Other journeys will follow this one, as I cannot explain everything in relation with the miracle reincarnation in one journey.

To this end we will observe conditions on earth first and will then proceed to the spheres.

In the spheres, specifically the fourth sphere, the cosmic masters are awaiting us, and they will connect us with the universe and with man on earth.

This scholar was my friend on earth.

I made his acquaintance in the life when I was an artist.

I passed away before he did but on this side we were brought together.

It was me who convinced him of his death on earth.

When the sisters and brothers did not succeed, they asked him whether he had any friends or acquaintances who had already died on earth.

‘Yes’, he said, ‘I have’, and then he mentioned my name.

They asked him: ‘Could you accept the fact that you are dead, when we bring him here?’

‘But he is dead’, he said, ‘and I am alive, am I not?’

‘You will feel, André, how difficult it was to convince him of his death; yet, it had to be done.

Soon I was brought to him.

I knew he had died but I waited to be summoned.

Then he lay down sobbing and crying.

I pointed out to him this was the truth.

You know, I said to him, that I died on earth, don’t you.

You are alive, like I am and millions of others.

There is no death, my friend; we are alive.

Stand up; you are better now.’

We then took long walks and I convinced him of his own condition.

A brother was appointed to him and thus he, too, like Gerhard, was completely convinced of life after death.

Then I went on my way, to return to him later.

I went back to my own sphere where I was further than he, and lived between the second and the third sphere, and would soon enter the third sphere.

He had not changed a bit.

He was slow on earth and was no different in this life.

I had to think about him continuously, and I felt I had a connection with him.

I was deeply attached to the sisters and brothers of my own sphere, but with him this attachment was quite different.

I could, comparing this in an earthly manner, have accepted him as my own child; yet he was not my child.

As I told you: he had been my friend on earth and I had no other feelings for him.

But here in my own sphere my sense of feeling was more intensive than it was on earth.

This feeling remained; indeed it became stronger and more intense, I could not free myself from it.

I consulted the spiritual brother, who also helped me, but he could not yet give an explanation.

He only said: ‘When such a feeling exists on this side, it has a profound meaning.

No spirit, however high he may be, can help you; it has to awaken and become conscious.

Proceed quietly and it will reveal itself.

Once it has become conscious in you, you will act accordingly; then it will be possible to tell you what it means.’

I felt that I had to help him and I would return to him when he felt this longing within.

Soon I sensed these feelings and I went back to him.

‘Ah’, he said, ‘how nice of you to come back, I have been longing so much.

Let us go for a walk; I have so many questions to ask.

The first question he put was: ‘What is your work and what are you doing?’

‘I am busy finding out about my own self.’

‘That is not so easy; that is what I am doing also, as I have been advised to, but I can’t find out how.

If only I had been allowed to know this on earth, how different my life would then have been.

I could have achieved a lot; see now, what good did I do?

What have I achieved?

You have given something to the earth; your products of art will remain there right through the centuries.

You have accomplished something, and that must give you great satisfaction.

Are you happy?

Why, really, do I ask this?

On earth you were the happiest man I knew.

You always remained your own self.

How I have learned from you, and yet I lived my own life and came no further.

In your life was the calm as quiet one feels here, just as in your art.

I know how you suffered and longed to be dead.

Now you are here, and you are alive.

So am I.

Where are all our friends?

Have you met them already?’

‘Yes, I have met many.’

‘Where are they?’

‘Here below.’

‘Where, did you say?’

‘In the darkness, we call it the hell here.’

‘My God, can’t we help them?’

‘They cannot be helped yet.

Later, perhaps some centuries from now.’

‘Have they sunk so deeply?’

‘Unfortunately, yes.’

‘Did they recognize you?’

‘Yes.’

‘And yet they cannot be helped?’

‘No, it is not yet possible.’

‘Have you been down there for experience?’

‘Yes, and to help others.

There is an endless lot of work there and many are waiting for help.’

He looked at me and said nothing.

Then he asked: ‘Where were you when you were called to see me?’

‘In my own sphere.’

