‘I am going to explain other wonders to you.

I’ll return to those first human beings who have reached this negotiable planet, for these beings were to die.

We’ll follow them as spiritual beings, in other words: I pass on to the psychic world.

The planet earth was ready, but what happened in the astral world?

There was a world for inner life, too, and that world became the image of the earth, but in a spiritual condition.

I am going to connect you with it.’

André felt himself sink away and he began to observe.

‘You see, André, there is darkness.

The spheres of light, in which we are now living, did not yet exist, for man had no inner light yet; inner spiritual man still had to be born.

Now listen carefully.

When the first human beings died on earth, they returned to the astral world and waited there to be attracted again.

In that era there was nothing but birth and death, return to the earth to pass into an other material organism.

All those beings, inspiring life, had to follow that course to attain the perfect material condition, and they were to return so many times until that attunement had been acquired.

These beings, as will no doubt be clear to you, could not progress any more because they had not acquired a world of existence, and would not advance that far until during that further and higher stage of the earth.

They were to return to the earth to receive the highest material organism; only then would they have completed their cycle on earth.

There is still darkness which is the astral world we saw on the second degree and which I connected you with.

So nothing has changed, at any rate in the astral world, in all those thousands of centuries the spiritual world has not changed, because inner man had not advanced that far.

Is that clear, André?’

‘Yes, Alcar.’

‘Then I’ll skip centuries.

Yet there was activity, something happened in the astral world, unknown to anybody.

In the astral world another world came into being.

That world was created out of man.

I’ll explain that process to you and we get to know the hell.

I explained that man proceeded in his material condition on earth and awakened and this awakening meant hatred, passion and animalization.

Every sin they committed, every mistake man made by taking the life of others, all those horrors made the astral world condense and that became hell.

In that world a second world developed through hatred, passion and violence, and this world became the world of existence for those who had completed their cycle on earth.

l’ll pass several thousands of centuries and show you what happened during that period.

Look and observe, André.’

‘My God, what is that, Alcar?’

‘The hell, André; hell in life after death.

Man is creating hell and the astral world has condensed during those centuries.’

André saw another world in this darkness.

How is it possible, he thought.

‘Could this not be avoided, Alcar?’

‘No, my boy.’

‘Do people already live here?’

‘No, not yet, they will arrive presently when man has reached the highest material degree.’

My God, how terrible, André thought.

‘You say that the astral world, the hell, is waiting for man?’

‘Yes, André; it could not be avoided.

Alas, darkness is waiting.

This would become hell in life after death and man built it himself.

For man has passed to a condition of consciousness, inner life has acquired it.

Man created hell, God did not want it.

God gave man everything, His own life, but it is man who created it.

As I said, conscious evil developed on earth and man created it.

Do you feel all this, André?’

‘If I understand you correctly, Alcar, I feel both worlds.

The first astral world is the natural world, if I may put it that way, but an unconscious one, the other world is a conscious one.’

‘Indeed; that’s right.

For man has to go further and higher and although this is hell, this world is at a higher stage than the world of the unconscious.

One day the end on earth will come.

Inner life became conscious; it acquired an animal-like consciousness and attunes to something, which would be the spiritual world of existence after death on earth.

We have come to know this dark sphere as the hell, a world of consciousness

Both astral worlds were one, but the one invisible for the other.

l’ll skip some centuries again, and you will see how the hell condensed.’

André observed that next stage.

How is it possible, he thought.

He saw a mountainous landscape.

This was hell, the shadow of reality.

This was the conscious spiritual world, but hell in life after death; darkness on the side beyond.

‘No people live here yet, Alcar?’

‘No, not yet; not until thousands of years later.’

‘I think that is terrible, Alcar.

Did man have to go through evil first in order to reach higher life?

Was it preordained in the plan of creation?

Was it God’s intention?’

‘You ask me many questions, my son, but all people will ask those questions if they do not know the material and spiritual creation.

Yes, my boy; was all this necessary?

Why all that evil when man is a Divine being?

Listen carefully; I will explain that.

In the first place God gave man His own life, as I told you many times.

In all this is God’s pure love.

