of Jozef Rulof’, master Alcar asks Jozef Rulof (André) whether it is true what was written in the book ‘The Origin of the Universe’ from 1939 that children can be born as a result of the influence of an astral personality:
As a result of this we see, my brothers, that the material being is very ordinary, will just follow, will experience the life, but the astral personality looks through the material eyes and sees Sun and Moon again and undergoes the human being one, but now by means of the material being.
We established then, André, therefore by means of the books ‘The Origin of the Universe’, we wrote that now children are being born by means of the astral personality, didn’t we?”
“Yes, Master, I was able to experience these laws with you.”
“Precisely, we talked about that and expressed ourselves like that, but is that true?
I mean, can children now be born by means of the astral personality?”
“No, my Master, but I understand now why you said that.”
The Cosmology of Jozef Rulof Part 5, 1944
The article sources ‘Explanation at soul level -- sources’ state what Alcar then says: “I expressed myself like that at that time, because I could not yet explain the ‘Cosmology’ to you and we now have to accept that.”
In this way, master Alcar illustrates that the terminology and the explanation level of ‘The Origin of the Universe’ and the book from 1939 which came before that, ‘Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side’ belong to the earthly thinking.
In the cosmology master Alcar then further explains that at soul level the soul itself determines when it will be born:
After all, the astral being is one, experiences this unity with the material and through the material being.
But we have now learned that the soul itself will determine when it will be born, so that neither the human being nor the astral personality can change these laws, but that they can experience the being one together.
And we now see that happening.
The Cosmology of Jozef Rulof Part 5, 1944
You will find more information about this in the article ‘motherhood and fatherhood’.
The human being from 1952 still used names such as ‘insane people’, ‘possessed people’ and ‘psychopaths’:
There are twenty books alone to be written about insanity, the work which will come into existence is just an illustration in comparison to the condition in which those millions of people live and whom you call psychopaths and possessed people, insane people.
Jeus of Mother Crisje Part 3, 1952
During a contact evening, Jozef Rulof was asked whether insanity could also be caused by a physical disorder:
‘But insanity is always often a result of an organic fault?’
Questions and Answers Part 4, 1952
Jozef confirmed this:
But that can also happen because of a tumour in the brain, or another material disturbance here or there in the body, in the organism.
Spiritual insanity is directly possession - can you feel? - then there is someone in there.
Questions and Answers Part 4, 1952
That someone is an astral personality:
Insanity means being possessed, namely by something outside of you, and that ‘something’ is the astral personality.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
For the masters the phenomena that people on earth call insanity point to the spiritual development of the soul which evolves to a higher grade of feeling:
To us, insanity denotes spiritual development, but to the scholar it stands for destruction and poverty.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Grades of feeling
If the human being lives at the full hundred percent in a particular grade of feeling and then experiences the pre-animal-like, animal-like or coarse-material love in that, then no demonic personality from the dark spheres can reach the earthly inner life:
If this love is pre-animal-like, animal-like or coarse-material, and if the human being lives its life on its own strength – which means that the personality itself experiences this to the full hundred percent – then no demon can reach that life.
The earthly inner life then experiences itself, and there will be no question of astral influence having any impact.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
When the soul passes onto a higher grade of feeling, the personality is more susceptible to influence:
But when this life has reached a certain inner development and subsequently passes on to a higher grade, then the personality will split in two and this life then opens up to our world.
This life is now suspended between two grades and becomes susceptible, because it has cast off the protection of its own grade.
The material as well as the natural mental balance are thrown out of joint and behold the astral world can now start to indulge.
At this point, insanity will be experienced and the human being will perish in this life. However, in some other life, following this one, he will return to the normal stage after having learnt from this experience; thereupon, the soul as a personality ascends again and this is followed by a new collapse.
The personality cannot be itself before it has reached the spiritual grade, because it will then have mastered all the unconscious, dark grades pertaining to human life and will finally be capable of standing on its own feet.
All human beings go through this experience, André, and this marks their return to God.
Not a single soul can escape this.
Without insanity, life after death would not exist either.
One single life is too short for a personality to master all these grades of life.
This requires thousands of lives.
We undergo all these laws, both as a man and as a woman.
Homosexuality is brought about during the transition from man to woman. I will explain this to you shortly.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
The inhabitants of the dark spheres want to experience the physical anew:
That world wants to see the light, it wants to eat and drink, wants warmth, because that is what they lack in the hells.