‘Is that far away?’

‘Yes, and yet so near.

To be able to enter there, you have to put yourself entirely aside.’

‘Did you know that already while on earth?’

‘Yes, it was within me.’

‘Do you know why you were on earth?’

‘I know that, too.’

‘Who has given you that knowledge?

Can that be learned on this side?’

‘Yes, that is possible.’

‘How strange it is.

What is man?

What purpose does the earth serve when there are so many planets?

Why did I forget myself?

I know I have made it up, yet I was weak.

How much have you worked!

I could be envious of you.

If only I were like you!’

‘You can learn that.’

‘Is that possible?’

‘Yes, here, everything is possible.’

‘What do you think I should do now?’

‘I cannot tell you yet.

It depends upon your own self.

You have to experience it, to feel and wish it, otherwise it is not possible.’

‘Have you advanced that far, that you know that, too?’

‘Yes, I it is within me.

I am convinced of it.’

‘Ah, you are so far away from me, and yet you have returned to me.’

He clasped both my hands and pressed them warmly.

‘Tell me, what should I do.

I want to go on; I can’t stay here.

I want higher and to go where you already are.

What do you advise me to do?’

‘Try to learn your own self; your own self before anything else.

Only then will it be possible on this side to do something for others.

Retrace deeply within you how your life on earth has been and how you are now.

Time and again retrace everything; in doing so you will come to know your own self.

Then you lay aside your own self; you lay aside what you must forget in order to acquiesce in the life in which you are presently.

Feel clearly what has been wrong, and banish that from your life.

Lay aside everything standing in the way of your advance.

Put yourself under control and call yourself to a halt.

No spirit, however, can help you in this process.

However much you pray, however much you ask why and wherefore, nobody can make that clear to you.

This must awaken inside of you; you must wake up and learn this life entirely.

If you wish me to stay with you, we will make a journey together and I will show you what I possess and tell you what I know.

Whenever we encounter higher conditions and depths, which I do not know myself, we will ask those who know and who are higher than we are to help us.

They are only too glad to be of help.

I have lived to see that already.

It did not take me long to learn that, and you will see why at a later stage.’

Then we took leave of each other and I would return to him when he would call me.

You know how that is done.

I continued my studies which I had started, and learned to know and understand the human organism on earth.

After that, I began to prepare for the study of the universe, the cosmology.

Then the psychical laws, wonders and problems known on our side.

I could, however, not complete that study; it was not until a later stage that I continued.

Several years, according to time on earth, went by.

Then I felt he was calling me and I returned to him.

On the same spot where we had taken leave, like you have experienced with Gerhard we met.

(footnote in first edition: See: ‘Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side’, last chapter.)

No need to tell you how glad he was.

A similar event, André, to the one you have experienced, I, too, lived to see.

Deeply we descended into each other.

Then I sensed his spiritual condition and I could be satisfied.

How he had already worked on himself.

‘My dear friend’, he said, ‘I longed so much to see you again; so much I have to tell you.

I have been in so many places in all this time!

I have to tell you everything; but you know already, don’t you?’

‘Yes’, I said, ‘I lived to see it myself.’

Yet, he told me all of his experiences; experiences I knew myself and through which everybody has to go.

‘Come, let us go for a walk.

Oh, I have still so much to learn, I, who thought I knew everything and put myself on a pedestal.

Oh, my friend, my brother, do you know what I have been thinking about during all those years?’

I knew, but I asked: ‘Well, about what, then?’

‘About a new birth; reincarnation on earth.

Do you know if this is possible?’

I said: ‘Yes, I know.’

Then he fell silent and we continued on our way, absorbed in thought and meditation.

Meanwhile, we entered a building.

There, I saw my life on earth pass my mind’s eye.

Here, too, people were painting and I again saw my art.

I learned thereby what my mastership on earth meant.

I was very sensitive and yet I had not attained spiritual height.

‘No’, he said, absorbed in thought, ‘to be a master on earth is no spiritual possession.’

He felt I already knew that.

‘All this is magnificent’, he said, ‘but once one has entered here, one can see what life on earth means.