It has been like this from the first moment, as God’s sacred love was present in the first stage and man received that love, he received everything and got a will of his own.

This was still unconscious on all those planets, but here on earth man was to become conscious.

When this happened, as we have seen, man forgot himself and slaughtered God’s own life present in man and animal.

Man, therefore, did not understand his Divine attunement.

But he should learn to understand himself.

Man passed from one condition on to the next, but in all those lives he forgot himself and killed.

The astral world condensed through passion and animalization, and the condensation process increased alarmingly.

Man was to live in that world when he had acquired the highest material degree on earth and died there.

Then inner man entered this life, but not until he had completed his earthly and material cycle.

Do you feel what it means, André?’

‘If I understand you correctly, I feel that this world had to be, or the development of man would come to a standstill and further advance would be out of the question.’

‘Very good, André; that’s correct.

Inner man had to go on, he could no longer descend into the world of the unconscious, he was conscious, although it was an animal-like attunement.

Consequently, his inner life attuned to an other world, which is hell in life after material death.’

‘Now I understand, Alcar.’

‘Splendid; I’ll go on.

You asked, could man avoid this?

Was this God’s intention?

Did man have to go through evil to acquire the Divine Spheres?

I ask you: can man acquire Divinity in a few centuries?

All this is the Divine love he has to acquire.

Is that possible in a short life on earth?

Is that possible in ten, twenty, say hundreds of lives?

Look around you, André.

Look up and down, to the right and left; look at the stars and planets and look at everything living in the universe, then try to imagine the invisible worlds man will get to know.

All that is God.

We people must learn all that and acquire it.

Is it really not worthwhile to live for that and give it everything you have?

Man will have to earn this and accept it in full love, for that is God’s will; that is why we are Divine.

God revealed Himself in man and in all life, but man destroys this life.

As a result he created another condition, which meant darkness, cold, misery and sorrow to him and that is not what God wanted, but he knew that His children would forget themselves.

Man was to become conscious and millions of lives are required to attain the supreme degree.

Therefore, did man have to go through evil to attain the Divine Spheres?

I hope this will be clear to you.

I also asked those questions as did all my sisters and brothers on this side; we know now that it was ourselves who created hell.

Through that very misery, darkness and cold, André, we would awaken and understand and appreciate our future happiness.

We would get to know ourselves through all the misery and I’ll presently explain how this happened.

Again, God knew all this and let us have our way, God had nothing more to give; we received everything in the first stage.

Doesn’t it speak for itself: ‘God has nothing more to give.’?

All this sorrow, all this great human misery exists on one planet.

All these horrors are only known on earth, thereafter comes Divine happiness, which man has then earned, he is busy returning to God and he has already covered a long way.

Again I ask you: is it not worthwhile to live for that?

Having to be on earth and to experience those thousands of lives for all that tremendous happiness?

People have everything in their own hands, André, and they will begin to understand life on earth when they become spiritually conscious, and acquire this consciousness.

God does not punish, He cannot punish, but man punishes himself.

God created heaven and earth, but man created darkness.

Man became the creator of light and darkness and would live in these two worlds after death on earth.

Thence, further and higher towards perfection, back to the source we came from.

Is this also clear to you, André?’

‘I have understood everything, Alcar; and I bend my head for these truths.’

‘Thank you; then we’ll go on, as there is more I have to show and explain to you.

Thus, the animal-like being returned to the earth and so did the astral human being.

On earth, man did nothing but fight and yet, according as man progressed, intellect awakened and one thing emanated from the other.

I’ll return to the material world.

People on earth lived in caves, but this is going to change.

When we follow life on earth, we see that people have progressed.

They had made weapons of stone and wood for their collective struggle and after those weapons other useful discoveries followed.

Some races (see article ‘There are no races’ on rulof.org), however, were more advanced than others.

As you know, there were already white people, and this race (see article ‘There are no races’ on rulof.org) was beautified by the planet earth until this material organism had reached the highest degree.

They invent something to protect themselves against the animal kingdom.

When fire was discovered, they proceeded to other things, they made huts, which the highest material degree had known for quite some time.

