NEUOFFENBARUNG← Gifts of Heaven · Volume 2 · Contents
The cause and essence of Light
22nd March 1842
In the context of the communication about the fly, a most significant spiritual teaching about light was revealed to the "disciples" Anselm Hüttenbrenner and his daughters by the "servant" Jakob Lorber in March 1842. These revelations can be read in the chapters 9 to 11 of the writing "The Fly". Although they are of a somewhat later date, they may be reproduced here following the opening chapters. (p.34 ff.).
[1] Question: What is light in and by itself, and how does it propagate?
[2] To demonstrate this, it will by no means be necessary to mention by name any existing erroneous theory, but we make up our explanation, and this may serve you and everyone as a touchstone to test on the same how much of the noble or base metal is located in all the other listed theories.
[3] So what is the light?
[4] To understand light, as it appears in time and space, thoroughly you must view it as neither completely material nor completely spiritual, but as a material-spiritual unit, and see it as a set polarity in which the spiritual part constitutes the ‘positive’ pole and the material part is the ‘negative’ pole.
[5] But this polarity is so positioned that it does not act as front and back, but as the ‘inner’ and ‘outer’ with the inner being the positive and the outer – the negative pole.
[6] But how do these two polarities appear as light?
[7] See, this difficulty shall soon be removed! When you take a so-called flint stone and strike it with hardened iron, you will see a number of sparks flying at the spot where the iron hits the flint. These sparks are light; where did they get their luminescence? – from the stone, the iron, or from both?
[8] Here it is not necessary to further mention that by this act, the sparks originate solely from the iron, from which the outermost little pieces were torn off by the hard stone and kindled. The little particles of air enclosed in the pores of the iron could not evade the pressure caused by the striking action. They kindled, and in turn set detached iron particles into a hot, glowing white state.
[9] This we knew; but how is this compressed air ignited, and what is the illumination within the act of ignition?
[10] Here the matter can no longer be explained differently except to repeat again that half of the air is nothing but the material body for the intellectual spirits contained therein. The physicists would rather hear Me say “free, unbound force” instead of spirits, but since we want to be thorough, instead of taking the attribute of iron, we will take the thing affected with the attribute, which is the spirit itself or, since we are dealing with many spirits instead of just one, the spirits themselves.
[11] Having that firmly in our mind, we can follow unerringly the trail to this very thing, and then so perceive it.
[12] Since spirit is a positive polarity power, it strives continually for unbounded freedom, and is quiet in its bound state only as long as it doesn’t experience any unusual impairment from its negative polarity, or – still more understandable – from its encasement or hull. But if it suffers any kind of pressure from without, the spirit is immediately awakened from its sphere of confinement and makes its existence known by expanding. This phenomenon is then known to you as light.
[13] We have come this far, but nevertheless everyone will still say, “That may be right, but we still don’t know what the actual light in and by itself is.”
[14] But I say: “Just a little more patience, for as you all know, a mature oak tree does not fall with one blow!”
[15] We will come to grips with the actual illumination.
[16] What then is this illumination?
[17] An example will make it clearer to you. What do you see when an arrogant person receives a humiliating blow to his ego? He becomes enraged, and in his rage his whole body will begin to shake, his eyes begin to glow as though an iron forge were behind them, and his hair bristles on all sides. If he is in the company of like-minded individuals, they, too, become enraged, not in the same intensity, but according to the degree of friendship.
[18] I am of the opinion that this scene needs no further clarification but you need only to observe an army of soldiers and you cannot miss this outflow of anger, or this “war hunger” which grips thousands and thousands and hurls them unto the bloody battle.
[19] Now, if you think about this a little, we will have our illumination as good as fully explained, for the spirit, as positive polarity encased in the negative polarity, receiving a blow, becomes enraged, which in this case is an emerging awareness of its captivity, and with this awareness comes a great desire to expand or make itself free.
[20] But since the outer negative polarity is so constructed that it expands to a certain extent, but is otherwise indestructible, or rather unbreakable, the spirit inside expands as far as it can, but since it cannot break through, it withdraws quickly, but then, in erroneous judgment, tries again with renewed vigor to break through its hull, – an act which some spirits can repeat many thousands of times per second. This act is called ‘rage’ and is accompanied by ever increasing anger.
[21] What is the obvious consequence of this act, which can truly be called ‘war hunger?’
[22] Nothing else but that the other, still calm spirits, close to such an enraged spirit perceive this fever, and are set into motion against their inner polarity. This propagation of their shared fever can take place with great speed since the negative encasement of the spirits of which the air is actually composed, lie close together.
[23] Now we actually have it all; it is just this feverish activity of such spirits, which is perceived by the eye of animals as well as humans. This perception is actually what you call illumination, for the eye is provided to perceive these most subtle vibrations, and this because the eye is more or less half spirit and half material, and has the same polarity as that which is called “light”, and therefore receive and feel everything related to it.