Man on earth doesn’t understand himself.

They don’t know there that we are alive; and yet, look around you!

How much I have thought about myself.

Oh, if only I could return there, if only I would be allowed that possibility, how I would do my utmost.

Night and day I would work and give myself entirely.

I did not love, and I spoilt the love given me.

Others I have not understood; I even consciously did not want to.

How much I have thought about it and when I see all this around me, how they work and enrich themselves, I could cry.

Yet I don’t do that, because I know I have no sound reason for it.

Then I would again descend into my weakness and give in to it.

Come, let’s go.’

Again we walked in nature.

‘I would like to serve’, he said ‘serve, always serve.

I know now that it is the only possibility for advancement.’

‘And after that?’

‘Oh, if that were given to me, how much I would thank that inconceivable God.’

Back to the earth, he said in thought, gazing far in the distance.

‘Yes, back to the earth, there to make up for my wrongs and at the same time I would like to serve.

Do you know what I feel; what I have learned to feel, and what keeps my mind occupied now?

Do you know what is growing inside me, what is awaking?

Oh, if only I knew for certain!

Do you know what I mean?’

‘I know’, I said, since I followed all of his feelings.

‘Is that possible?’

‘I don’t know.

It is a law; God’s sacred law, a grace, I can’t give you an answer to that.’

‘Where would she be?

Still on earth, or already on this side?

This keeps my mind occupied; I have to think all the time.

I destroyed her life and her youth and I would like to make up for it.

I feel it is possible on this side, but I can’t find her.

How I did look for her!

Where could she be; can you help me?

I have already made good on earth, and yet I feel it has not been enough.

Here, everything is so different.

You can’t dissolve spiritual laws with earthly possessions.

What the soul experiences and has gone through and suffers, cannot be made good with earthly possessions.

One has to experience it.

You have already advanced that far; you can feel and understand me.

Please tell me: are the feelings I now experience known on this side?

Do feel what I mean, and try to think yourself in my position.

What should I do?

It becomes increasingly intense.

Is she, to whom I did wrong, on earth?

I feel remorse and I want to make it up.

I feel I have to wait; but waiting for her could take ages, and I can’t wait that long.

I could not possibly; I can’t think of anything else.

I always see her before me and she asks and calls and begs for help because I stole her happiness on earth.

And yet I am here, here in this light, which is not my light.

It will only become my own, I feel this, when I have lived to see and have made it up.

Then I will make progress; much and much further, to there where you are now.

I have made up a great deal but it was impossible to make up everything.

For that, my life on earth was too short; but do not thousands of others do what I did?

Is that wrong?

Ah, I contradict myself and want to soothe my conscience.

I know now: what I did shall remain.

Do I have to make up for what I did to others myself?

Can’t others do that for me?

Do human beings on earth not pass into other hands, and do they not receive what I denied them?

Can you give me an answer to that?

Yes, you can; and I know already that it is impossible, that you have to make it up yourself.

I feel that; I feel the answer in myself.

Where is she?

I feel a tie between her life and mine; I can go no further and no higher; this is calling me to a halt.

My God, the grace you had; you have not lived to see this.

You were a silent worker and knew and understood.

But, all those others and I?

I wish and shall learn my own self.’

That is the way he spoke, André and we entered an other building.

Many brothers of the spheres were gathered here.

They were absorbed in silent meditation.

My friend asked him, who kept watch here and watched over them: ‘What are these people doing?’

‘They ask God for strength and personality.’

‘In this way?’

‘Yes,’ said the brother, ‘in this way they have been praying for many years.’

My friend watched speechless.

‘All these people wish for personality?’

He looked at them and said: ‘Is this a building for prayer?’

‘Yes, here they seek their God.’

‘Are you their priest?’

‘No, I am not, I am only guarding.’

‘Ah, you are guarding these people here?

Is that your task?’

‘No, that is not my task, but I took it upon myself.’

‘May I ask, for what purpose?’

‘I am waiting.’

‘You are waiting?

What are you waiting for?

May I ask this question?’