This proves that inner man developed and became interested in other things.

They also became interested in the soil, and we see that they started farming.

All that pointed to progress, which continued steadily.

Only then did man become aware of his abilities and powers and his feelings changed.

Although he retained his pre-animal-like state of consciousness.

Many centuries later we see a different world again.

As I said, one thing emanated from the other, and this went on.

All these people did not know a God; consequently, religions were unknown.

However, feeling developed, and with this feeling faith, although for them it was only fear, fear of the elements.

When nature revolted, these beings became restless, especially when many perished and were destroyed by the elements.

But not only by the elements, the motherly feeling also awakened in a higher condition and consciousness, and this feeling led to faith, also for fear of keeping what was dear to them.

You feel, André, how far the inner human being had advanced.

For fear of being killed, they knelt down and when that drove the enemy away, it was another power superior to theirs.

This created faith and all races (see article ‘There are no races’ on rulof.org), I mean the higher species, felt it was another power than they possessed and knew.

In later times, there were other things to which these people clung.

Thus, the foundation of their primitive faith stemmed from their fears and anxieties.

When I show you the picture of the earth many centuries later, a lot has changed again.

The earth experienced various eras.

Everything living on earth changed; everything living on the land and in the waters experienced this material and also inner evolution.

The various races (see article ‘There are no races’ on rulof.org) joined more and more together and all those degrees of material life spread over the earth.

Millions of beings of every species were present on earth and other laws had become effective.

When people on earth had advanced that far, hell in life after death was still empty.

Now that degree was attained, millions of human beings had completed their cycle on earth and were about to die.

But their inner life was in a pre-animal-like condition.

Man had not acquired anything in all those centuries but had indulged themselves and lived their lives to the full.

They had received one life after the other.

In one life they had killed their fellow-men and in thousands of other lives they had done no differently and yet, time and again they received a new material organism until they had acquired the beautiful, perfect material body.

Their ego, an animal-like being, lived in it, but that being also had the Divine attunement.

There was no inner possession yet and that very last life on earth passed in passion and animalization.

Wherever one looked, man and animal lived together.

Their struggle to the bitter end went on; the lower brothers and sisters were killed so that the highest degree was lord and master on earth, to which these people belonged.

Then their end on earth came and they entered another world.

You do feel, André, that these were the first people of the hell, people who could no longer return to the earth, because they had completed their material cycle and were attracted by that other world.

In this case the dark spheres, the astral world, or hell in life after death.

These people were free from the world of the unconscious and entered a world of existence.

We discussed this on the second cosmic degree.

Now you will be able to understand all this.

In a short period this number grew alarmingly, for every second people came to the side beyond.

Those who had not yet completed their material cycle, returned to the earth and entered the world of the unconscious upon death.

From this moment on we see in the hell, thus in life after death, various spiritual worlds: in the first place we know the darkness, or hell, then the world of the unconscious and also the astral world for the animal kingdom.

The animal kingdom also has its astral world, and that world, in which inspiration for the animal being lives existed from the very beginning of creation.

The astral world has always existed for man as well, I explained that on the first cosmic degree.

Now, however, inner life has become conscious and man entered a higher stage, in this case hell in life after death.

The astral animal world has also condensed, that world has also changed, because those prehistoric animal species passed on into other animal species.

It is fundamentally as for man in both worlds, the material as well as the spiritual world.

The next point, André; ask me if you do not understand me, only then can we follow the human beings living in the darkness.

At the beginning of creation there was darkness.

That darkness was in essence energy, and that energy God.

Invisible energy, therefore, which condensed into suns, stars and planets and revealed itself in man and animal.

But all that life is God.

In the darkness, the hell, there are spheres, different worlds for man and yet, and that is my point, the All is present here.

God lives in that darkness, although man is not yet aware of it.

God is invisible energy, God is light and darkness.

God, therefore, lives behind and in all this, because if this wasn’t true, man and animal could not go further and higher.

We have seen that one thing awakened the other and revealed itself, and once man became conscious he could see in other worlds, because this Divine life has not as yet attained the source of all life, to which it belongs.

Therefore, André, progress is possible, there must be progress or we human beings would not develop any more and were excluded from progress.

