The books by Jozef Rulof were written between 1933 and 1952.

The article ‘explanation at soul level’ explains that many terms in these books were used to connect at word level with the earthly and scientific thinking from that time in the Netherlands.

This was also the case with the term ‘insanity’.

Much of what then fell outside of the conventional and desirable manners, was called insane.

Not only people with a mental handicap or a psychiatric disorder were given this label, but also for instance epilepsy patients, people with anti-social behaviour, troublemakers, addicts and people with dementia.

In order to protect society, these people were forcefully admitted to insane asylums.

The book ‘Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side’ from 1939 contains a description of the visit by Jozef Rulof and his spiritual leader Alcar to an asylum.

Alcar lets Jozef for instance gauge the life of feeling of a man whom people call homosexual.

That man was locked up in the insane asylum because people also usually considered homosexuality an illness then.

In accordance with the thinking of that time, in this book homosexuality is also called a grade of insanity.

The article ‘homosexuality’ explains that this is not the vision of the writers of the books by Jozef Rulof, the masters.

When they explain this phenomenon at soul level, they do not consider it as an illness but as a development phase of the soul.

When the soul in a particular grade of feeling experienced everything with a female body, in the following life it will pass on to the male body in order to build up the male life of feeling.

The book ‘Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side’ was entirely written according to the earthly thinking.

Even the title was chosen in order to connect with the thinking of that time and to emphasise that it does not concern physical illnesses.

However, at soul level the soul cannot be sick and no ‘mental illnesses’ exist.

At soul level, it usually concerns transition phenomena of a soul which is in evolution.

This is often also the case with what people then called ‘insanity’.

Because this can occur strongly when the soul passes on into a following grade of life.

The article ‘grades of feeling’ explains that every soul can master four subsequent grades of feeling during its earthly lives.

Every reincarnation adds experiences to the life of feeling.

In this way, the soul can increase its grade of feeling.

The articles ‘our reincarnations’ and ‘our cosmic soul’ give an overview of the articles which outline the development path of the soul.

When a soul has completely experienced a grade of feeling, a transition period occurs.

A part of the personality still lives in the previous grade of feeling and another part already in the following.

In this transition period, people do not have the full strength and driving force of one grade of feeling, as a result of which people are more susceptible to influence.

The masters explain that this influence can come from people who live in the hereafter.

The article ‘our hereafter’ gives an overview of the articles which describe the various spiritual worlds in the hereafter.

From a global point of view, there are dark spheres and spheres of light, according to the level of inner light and love of the inhabitants.

These inhabitants can also connect with the people on earth who belong to their own grade of feeling.

Inhabitants of the dark spheres connect themselves with people on earth in order to be able to experience the feelings which have to do with a physical body, such as food, drink, warmth and sexuality.

When this influence becomes dominant, phenomena can occur which people used to call ‘insanity’ or ‘possession’.

In the case of possession, the astral personality of the inhabitant from the dark spheres has a strong hold on the day-consciousness of the human being on earth.

The astral personality can then determine the actions of the earthly being and do what it desires.

It lives out its lusts and uses up the physical powers of the human being on earth to a considerable extent.

The personality of the earthly being is then suppressed and partly lives in the subconscious.

From there, it does indeed experience the behaviour.

That behaviour is at the level of the grade of feeling which it has to cover as a soul.

As a result, a battle occurs between both personalities, because the earthly being does not wish to fall back into that previous grade of feeling.

This now results in actions detrimental to it, such as excessive alcohol consumption or sexual indulgences.

On earth, people can therefore perceive for these people both the libertine actions of the astral personality and the battle between the two personalities.

When the inhabitant of the dark spheres has the upper hand and gives free rein to his lusts, he is a danger to society and the earthly being often ends up in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital.

When the astral personality has complete control of the day-consciousness, the earthly being has usually lost the battle for that life.

Yet as a result of this battle, the suffering of the earthly being becomes his driving force in order to prevent this suffering in his following reincarnation.

He then no longer lets himself be influenced by the feelings which belong to the grade of feeling which he is discarding.