The brother then gave him a long and attentive look and said: ‘Are you so sure of yourself, that you ask me this question?’

‘Whether I am so sure of myself?

No, I am not, but I would like to know it very much.

Perhaps it will help me.’

Again the brother looked at him and said: ‘Although to you I am speaking in riddles, yet your thoughts and feelings are like mine.

I recognize my longing in you.

Yet you don’t know whether you are in earnest.

You are searching and asking and would like to know and only therefore I said: ‘Are you so sure of yourself, that you ask me this question?’

Then my friend said: ‘I feel like you do.’

‘Do you know that?’

‘I see and feel it,’ was the answer.

‘Can you read my soul?’

‘Yes.’

‘You know what keeps me occupied?’

‘I know it.’

‘Well, then tell me, what do you know about reincarnation on earth?’

The spiritual brother looked at him and said: ‘Do you know your own self?’

‘Not yet,’ he said.

‘Did you profess a religion on earth?’

‘Yes, but not earnestly.’

‘Do you believe in God, our Holy Father?’

‘Yes, I do believe in an All-Power, but I do not know much about it.’

‘Can you pray?’

He could not give an answer to that question, and he cast his eyes down.

The brother of the spheres put his hand on his shoulder and said: ‘Look at me, brother.

They who are here learn to pray.

While on earth, they prayed to their God, but there, in that life, they felt and thought differently.

Here, one has to feel through everything deeply; only then is one absorbed in prayer.

But some of them ask for personality, others for gifts; and yet, this is not the way.

Because I can read from your soul and I know you, I tell you: ‘Try to learn and understand your own self.

Descend into the darkness, and help others.’

In this manner, they will never reach their goal and years, nay, centuries shall pass.

They are praying and meditating continuously, but nothing is changing.

They remain as they are.

In life one has to gather real value and that means serving and being something for others, which is possible on this side.

But when there is something within yourself that burns, that calls you to a halt, then there is only one way open to free yourself from that.

It is a grace, which can only be given by God.

If you wish earnestly, praying continuously and find out in yourself what has to be done, it is possible.

Then it could be that God grants you that grace.

I can’t tell you any more about it; nor can I explain more, except that it is possible to return to earth.

But you have not yet advanced far enough to absorb and digest all this.

However, that road is open to you, God willing.’

‘Why am I not yet far enough?’

‘Do you know what lives under your own sphere?

Do you know life on earth, and do you know anything about your own life on earth?

Do you know all the misery on earth and on this side?

Is not your problem the problem of thousands of persons?

Don’t they all ask why and wherefore?

Do you feel their misery?

Do you know why you have been on earth, and have you understood your life on earth?

Have you properly used the gifts granted to you?

Did you know anything about this life?

Learn to know, and understand all of this, first.

Descend, I tell you, come to yourself.

Only then can you ask me such questions, but then it will no longer be necessary, and you will know yourself how it is, and how it has to be done.

Then that wonder will descend in you, and God will overhear your prayer, because you are prepared to serve.

But a serious task cannot yet be given you, because you would succumb.

Centuries will pass before you awake, and then you will have to start from the beginning, like those here.

They cannot be convinced however much I would like to open their eyes.

Hear how they pray!

Yet, they are not awake.

All are sleeping their deep spiritual sleep, but one day they will awaken and then, what I told you, happens.

Life requires our entire personality.

He who knows the misery on earth, and is conscious of his own life, knows what may happen, what God can grant to all of His children.

When you earnestly wish and are convinced of yourself, this wonder will descend into you.

Then something is conscious within yourself, which you can receive only from God.

No one, but you, knows.

This wonder is in you, because your prayer was overheard.

But let us go outside; there is something more I have to tell you.’

We went outside together and the brother said: ‘Look up, see to the left and to the right, and there, below you.

Here, where you are, is the first sphere; there above to your right, is the universe and there below is the darkness.

Learn to know all of this, first.

Then know life on earth, and see how man seeks, and listen how he asks, 'why and wherefore.'

Then compare your life with theirs and think; meditate night and day.