Do you feel what I mean, André?

We are now confronted by a great event, for how did the situation change?

Man has acquired a condition of consciousness, lives in the darkness and is not aware of progress.

But in this darkness is the Divine light, lives God, is the All, are the Divine spheres.

Now isn’t this incomprehensible?

Can you feel this, André?

Man therefore must awaken, must go ever higher and that happened.

This also awakened in man, he began to see and feel and understand himself.

But this process of understanding himself took centuries, because for centuries man continued to concentrate on evil, but there is an end to everything; also to the darkness which they, the first human beings, entered.

In all those centuries we see that many material, and also spiritual wonders have happened.

But what did they do who entered here?

We shall follow them.

Have you understood everything, André?’

‘Yes, Alcar; I am moved by reality.’

‘I can well imagine.

Those who learn to understand God’s creation in the natural way, who feel and experience the laws of nature, bend their heads deeply for all this simplicity, all these infallible laws, and recognize the Divine aim.

They see and feel that it must be like this, that this is the real truth.

Now I’ll tell you of other wonders.

These people, who, as I said, awakened, for they all fell asleep and this spiritual sleep was deep, so that years by earthly standards passed, saw and experienced that they were alive.

I explained all those conditions to you in hell and you know that when man dies on earth, he will arrive here in an unconscious condition.

When the first beings woke up from their deep sleep, they jumped up and ran around in the darkness like mad men; they did not know or understand that they were dead and had died on earth.

They touched and felt themselves and wondered why this deep darkness prevailed.

Where is the starry sky, where is the light, that sunlight and everything we see on earth?

Where are we ourselves?

Thus wondered those first human beings who inhabited the darkness.

Are we alive, are we dead, and where are all those people, our father and mother, sisters and brothers, in short, all the things we had on earth?

But there came light in their dark lives, and this light meant that they were not alone.

Thousands, nay, millions entered that darkness and all of them wondered about the same things, which man in your time still does when he dies on earth and enters this life.

All, non excluded, I mean those who had attained the highest material condition, entered hell in life after death.

Aren’t you surprised, André?’

‘No, Alcar, because they had no inner light.’

‘Very good, my son, you follow me in everything, thank you.

No, there was no light yet, but man was to become creator of that light; for, as I also explained just now, man has the Divine attunement.

God’s own life and light are in man, but they had not advanced that far.

Now what happened on this side, in the astral world?

Once awakened and conscious in their animal-like life here, all these people roamed about and passed on into each other.

They began a terrible life, because they felt passion and violence, they were only open for evil.

There were only men and women here, there were no children, only mature people could live here, because they had attained that attunement.

What they could do in material life, they did here too, they had no inner spiritual possession, they experienced all those passions again, they attacked each other and struck down whoever came their way.

Here in the darkness, André, they indulged themselves again and their life was as it had been on earth.

That continued for a considerable time, though for many it came to an end.

These beings, who deeply thought of what they had once known and yearned for it, suddenly felt drawn away from their condition, their darkness and hell.

It was an other force, stronger than their own; a force which attracted them and brought them again on earth, but this time as astral beings.

But darkness remained, as there was no light in them.

They were attracted by material man on earth who had the same attunement and the astral man passed on into this inner life, whether he wanted or not, and experienced a new life.

These beings were attracted by the inner but material man on earth.

Do you feel now, André, what would happen and what would result from it and what would be born?’

‘Did they pass on into man on earth?’

‘Yes, that happened; but there is more.’

André thought for a long time and said: ‘They experienced what man experienced, Alcar.’

‘Very good, André; but there is something else still.’

André thought again, but he could not get on to it and he said to his leader: ‘I don’t know, Alcar.’

‘You are honest, my son; but you should have known.

(footnote in first edition: See: Mental Illnesses seen from the Other Side.)

What have I explained to you on our last journey but one?’

‘Oh, yes; I should have thought of that.

I know now, Alcar.’

‘You see that you must think and feel, or we don’t get any further.

I am doing this because I want you to know and understand all those spiritual laws, also in your life on earth, presently when you are again in your material organism.