This is the obvious reason why that life returns to earth, where it makes use of the possibility to experience physicality anew.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
It usually concerns physical lust:
Some steal and rob under the influence of the dark astral world, whereas others murder, but the masses are looking for bodily passion.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Possession
Every human being is different:
If you go into that, then you will feel: one person loves this, the other person loves that, he has those longings, and according to those longings you see the possession, the action, the deed, the state, and now it is natural, every human being is different, and in this way you also get to see different complexes and problems with those people.
Questions and Answers Part 4, 1952
In the case of possession, the day-consciousness is dominated:
The astral personality causes disharmony inside the organism, and the owner of this earthly body is crushed within his own body, since the day-conscious self is now overruled.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Master Alcar gave an example of a man who was possessed by a female personality.
When that woman was attacked by other astral personalities because they wanted to experience her anew, a fight occurred whereby the human being became extremely strong in the eyes of the world:
At the moment, the man is quiet and so are all these others here, but soon this female being will be attacked, as they want to molest her too, and his peace will be over.
Then there will be such a bestial, gruesome fight, that his hands and feet will need to be tied lest he tear everything to pieces.
In this condition, the man’s strength increases a hundredfold and he becomes untameable.
Not even a dozen men could make him budge; he would break them.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Due to all those astral beings, his power increases, which is not hard to understand.
A scholar is not familiar with this condition, which could in fact have enabled him to establish the existence of astral consciousness.
A single person could never possess such strength.
Whenever this insane person appears to become rebellious, actually it is the others who want to prevent their victim from being bound hand and foot.
That astral force can be immense and in the end, the organism cannot stand it anymore and collapses.
Therefore, the demons cannot exceed the natural balance; the ensuing disturbance would make the physical body collapse.
Nevertheless, they can raise a patient’s strength to such an extent that he could tear everything to pieces.
The more demonic the astral force and astral consciousness are, the more the insane person’s physical strength will increase, which also serves to indicate the extent of astral concentration.
But the scientist does not think that far.
He still sees one single individual, yet there may be a dozen of them.
That dozen could connect him with our dark, unconscious world and enable him to cast a glance into life after death.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Lien
Master Alcar also described the battle of a woman against the inhabitant of the dark spheres who wanted to drink through her:
Lien can no longer fall asleep and fills herself with coffee to reduce the burning feeling inside of her.
The fight is ferocious.
By nine o’clock, she has put in all she has.
She resists to the utmost, yet the demon still has control over her.
Lien takes a little jenever.
A few drinks only.
She takes her time over it.
She thinks that she’s now doing the drinking herself.
She wants to take it easy and walks around the room, taking a sip now and then.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
The few drinks have a disastrous effect.
Suddenly, the astral monster pounces upon her life and her personality, and Lien goes off into a complete trance.
Now something happens that has never occurred before.
Lien no longer knows what she is doing, but through her the demon empties two bottles of jenever, until Lien’s nervous system gives way and her tired-out, damaged body collapses, and lies there, half dead.
When she regains consciousness, she stamps on the floor with rage.
She could kill herself.
She stands there trembling on her legs; her mind is confused and her heart pounds in her throat.
“You damned scoundrel”, she mutters, but the demon doesn’t hear her; he’s sleeping off his hangover too.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Jozef Rulof told her that the dark personality had attacked her in her sleep:
He tells Lien how the demon surprised her in her sleep.
Lien will remember this, thanks to the books that made her more aware of these matters.
She’s getting to know all these laws and feels more acutely now than she used to.
Even in her sleep, she must possess that resistance.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Jozef explained to her why her body endured this:
“When you drink, Lien, you are actually possessed, and it is that personality who is using you to quench his own thirst.
Therefore, it is obvious that you cannot experience the full impact of the jenever.
It also tells you that your stomach digests all this through the powers of someone else, otherwise, you would have contracted one illness after the other.
If you do this under your own strength, your organism will soon collapse.”
“My master says:
This is why people of that kind are usually very strong physically; the driving power of the demon feeds the organism.”
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
He explained to her what the astral influence did with her:
You’re punishing yourself by drinking, although you are under some influence and it’s another person who is drinking through you and thereby actually excludes you from entering a happy sphere.
Do you sense, Lien, that you’re the one to perish, even though it’s someone else who takes to the bottle through you?”
“The other one really ought to bear the blame, shouldn’t he?”
“So he should, but you’re within reach.
Even if that’s not what you want, your life is still open to all that misery.
Many people are inspired to do wrong by the other side, by the dark elements.
Nevertheless, it’s their consciousness that enables this to happen.
What I want to make clear to you through Master Alcar, is this: when we become attuned to a sphere of light, we are no longer within reach of the dark elements.
Therefore, we cannot enter a higher sphere before we possess that attunement within; otherwise, the laws of that sphere would stop us.