You will wake up then, advance is possible, and you will learn to pray.

Only then can God give you what you desire, and which is a mighty grace when you receive it.

Therefore, try to acquire life on this side and on earth.

Ask to become conscious.

See through everything and attain this degree of seeing and feeling.

That is wisdom in spirit.

It may be a long time before that wonder occurs, but I will help you.

I can help you by praying for you, because those feelings are also within myself.

I am longing like you and therefore will pray for you.’

The brother then looked at him and asked: ‘Would you like to serve?’

‘Yes, with all my heart and soul.’

‘Well then, I’ll wait for you.

Once you have advanced that far, your eyes will be opened and you will learn to know me.

We will all pray and ask God for this grace.

Look at me.’

Their hands clasped, and then the brother of the spheres dissolved before us.

Yet we heard him say: ‘He, your friend and brother, knows who I am, but don’t ask anything; he cannot answer you, either.

One day you will be allowed to ask questions and your eyes will be opened.

Then you will get to know me and him, who is your friend and brother; and many others.

Then you will understand the meaning of this meeting and everything will be clear to you.

That, which is far away from you, and where no spirit on this side can enter, you will enter.

Listen well to what I now say: I have accepted you and have included you in my work.

From now on, you are under my guidance and protection.

So is he, who is your brother and master, as are others who do this work with me.

We all belong to one order and will remain in connection with each other through all ages.

I will enlighten your paths; I have advanced that far that I may tell you this.

I will connect you, in order to enable you to make up for what you once did wrong.

In this way you will make great progress.

Where others will need centuries, you will succeed in a short time, if you earnestly want to.

You will learn to know the depth of the soul and you will learn to love.

You will make journeys and the highest spheres on this side will be opened for you.

You will also receive spiritual food, which will become your personality.

You will live to absorb all this consciously.

I am going now, but in time, you hear, you will get to know me.

Know that I’ll be waiting for you.

The sooner you are ready, the sooner I, along with many others, will be able to start our work.

I thank you, brother.’

We stood there in amazement.

My friend was speechless.

‘Did you know about this?’ he asked me.

‘I knew it’, I said, ‘but not all.’

Then, André, we both descended into the darkness, and for many years we remained together.

During this difficult work he learned himself.

Hundreds of unhappy beings we brought up together.

That is splendid work and very instructive.

We learned to know and understand all those problems on earth.

Deeply we descended into life, on this side and on earth.

Then we were back in the spheres, then back in the sphere of the earth.

In this way we learned to know the astral world.

Then we returned to the spheres for a long time to become acquainted with other conditions.

In doing so, the years went by.

Suddenly he told me: ‘I know it, my friend, I know it; I can go back, but only God can give that to me.

Now I am awake and conscious; God can help me.’

Again we descended into the darkness, visited the deepest spheres, and after some time he felt the great wonder come to life within himself.

As night gives way to day, this feeling, this tremendous wonder, developed in him.

He now proceeded to deep meditation and I left him by himself.

Shortly before the great and astonishing occurred, I returned to him.

What then happened, I can only tell you later, at the end of our third disembodiment.

Have patience until then, André; only then will I be able to tell you more about it.

You will make three journeys with me and on all these journeys you will live to see wonders, wonders which were also shown and explained to me, which I experienced as did millions of other human beings, for which we are sincerely thankful to our Father in Heaven.

I travelled over the earth and what I did I have told you already and we have laid that down in all your books.

No need to say any more about that.

For what you will now experience, we will be connected by the cosmic masters, because they are watching me and they want me to explain all this to you.

They are connecting us with the past and they can do it in various ways; they will explain to us the first and the last moment of creation.

I will show you flashes of several lives and the depth of the soul, the profoundest problems of mankind you will learn to know on these journeys.

You will see and feel that in all those millions of years the soul returned to the earth and that there is a Father of Love guarding over all of His children.

You will see the origin of creation, André, this great and sacred wonder; and I am allowed to explain to you the development of the material and human organism from the first stage.

Moreover the life of the soul and reincarnation on earth.’