[24] When any such polarity kindles itself in this manner, then this is the act of illumination. But the illumination itself is nothing but the effect on the surrounding spiritual polarities by the vibration caused by the original spiritual polarity. This propagation affects nearer or further distances depending on the size and degree of the originally kindled spiritual polarity, and sets them, if not into too intense, at least into a perceivable state of rage.
[25] The further the surrounding spiritual polarities are from the originally kindled spiritual polarity, the weaker is the response.
[26] Now you will say, “We understand the illumination, but we do not understand why we see the illuminated objects by their form, and also do not understand the nature of the different kinds of light, such as the light of the sun.”
[27] Here I will tell you a little more, so that his, too, will no longer be a secret, since the greatest difficulty has already been overcome.
[28] You see the actual form of objects because the solid material corresponding to the forms of the objects resists the formerly discussed propagation, or it is a double return from an object from which it received a counter-thrust.
[29] Concerning the light of the sun, its illumination is the same as the familiar spark. The difference is only that the ‘white light’ stems from the vibrations of love, while the ‘red light’ stems
from the vibrations of rage; and, since the light of the sun originates from the vibrations of love, its propagation is different from that originating from anger.
[30] But what constitutes the difference and how we shall arrive at our victory will be clearly shown to you next time!
[31] You may have already heard here and there that the lower a region of the earth is, the more compact, the denser is the air in that area. This is a quite natural consequence, for not only the air, but also everything else becomes denser as it radiates closer to the center. The farther away from the center, the more loosely joined are the components of the radiation.
[32] We already know what the air surrounding the earth is, partly from present information, but still more from other explanations which have been given about things in the natural world.
[33] But, to lift from you, My dear ones, the burden of a lengthy search, I tell you again that the air, as well as all matter, is nothing but a spiritual-material, material-spiritual conflict, and the deeper these spiritual potencies lie, the angrier they are, and the higher above the planets they keep themselves, the more loving, peaceful and constant they are.
[34] Now that we understand this, it will not be hard for us, at least in a general overview, to recognize the earth with its surrounding atmosphere and according to its content, cheerfully say: The earth, and as far as its atmosphere reaches, is nothing but a gradation of spirits, having placed themselves on such a planet to begin the familiar ‘return journey.’
[35] "Yes," you will ask, "what then fills the wide space between the sun and a planet?"
[36] The scientists say that it is an exceptionally light and compliant ether. But what would the physicists say if they had to visibly demonstrate what this ether actually is?
[37] Really, this would hardly be the fifty-dollar question! For one thing, you can’t see ether through any microscope, since not even the much denser air can be seen even partially through a microscope. The physicists could analyze the ether chemically if they could get some in their retorts. But since the actual region of the ether begins at a height of 7, 10, 14 and – towards the North Pole, at a height of 34 miles above the earth, it would be extremely difficult for the scientists to obtain ether for their research.
[38] But we want to travel on a road much more comfortable and certain, namely, that of inner faith, trust, and true love. On that road the star, Sirius, will be visually much closer to the cowboy and the shepherd than is the raindrop which has fallen on the nose of an exceedingly mathematical scientist who is on the dark road of shortsighted research, using the human mind.
[39] And so we say; the ether, likewise, is a spiritual entity which, to all planets, stands in a ‘positive’, but to the suns, in a ‘negative’ relationship.
[40] The ether consists of pure, peaceful and patient spirits; if this were not so, how difficult it would be for the planets to make their long journey around the sun at an extraordinary speed.
[41] But because the ether-spirits is formed from the most pure, peaceful and compliant spirits, nothing finds in their existence an obstacle to its motion, – be the moving entity or thing ever so small and insignificant.
[42] See now, My dear ones, now that we know this, it will no longer be difficult to ascertain the illumination of a sun and the procreation of its illumination. Yet, before we can do that, we must devote a few minutes to the shining sun, and ask ourselves, how does it look, and what happens there?
[43] This is necessary, otherwise you would, sooner or later, have to ask, how could one explain the effects to someone else, if the cause of the effect remains unknown?!
[44] That the sun is an exceedingly strong illuminating heavenly body needs no explanation, since everyone’s eyes attest to that.
[45] But how does it become so strongly illuminating? And how does it look on the surface and all the way to the center?
[46] See, this is quite another question, and it must be answered before our return to the main point can be productive.
[47] First of all, you must be aware of the sun’s enormous size. A sun is often one, yes, even several million times the size of one of its planets.
[48] What is thus the sun itself?
[49] The sun, as an entity, is a planet in a perfected state, and all planets are ‘satellites’ of this large and perfected planet.
[50] But what is the source of such an extraordinary light surrounding such a perfected planet?
[51] The light comes from the spiritual love-joy of the spirits surrounding this perfect planet.
[52] Are these spirits already completed spirits?