It will be of great value to you, because you will then see and feel all these laws, which is spiritual wisdom.

So listen carefully and ask me if something is not clear.

Now, obsession arose on earth and insanity developed.

One thing developed out of the other, out of the preceding being an other emanated which was obsession and insanity for man on earth.

The astral spirit was attracted by those earthly beings, and the more sensitive of them passed on into these spiritual beings and were obsessed.

An illness, a mental illness had come into being and these mental illnesses will remain, they will continue to ruin the human being until there are no more bad people on earth and on this side.

Then these illnesses and symptoms cease and can no longer exist.

Man no longer finds man to take possession of from this world and every soul will then feel what is good and work for it.

Is this clear to you?’

‘It is horrible, but again natural, Alcar.’

‘You see that the astral man again passed into his animal-like life and brought hell and horror on earth.

You know how they can connect with man on earth, I explained that.

In those days life on earth was terrible, but even now, in your time, it is no different.

This awful illness is still on earth, and many go to ruin because they are open to evil.

Now imagine that hell in life after death and on earth.

All were influenced, non excluded.

Life on earth went on, people joined together and the astral being lived in and around them.

It was a spiritual and material chaos.

Man on earth was stirred up, because these demons lived in them and now hatred, passion and animalization really did burst out, which was beyond description.

Man on earth was ablaze.

Urged on by the demonic being, man forgot himself as never before.

The human beings were destroyed by the thousand and many women were defiled and besmirched.

This can no longer be retraced, but this era when man felt like that and had sunk so deeply, cannot return, even though man in your time thinks that evil dominates.

This was horrible.

What is man like in your time?

They think there is no end to it.

Those who seek the good, feel the terror of those few who hold power over thousands of lives, dazzling others with their ideas as if they were the true prophets.

But that is worldly, it is material; it is temporary, it will and must happen because man on earth lives in his own wilderness and has no feeling to start a higher life.

We both have followed that from this side.

I showed you on this side through all those journeys we made together, that man is to blame for this downfall, and that he has acted in that way, even if he now feels differently than those demons.

In thousands of lives, I assure you this is hidden in the distant past, but we can show them on this side, they massacred thousands and thousands of lives, they animalized, like those who made themselves rulers of the earth.

These beings now think that they are different, but they know hatred, passion and violence, they slaughter their fellow-men.

But I know and thousands on this side know, as well as those in the spheres of light and those who have returned to the All, that all those times will pass, that all that misery will dissolve when the individual awakend and tries to create an atmosphere in his surroundings the way God so dearly wants us to.

But they are not different, although their hatred and life are not as bad as of those of all others.

In these times people were not savages, but devils.

Those spiritual monsters lived a life on earth similar to the life they had lived in the material organism.

That is what the poor earth was like in that era, it was terrible.

When would this end?

The end is not yet in sight; but it will come, though not until thousands of centuries later.

The earth continued and ignored all those beings living on its surface.

It developed the material organism and beautified it, but according as this human organism became finer, inner life became increasingly horrible.

We see, André, how far that material organism has advanced and how far inner life is behind.

But how far indeed was the material organism ahead of inner life?

It could not be drawn up; that gap cannot be tided over thousands of years.

All this happened, had to happen, because inner man had to awaken.

Those millions of beings, who had returned to the earth would awaken.

They saw and experienced many possibilities to live on earth again, to give full rein to their passions, and exactly in this way they got to know other laws.

What happened?

Something awakened in them because of all the things they experienced, so that they began to understand those adventures.

Children were born by them, which, as a matter of fact, still happens on earth in your time.

They experienced whatever they wished, because millions of people lived on earth who wanted a similar life.

All these human beings on earth were open for murder, passion, violence and animalization, and they attracted them because they had the same attunement.

In this way they gave full rein to their various passions.

When, afterwards, they calmed down, when the fire of passion was extinguished and they were satisfied, they were open for other things and they helped man on earth with something or other.

And how amazed they were that man acted in accordance with what they had urged them to do.

This was no longer evil, but something of value in their lives.

When they had lived to the full, they began to protect these beings, for fear that they might pass on into other hands.