As a result, the personality of the earthly being grows and it has more control over its actions.

This is why the masters consider this battle as a development phase for the soul, and not as a disease which used to be identified with the terms ‘insanity’ or ‘possession’ and which people then started to call ‘psychosis’.

When the earthly being feels the influence of a dark astral personality, a severe battle usually occurs.

Master Alcar gives the example of Lien, a woman who was urged by an astral personality towards excessive alcohol consumption.

During her sleep, she was attacked by an inhabitant from the dark spheres.

During this period of unconsciousness, it had connected to her in feeling, so that he could urge her to drink.

When she woke up, she felt a choking thirst and began the fight against the astral influence.

First she thought that she could quench that thirst by having a few drinks.

However, those drinks lowered her day-consciousness, so that the astral personality got more control of her and drunk two full bottles of jenever.

Her exhausted body and nervous system succumbed and she lay on the ground like she was dead.

Jozef then explained to her that she still recovered again, because the astral personality also gave her body strength in order to be able to drink along with her.

During a following attack, she took a different approach and she put a drink for herself on the table.

She taunted the astral world which had to prove that she could still be reached.

Less than ten minutes later, she had had three drinks without realizing it.

The reason was that the astral personality had taken advantage of a brief moment of thoughtlessness by her.

Jozef later asked her to remove all the jenever from the house, but she dismissed his advice.

And then the final attack came.

Lien fought to the extreme.

She climbed the walls, threw herself on the floor and was writhing and squirming about.

It caused such pain!

It burned within her, a fire that wanted to be extinguished with jenever.

She took cold baths and threw her belongings across the room, but she felt her powers decreasing.

After hours of fighting against the will of the astral personality, she gave up and put the glass to her lips.

She still had the hope that in this way she could extinguish the fire within her.

At that moment, master Alcar dominated her will for a moment and let the glass fly out of her hand.

Lien got such a severe shock that she ran outside to recover.

By walking in nature, she calmed down.

And she felt remarkably light, as if a heavy burden had fallen away from her shoulders.

Jozef then explained to her that she had won the battle.

She needed that little smack in order to strengthen her will.

Then she removed the jenever from her house and put her will to stop at one hundred percent.

She now realised that it was all or nothing, and that her life would be lost if she continued to drink by means of the influence of another and continued to underestimate those powers.

The astral personality tried it again, but could no longer reach her, she now had her behaviour and thoughts under control.

When the inhabitant of the dark spheres is more cunning, he will make sure that his prey does not end up locked up in a prison or psychiatric institution.

Then he satisfies himself with a close connection of feeling as a result of which he experiences but does not suppress the feelings of the earthly being.

He does indeed influence the earthly being, but will not go that far that this influence is experienced as ‘coming from outside’.

In the books by Jozef Rulof, the term ‘conscious insanity’ is also used for this.

This means that the earthly being still experiences his day-consciousness and remains normally conscious for society.

The astral influence is then hidden to society and to the earthly personality.

The inhabitant of the dark spheres will then just slowly increase his influence, so that the earthly being thinks that he is completely himself.

The masters indicate that all the feelings, thoughts and actions of the earthly being which have attunement to the dark spheres, can be picked up and enhanced by the inhabitants of these spheres.

The only way to completely free oneself in the earthly life from dark astral influence is to attune the whole personality to the first sphere of light.

The people who love universally and are attuned to serving their fellow being, are no longer of use to the inhabitants of the dark spheres.

The masters of the University of Christ inspire all people to evolve towards the first sphere of light.

Their inspiration is also an ‘influence’, but then aimed at serving the cosmic evolution which every soul works on itself.

The article ‘illuminating future’ describes the future in which all people on earth will have reached that universal grade of love, so that not a single inhabitant of the dark spheres still comes to the earth.

Then those dark spheres will also be less populated, because no new people from the earth go there any longer.

And finally, all those dark spheres will dissolve, because all the inhabitants will then also have reached the luminous grade of feeling themselves.

Then every soul on earth and in the Hereafter will have conquered the inner darkness and transformed it into a loving consciousness.