[53] This question must be again divided into seven different points which will, nevertheless, not be too difficult to thoroughly comprehend, since they are found together in the most beautiful order
[54] These seven points are seven different kinds of spirits found in the sun, which jointly determine the great light of the sun
[55] If you want to learn the inner nature of these spirits better, look to the seven commandments of neighborly love and the three commandments serving as the foundation of these seven, through which man should recognize his relationship to God, his Father and Creator. Then you have the completed cycle of the spirit formation on a sun. Also, the colors of the rainbow let one recognize this order.
[56] But what follows now from this recollections?
[57] Nothing else follows but that the sun, in its inner sphere, is a gathering place for the seven kinds of spirits. Among them are those first sent to the planets as a trial, and also those who have returned perfected. The first, still to be perfected class, form the sun’s inner contents, as the second, already perfected types, form the sun’s shining envelopment.
[58] See, if you were a little more sharp-sighted, the stumbling block would have already been removed; but, since you suffer from weak eyes and are also somewhat hard of hearing, I have to add that these spirits are the ones who, through their vibrations of love and joy, cause the actual illumination of the sun.
[59] Concerning the propagation of this light, I will draw your attention to those still-to-be- perfected spirits, which must remove themselves from the sun. Now you have the explanation of the light propagation down to a “T”, which has been discussed in connection with the formation of planet nodules, and herewith you also have the nature of the often-mentioned little atomic animals leaving the sun, through which the vibrations of the already perfected spirits are given, as a strengthening gift, to the imperfect spirits who are leaving the sun on the journey to their perfection.
[60] Here you will ask and say; “It is all well and fine, but what drives the first kind of spirits, which are still not complete, out of the sun into the wide, endless spaces?”
[61] And, I give you this as an answer: Nothing else but My eternal order, in which these wandering spirits from the sun have a positive polarity saturation, but basically they are only negative!
[62] But what happens if two like poles come near each other? They repel each other until the positively nourished but, within itself, still negative pole, has given up all the positive!
[63] Now, understand – our well-known little atomic animals are basically negative anxieties, and can only remain in the sun as long as they retain a negative polarity. If they too greedily take on a light saturation from the positive polarity sphere of the sun spirits, so that, according to the nature of
light, there remains very little difference between them and the truly positive polarity spirits, which are already complete, they, the little atomic animals, will be quickly driven out from the positive polarities, and that with a truly spiritual speed.
[64] These expelled spirits are the actual shining light of the sun which, when it falls on a planet, imparts the positive part to it, which is the accompanying light, or rather, the continued love-joy vibration of the completed spirits.
[65] But in the negative portion, these atomic beings soon free themselves of their positive part, especially when they get close to a planet, and then, as anti-polar beings, return to the sun. Since these beings always move in a straight line because of their great speed, it is understandable why objects illuminated by the sun are seen so clearly, especially when there are no disturbances in the air.
[66] But how such an illuminated form can be seen in all its parts is due to the fact that all matter, out of which a form is made, is likewise – as you already know – nothing else but “a conflict of spiritual potencies.
[67] Therefore, when these fast light bearers from the sun encounter a form, the form then takes on, according to its composition, the parts corresponding to itself and lets the unusable parts go in all directions and at the highest rate of speed.
[68] And so the eye is only an organ for the reception of the manifold difference of the main – or the returned light, and these manifold differences are also the sculptors of all the different things in the eye, based on these light differentiations.
[69] So now that you know this and, in the natural sense, comprehend it as much as possible, it must finally be clear to you that everything which represents anything material, is basically not material but purely spiritual, except you cannot behold what is spirit because you are not yet in the spiritual polarity. But once you find yourself in spiritual polarity, then the opposite will occur, where you will see only what is spirit, but all material you will have to think of as now you think of the spiritual.
[70] Therefore, you should not wonder so much if, in the course of this communication, you come upon points, here and there, that cannot be made all so clear to you, for if all these relationships should now be made accessible to you, you would have to step out of the material completely and into the purely spiritual, and it is not yet time for that.
Footnote *(Editor's note: light atoms – called "light energy quanta" by the most important contemporary physicists according to their findings). – – The theory of light revealed by Jakob Lorber confirmed in a wonderful way the great discoveries and findings of the radiation research of our time and surpasses them by far by revealing the spiritual-living nature of the atomic light carriers. The Lorberian theory of light combines the truth of the emission theory established by the English researcher J. Newton in 1678 (whereupon the light consists of tiny, substantial particles, which fly out from the light source at high speed in all directions) – with the vibration- or wave theory established in the 19th century by the researcher Huygens (after which the light exists in wavelike propagating oscillations of the ether filling the space) – According to Lorber, sunlight consists of small atomic, spiritual beings, which, charged with the strong life vibrations of higher beings, hurry to the planet as light carriers to feed all life with solar power, to whom the vibrations of the already completed spirits are given as a strengthening gift on the journey of their completion.