You surely feel that out of all this, out of all this misery and animalization, all that hatred and passion, good was born.

Slowly but surely something developed in them and they saw and experienced that, when they began to provide for happiness of man on earth, to protect him against many other things, as this was also possible, there was more light.

Then there was something that made them feel less cold and sad.

Something that warmed them encouraged and lightened them.

From this moment on inner man awakened in these beings.

Not only because of what I told you, not only by all those good things they did and by inspiring the beings they could reach; there was something else deep down in them which would make them awaken.

That was the Divine Spark, the Divine attunement, for life would go on; they did live in the All, as I explained to you; life would advance ever more, and man began to feel and experience this.

Now there was something in these beings which urged them on; something they had awakened in themselves; because deep down in man is a nucleus, a power which is the connection and attunement to our Father in heaven.

They awakened this and it urged them on, and as a result they started to awake and so inner man awakened.

This process started in all those millions of beings, each in his own condition.

Slowly but surely they began to feel it; because, as I said, when they did good things for people on earth their world was not so cold and dark any more, and it was as if something was present in that terrible hell which warmed them.

And that is what they wanted to have, it made them go on.

Yet, these feelings weakened time and again and they assumed that animal-like life; they drained people again and killed them; their inner life was again in fire and they felt as before.

However, they went on and had to go on and again they started that other life, but each time they returned to their former lives.

This process of trial and error continued for thousands of years.

These beings nevertheless awakened and the struggle against good and evil in them had begun.

Some already sought nothing but good and inspired man on earth to seek good, even though these material beings were not aware of it.

In this way a great many centuries passed.

These souls lived in the dark spheres and were in life after death for thousands of years.

The astral world condensed, as I said, in an alarming way.

Life on earth passed from one era to the other.

Wherever one looked and human beings lived, there was horror; hell and the devil had set in.

Everyone wanted to possess and every human being lived to the full.

Compare this world with the one in which you live and tell me if anything has changed.

We still see this on earth, people still kill each other and steal each other’s happiness.

This came to life in the distant past and now that we as well as the earth are billions of years old, man has not changed a bit and pre-animal-like beings in human shape are living on this planet.

There is no love yet; they do not feel and understand themselves yet and do not know they have been on their way for billions of years and will return to the Divine Spheres.

We are still laughed at when we speak of eternal progress; man is smashed to smithereens in the face of the mystery of ‘death’.

Man shrugs his shoulders at spiritual laws, depths and truths, yes, at all these things, this entire truth which is all the same deep down in him.

My God, when will they begin to feel that You are nothing but Love?

Hear my prayer, feel my love, you man of the earth, I would not be able to lie, to talk nonsense; this, what lives on this side, is your own past, your life and your Divine attunement.

Where will it all end if they continue to follow this way?

But once there will be an end to all that misery, all that madness, because there will be no more bad humans.

These human beings, André, not only struggled against all those unknown illnesses, which are still not understood on earth, they also had to contend with thousands of other things and misery, which made life on earth a hell.

One being poisoned the other and they were in need of everything.

Nobody had anything he could leave on earth, there was no property, because they were not in any way spiritual gifted.

That would come, though thousands of centuries later.

Is it clear to you, what sort of chaos prevailed on earth?

And that these times find no comparison?

There is still grief, sorrow and misery on earth, but everything is different, quite different from that time.

That is how man acted; and that is what we were like, André, I and you and the angels on our side.

Those were our first lives on the planet earth.

This changed, however, but it took a long time before those who had already felt that inner warmth awakened again.

And there were many who had felt and experienced it; because millions of beings emerged out of every degree.

Do you feel what this means?’

‘Yes, Alcar.’

‘Well then, all these beings lived all over the world and they began a higher life and around them it started to change.

This is the moment when the spheres of light were born and man became the creator of light.

Man as creator of light, do you feel what that means?

This being possessed this power, this awe-inspiring truth.

Man searched for the good and sought what would give him inner warmth.

Centuries later this process came true, because what do we see when we advance centuries?

Light came around them.

The good things they did and established on earth for mankind built an other world in the spirit, which became the spheres of light.’