You are not bad, Lien, you will enter that first sphere faster than thousands of others who believe they already live like saints.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Lien still thought that she could taunt the astral world:
She wakes up in the morning with a terrible thirst.
She is still herself, but by now she knows that she will be attacked.
But what does Lien do?
She puts a shot of liquor in front of her, and taunts the astral world.
Just let that hell-dweller try to reach her, if he can!
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
She did not realise that her concentration was not strong enough for that:
Less than ten minutes later she downs three shots of jenever and isn’t even aware of what she’s doing!
In his sly way, the demon has once more caught her by surprise.
For a short moment, Lien’s mind was a blank, and the monster made use of that.
But instantly she is herself again, she sees the bottle on the table and the empty glass.
So she did drink again.
She smashed the glass to pieces and ran outside.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
She had to know what Jozef (André) thought about it:
She must talk to André about this.
She deserves a beating.
“Well’, André says, “so here you are.
Did you think you could defy a demon?”
“You already know, André?”
“Your mother on the Beyond already told me.
I thought that you had no more liquor in the house?”
Lien is ashamed, and she doesn’t dare look at him.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
And yet she continued to overestimate herself:
Everything goes well with Lien.
She’s beginning to think that a dull bore, as she is now, can’t possibly be any fun for a demon either.
But once more, her thoughts are amiss.
She is being attacked again!
It always happens at night.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Jozef had been warned by his master that his patient was being attacked again:
André has been warned.
He has tuned in to her life and his powers of concentration are strong.
Master Alcar and her spiritual mother are with her.
Lien lies in front of her bed, begging God for help.
She has been engaged in a struggle of life or death since three o’clock that morning.
She runs against the walls, throws herself on the floor and writhes and squirms about.
That’s how intense the pain is!
Her insides are on fire and this fire wants to be quenched with jenever.
She gets into bed and out again.
She takes cold showers and beats herself up, but nothing helps.
She throws things about, they’re sent flying around the room.
Her sight hazes over, her eyes are blood-shot.
Will she go crazy after all?
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Lien made the mistake of keeping the jenever in the house:
She shouts for André, for his master and for her mother.
Then she gives out.
She still has some jenever in the house and at her wit’s end, she pours herself a drink.
She’ll down this one to put out that fire inside of her, and those infernal desires will stop.
She wants to drink up, consciously this time; she knows what she’s doing.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
At the last minute, she was given a helping hand:
She brings the glass to her lips, and suddenly it flies out of her hand.
It frightens Lien so badly that she almost faints.
She runs from the house and takes a stroll through nature.
She returns an hour later.
She has calmed down.
The demon has left her and cannot reach her anymore.
She feels it.
She’s as light as a feather, and she seems to be floating!
How terribly heavy she had felt these past years!
What happens now?
Does this mean something?
She remains calm.
She feels she still has to be careful.
She transmits her thoughts to André saying: “All is well with me, I believe I have won.”
It’s as if she hears André’s answer.
“Yes”, she says, “I’ll be careful.
The bottle’s gone.
I feel it now, I wasn’t free from the darkness yet.
But I’m lighter now.
That heaviness I felt must have been the demon’s.
The monster has left!
And along with him the misery, the heaviness and the phenomena which ruled my life.”
André senses that Lien has started to analyse; and Master Alcar endorses his feelings.
A week later the demon tries once more, but Lien is herself and stays that way.
She feels wonderful; she is rejuvenated.
She is like a seventeen-year-old, and her thinking is much keener.
Her head is clear and her features have lost their tautness.
She feels infinitely better.
Now she dares to face André.
“Here I am again, André.
Do you know?
Do you know everything?”
“I know Lien, you have won!”
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
She asked who had helped her:
Her first question is:
“Who knocked the glass out of my hands, André?”
“Master Alcar did.
He suddenly overruled your willpower, and there the glass was, on the ground.
That’s all it takes.”
“It scared the living daylights out of me.
I believe it finally got through to me.”
“That’s right, Lien, you still needed a little jolt.”
“Why do I suddenly feel so light?
I don’t seem to have any weight, it’s just as if I’m floating.”
“The darkness was weighing you down and that load has dropped off.”
“Then my feelings were correct.”
“They were, Lien, and very accurate too.”
“It seems to me as if this drinking habit of mine happened years ago.
Does that feeling make sense to you?”
“That’s simple too.
You have come back to your own life.
That drinking wasn’t part of you; it belonged to someone else.
These feelings ought to convince you of reality.
That demon took all those powers and desires along with him, and thereby let you return to your own existence.”
“That is splendid, André, and I accept it immediately.”
