NEUOFFENBARUNGDeutscher Text · Book contents
9 January 1844, evening
[Ste.01_011,01] Once you have chosen, quickly write down the passage you chose.
[Ste.01_011,02] ‘He then threw off his garment, sprang up and came to Him.’ (The man was Bartimaeus.)
[Ste.01_011,03] You have chosen a most fitting passage. It should be a powerful guide to all who are blind in this world, so that they may do what this blind man did and receive the true light of the eyes of the spirit.
[Ste.01_011,04] Why did the blind man throw the garment away? He could have hurried to the Lord with it when the Lord called him. The blind man was wise. He knew and reckoned well that his heavy outer garment would hinder him in his haste towards the Lord. So he quickly threw it aside, freeing himself from what would have made his progress cumbersome. By doing so he reached the Lord all the sooner and received the light of his eyes back from Him.
[Ste.01_011,05] Who exactly is this blind man? He is a learned man of the world with this good quality: he is aware of his blindness. He also has the good quality of knowing who can heal him of it.
[Ste.01_011,06] Very many such blind people sit by the ways, and very many grope about in every corner. But those who sit by the way fall asleep, intoxicated by the draught of opium that is their learning, and dream as though they could see. In the stupor of their learned dream they do not know when the Lord passes by on His way, and do not know that they are blind. So they do not cry, ‘Son of David, help me!’
[Ste.01_011,07] Others grope about in every corner and half-heartedly seek the One who could make them see, but stray from the way. When the Son of David passes by, they are absent. Their foolish seeking makes them miss the moment when the Son of David takes the road to Jericho. So they too fail to cry out and remain in their blindness.
[Ste.01_011,08] What is this way? The ‘way’ is the path of trial through this world, and ‘Jericho’ is the final gathering place for those who have travelled it. In other words, it is first of all the world of spirits.
[Ste.01_011,09] Our blind man did not fear the disciples who threatened him, for he knew very well that the Lord was mightier and more merciful than those disciples. So the Lord heard him, and when He called him, he even threw off the last hindrance, his coat, to reach the One who had called him as quickly and surely as possible.
[Ste.01_011,10] This blind man is therefore a true example, and I say to you: do likewise, all of you who are also blind by the way! Wait for the Lord by the way, and when He passes, do not let the world deter you. Cry to Him in your hearts to have mercy on you and give you the light of eternal life. Truly, He will have mercy on you and give you what you cried for!
[Ste.01_011,11] The blind man threw away his garment. What is the garment? It is the world, and also all the wide reading and learning of the outward understanding. Throw these away, since I call you every day, so that they may not hinder you on your way to Me!
[Ste.01_011,12] Would it have been wise for the blind man to encase himself in yet more coats when I called him? Truly, these would have weighed him down in the end so much that he could not have risen from the ground, much less hurried to the One who called him.
[Ste.01_011,13] If I call you daily as I called the blind man, would it be wise to clothe yourselves for the occasion in all sorts of coats and mantles of worldly learning? Surely that would be the greatest folly! Throw it all away instead and hasten to Me in your hearts. I will open your eyes and make you see, alive in your spirit, so that you may then accomplish more in one glance than by groping about in your blindness for thousands of years.
[Ste.01_011,14] What good is the blind man's imagined sight in his dream? When he awakes he is still as blind, and blinder than before.
[Ste.01_011,15] What good is all the clothing of learned wisdom, however deep and weighty? It weighs a person down so that he cannot rise when called to receive the living light.
[Ste.01_011,16] The human spirit already has everything within itself. It needs nothing but the opening of its eyes to behold the boundless abundance of life's wonders within itself.
[Ste.01_011,17] But what does the spirit gain if a person fills his memory and understanding with nothing but dead husks and shadows? Nothing. It loses besides, and is encased in a chaos of outward rind, husks and all sorts of shadows, so that it will scarcely ever attain freedom, much less receive the living light of its eyes.
[Ste.01_011,18] Suppose you had the whole Bible by heart in your heads, while another person had made only a couple of verses his own but had ordered his life strictly by them. In him the two verses become alive and free his spirit. In you the whole of Scripture lies dead, and you do not understand one verse in a living way.
[Ste.01_011,19] Which is better, then, the two little verses active in life, or the entire mass of letters of Holy Scripture, from which not one verse has been taken into life? Surely the two verses active in life are better here!
[Ste.01_011,20] Someone may say here, ‘If a person knows more, surely he can take all the more into his living activity!’ But I say: the human being is My work, and therefore I know best what benefits him.
[Ste.01_011,21] Take a pupil, in music, for instance. Set a whole, extensive course before him at the beginning and have him start on all its chapters at once. Tell Me, what will come of that? Surely nothing! The sheer amount will weary him, and he will soon give up the whole study.
[Ste.01_011,22] But take a short course, begin with the first scale and have him practise it thoroughly. If before long he can play the first scale through without difficulty, will that not be more than the first attempt at the entire course at once?
[Ste.01_011,23] So I say to you: throw away the surplus garment and make the course small. Then, like the blind man by the way, you will rise more readily and hasten all the more quickly to where I call you now, as I do every day.
[Ste.01_011,24] Truly, you may read your way through all the libraries of the world. You will stand no better before Me by a hair, nor know any more, than if you had never read anything. Why? Because if you wish to receive the light from Me, you must let all this go. It is nothing but empty husks and straw destined for the fire.
[Ste.01_011,25] If you do not clear these empty husks and straw out of yourselves before the flaming light of My love comes to you, the fire will seize the straw and there will be a dreadful blaze within you. But clear out all this rubbish beforehand and throw away the vain, foolish garment. Then when My light of fire comes into you, it will cause no blaze. At once it will warm you gently through and illumine your whole spirit, just as the blind man by the way could see the instant he came to Me.
[Ste.01_011,26] I think this picture could not be given more clearly and plainly. Yet like all the earlier ones it must be taken into life if it is to give a living light. As long as this does not happen, you will read it with approval and say, ‘That is really very beautiful!’ And I can say only this in reply: that is really very foolish of you! As long as you find My living call merely beautiful, you are building houses upon sand. My living seed falls upon the way with you, is easily trampled underfoot, and bears no fruit.
[Ste.01_011,27] But if you take this into yourselves at once in a living way and act accordingly, you are wise. Then you are building the house upon the rock, and My seed falls into good soil.
[Ste.01_011,28] It matters little to Me whether you find these words of Mine beautiful. What matters to Me altogether is that you act upon them. For I give them to you for the sake of your own salvation, not to be admired.
[Ste.01_011,29] Ponder this well, or it will bring you no benefit. Next time we shall go another central sun further!