Now Lien is allowed to know the truth.
André tells her that she was killed by her astral mother through heavy drinking, and explains the laws that concern the mother.
It makes Lien shudder, but she understands.
After André had told her everything, she asks:
“Will my mother stay with me all the time?”
“You will never again be alone, but you must take this life into your own hands.
She is your guardian angel, and will remain so.”
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Influence
Master Alcar also gave an example of a woman who had not recognised the influence:
So, her longings attracted the astral personality.
She experienced lust, underwent it, but to the demon this was not enough; he wanted to experience more.
The woman did not notice this, although she felt it, but she thought, this is all my doing.
Yet she was under influence, because through her, the astral being experienced lustful physical love.
When she gave herself to a man, the procreative being, she wanted more and more.
Was she still herself at the time?
At that point, she should have checked her urge for lust, but it did not get to that.
The woman drank in this love, but she was not aware that somebody else was sharing the experience with her.”
“Can’t one feel that, Alcar?”
“No.
Only a higher form of consciousness is able to help us, and that grade of consciousness for life on high still has to awaken in her too.
Namely the feelings that tell you: this is the limit.
I want to remain a human being!
I am not an animal; I am human!
Yet that kind of love was now forced upon her.
Slowly but surely, she was digging her own grave because of the physical love she felt.
She wanted to experience even more and she never thought of asking herself where this would lead to.
Sometimes those feelings were conscious in her, but then she pushed them aside and gave it no further thought.
Those were the moments when her better self spoke up.
Her true self did not want that love, but the demon wanted to make headway and experience more and more.
Her love did not become supernatural, it turned unnatural, animal-like.
She descended back into her former animal-like phase, yet she dwelt in the sensitive material grade to the Beyond, and so she was completely open to the dark spheres.
But her hell is only a nightlight.
The deeper grades of hell are also closed off to her life, because she is not liable to commit a murder.
She merely wants someone to love, and an amorous person is by no means a devil.
Yet this force stepped up her lust, so that she tipped her own balance and subsided.
It was the astral force, which drove her into this misery.
This leads us to a stage in which we suddenly realize that our inner life has been lost or has become disturbed, and then obsession is on the way and insanity has become reality.
By then it is too late.”
“Can’t one feel it coming on, Alcar?”
“No, André, because they think that they are experiencing all this themselves.
Who, under those circumstances, could be aware and would want to feel that he or she has another person dwelling within?
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Only the stupid astral personalities imprison the earthly being, as a result of which they can for instance no longer experience any sexual lust:
Human unification is impossible now, and that is his own fault.
If the demon had shown some self-control, he would have planned his passion.
Others do that and do not let things get out of hand.
They take care that their prey is not imprisoned.
So, we are now about to deal with the conscious astral grade of life.
There are numerous people who experience their lust and who are in the hands of this world without coming to grief.
Only the stupid unconscious personality immediately draws in all he can.
Those who have repeatedly made this experience from this side do not fall for that and they make sure there will be no total collapse.
Those demons actually protect their prey.
They restrict themselves, because otherwise there will be nothing more for them to experience.
We will shortly encounter those who are consciously insane, so that you will also become familiar with them.
Within his own dark existence, this demon, who dwells inside of her, is not a conscious personality; after all, he allowed her to be locked up.
The conscious ones are satisfied with their half of the passion which they receive through the physical person.
Now the material consciousness remains intact.
But, the spirit and physical human being share this passion.
The conscious spirit who is attuned to astral life and who knows about the grades of insanity and will prevent this from happening.
He knows that he imprisons himself if he dominates the entire scope of his victim’s day-consciousness, because then, the latter’s confinement is inevitable.
Their grades of life correspond, and there is no way to determine whether the person is insane.
We therefore know this grade as conscious insanity.
Millions of men and women are subject to this condition and their lives are lived by this world. However, they do not know this themselves, because it does not get through to their day-consciousness.
Yet, when you follow their lives, you can determine their material insanity.
Every single deed leads them to this dark world.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
We are facing now the astral influence, the conscious insanity.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
This woman was lucid and normal when she was not being attacked, which proved that there was no material disorder:
There are times, André, in which the woman alternates between insanity and complete normality.
You would think the scholar notices that.
This happens right in front of his nose, but he is unable to fathom the deeper meaning of this.
Her temporary condition of normality ought to have been adequate proof to him of eternal life.
Because something that is physically deformed cannot return to normality within a short time, as in this case.
If we assume that she is mentally ill, then how can this doctor explain that she can return to normality after an hour?
There can be no question of a brain disorder.
This is a purely spiritual case, and all those who are spiritually sick are under astral influence, because this impact, which they feel and experience to have an influence on them, caused their insanity.
Now, if this patient were to suffer from a physical disorder, and if certain organic parts of the brain were afflicted, she would no longer be able to enjoy a single sound moment.
Yet she has many fair moments.
She is peaceful then and talks and thinks like a normal person.
These phenomena point to astral possession, something that cannot be accepted yet.
This is how her years go by, and she has to accept the fact that society must still awaken to her condition, and also to the condition of thousands of others.
Every deed of hers points to the fact that she is astrally possessed.
After all, those thoughts stem from life on the Beyond, even if the scientists believe these phenomena to be expressions of passion.
The woman cries out for help when this passion wants to take possession of her, the passion she detected within herself.
If she really lusted for this passion, then she would willingly give herself over instead of resisting.
Some people submit and are resourceful enough to reach their intended goal, and then they really run wild.
Others call out for help and fight this terrible evil in their lives, even though they are powerless.
All the same, the doctor neither sees nor hears how the good side of this woman, not the hysterical, wants to draw his attention to her condition.
The hysteric wants to experience; the awakening personality wants to free itself.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
The academic at that time talked about insanity because he did not know the actual facts:
Physical disorders that give rise to insanity must therefore be ruled out, because insanity is caused by astral possession.
‘Possession’ and ‘insanity’ are now at odds with each other.
The first one belongs to our world, the second to the earth and owes its name to the ignorance of those who think they know something about all these laws.
Only on this side will they discover that they neither know nor have the ability to fathom themselves and their patients, in spite of all their learning.
This conclusion clearly shows that earthly scholarship is meaningless where the laws of the occult are concerned.
‘Possession’ means being dominated by the life after death, and in spite of that, our life is not accepted.
Do you feel how absurd the knowledge of the learned is?
The scientist is unable to listen to his feelings, because everything has to be scientifically proven.
That is necessary too, but they should not stop at that.
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
In cases of physical disorder, the inner life is ruled out.
Yet it remains completely unimpaired in a person who is possessed.
Do you feel the mighty difference?
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Even if a murder takes place under influence, the astral being still remains completely responsible for what happens through his body:
But every murderer has contact, because that hatred, that jealousy, you will feel, it goes so far and so deep, it is absorbed, and then you are under influence.
But, finally, even if you only have to do with that murder with five grams of feeling, that murder happened because of you; you get saddled with it for a hundred percent, anyway.
Can you feel this?
It goes ...
That personality which has you under its influence, must account for and make amends for that, but you get everything anyway.
Because we must make sure that we cannot be influenced.
It is only then that it is our possession.
So if a murder happens because of me, someone is robbed of life, even if I get ninety-nine percent influence, that one percent is from me, and is total, and chases me out of society.
I must bear the responsibility anyway, because my life was open to hatred.
So you cannot explain it away.
Questions and Answers Part 6, 1951
Every thought is picked up by the astral world:
Oh, if the people knew that they are never alone, then they would close themselves off to all those terrible things.
Every thought, which they cherish and send out, is received, and in this way, they attract what they want themselves and they carry on in this manner.
Those who came back from the Dead, 1937
Anyone who wants to be free of astral influence must ensure that there is nothing more to experience:
“How awful, master.
So they have a good time through her?”
“That is the way it is, my friend.
Only when she sees the wrong of her actions and starts to resist her low-life longings with all her strength and finally conquers them, only then will she be freed from these beings, which she now attracts herself, after all, they will leave her, because there will be nothing more for them to experience through her.”
Through the Grebbe Line to Eternal Life, 1942
This can also be very subtle:
Live yourselves, men and women ... do not allow that astral personality one gram of your own emotional life, do not let yourself live it up, do not wish an accident upon those unsavoury people, they have ruined their lives and want to continue with this through you, even if you do not wish to understand your fellow being.
Questions and Answers Part 1, 1950
Anyone who has his attunement of feeling under the first sphere of light can be influenced:
Accordingly the first sphere is the border between good and evil, normal and abnormal life, and the grades of insanity.
Did you understand me correctly, André?
Do you sense that those who dwell below the first sphere and have the matching attunement can be easily influenced on earth and are also susceptible to many illnesses?
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
It is only once the first sphere of light has been reached that the human being is himself completely:
In the hells, André, and in this Land of Twilight, man fights for his spiritual existence, because he must reach the first sphere.
Only then will there be peace.
Only then will he have gone through all the grades of insanity, and he can finally be his true self!
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
Those who are attuned to the first light sphere can say: ‘I am.’
Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side, 1945
