Secrets of Creation · Chapter 31 · The Starry Sky (January 16, 1877)

Chapter 31

The Starry Sky (January 16, 1877)

01] When I again give you a word about this subject, it has actually no other purpose than to partly supplement what was said earlier, as well as a hint not to want to recognize Me and My words in scientific research and scholarly treatises, but in the starry sky which is nearest to you, the night sky, which you see spreading out over you every night in the clear air, to find God the Creator and Lord, who has always spoken to you and still daily does not silence His voice.

02] If you want to study scientific books and find in them the laws of nature, the combinations of primordial substances, the chemical relationships, the crystallization process of minerals, the law of cell formation in plants, the construction of the animal world and of man, as far as it is possible for you humans, then this study is only a study of individuals or of the individual who, if he wants to, can also find the legislator behind the laws. Because who really seeks Me, he also finds Me everywhere; because it is enough that he wants to find Me!

03] These individual studies, even the study of astronomy, where it is not professional business, require much time, much patience and perseverance, in order not to drop everything in the midst of it.

04] Many things I have explained to you myself from all branches of natural science, explained and supplemented what is missing, shown you, if one wants to study them, how one should understand them, so that they result in spiritual results and not merely teach you the material mixtures and transformations, where even many a natural scientist places matter higher than the spiritual and sets the concept "God" entirely aside.

05] I have explained to you in religious matters of faith, in the Old and New Testaments how some passages should be understood, I have clearly proved to you that there is a great difference between reading and understanding what is read, that the limited mind meticulously clings to the word (letter) and only an enlightened soul can understand what, written more than a thousand years ago, will always remain the same as truth.

06] From all sides and in all the books there is no shortage of words for you to lift up your spirit, to educate it, to seek higher things and also to grasp them, but in vain. for others it is too strenuous to defend themselves with all their might, and they only want to stay with what they have learnt or at most accept what they have learned (what they like). If he is shown a somewhat larger field of vision, he closes his eyes and ears, if numerical quantities in astronomy come before his eyes, he turns his head away, does not want to know anything, at most he wants to hear a few words from love, which move him at the moment, but perhaps not be practiced by him after all, and therefore only remain comfortably on paper.

07] Thus each and every one has his or her views, does not depend on them, hangs on the material, pursues the spiritual only incidentally, more to pass the time than to study seriously, in order to prepare for the journey to the hereafter, which will not cease after all.

08] Now, to return to our title word, I tell you that I chose it because the night sky is visible every day, and if someone doubts everything said, written and accomplished, he still cannot avoid asking himself the question when looking at this starry sky:

09] "What are these shining dots on the black horizon of the night?" The answer to this question was already given to the questioners at an early age in school, which was: "They are stars, that is, shining bodies like our sun!

10] Now, if this is accepted, a second question will arise, which will be: "Are these stars or suns attached to something up there, otherwise they would fall down?"

11] Popular astronomy has also taken care of this for the youth and has explained: "It is worlds, spherical spheres that move".

12] Next another question will arise, which is: "Are these stars or worlds far away from us?" And here, too, astronomy has, as much as possible, produced approximate numbers which, although no longer comprehensible to the human mind, casually give a value for distance.

13] Well, these questions are followed up by a few others, namely the first would be: "Since the stars are of no use to us inhabitants of this earth, what are they actually there for?" and the second question would be: "Since these great worlds are not fixed, who keeps them so freely floating in space?"

14] Many scholars and astronomers have answered the first of these questions, have also proved that these worlds systematically grouped orbit around each other, and have also said that similar to our small globe, these worlds will also be equipped with everything that can make their existence pleasant for the beings living there.

15] In further details they could not give you any information, because they do not know it themselves. And they did it very well; for it is impossible for man to invent anything beyond his own existence, which is not present in his own nature

16] The last question now: "Who has put these worlds in such a way that they do not fall down, that they move around each other in elliptical circles?"

17] To answer this question is now to be my business to tell you darkened spirits, who only listen to your desires and passions, in a few words, that it is a God who has created these sparkling stars or immeasurable worlds as a school for millions and millions of spirits, who all have to go through the path to perfection to become what I have voluntarily granted to you human children.

18] Up there in those immeasurable spaces these worlds float like drops of oil on a surface of water held by My omnipotence. None disturbs the other, all carry out their orbits in regular intervals, everywhere there is order, because everywhere only one law prevails, the law of attraction.

19] Each such solar world has its orbiting planets and comets, which are however not visible from here because of their small dimensions and too great distance of the stars themselves.

20] It took countless millions of years to develop such a system of worlds and just as many years to completely dissolve it again, so that it is not even noticed from the earth - whether it has just emerged or has long since passed.

21] Behold, all these infinite creations which shine like sparkling stars above your heads every night, these great worlds (would only be a little intelligence for higher things in your human soul) should not go unnoticed by you men; for they alone without any preliminary study are capable of leading people first to the above mentioned questions and secondly to give them a more serious mood, which should end with the question: "What am I actually, a fragile instrument, with My feet clinging to an earth I do not know, and looking up longingly, and: What are you stars, you silent witnesses of so many thousands of generations, where so many had the same questions on their lips and received just as little a decisive answer as I did?"

22] Such thoughts should of course inspire every man when he sees the night sky in its Mysterious darkness before him, and yet how few men appreciate the starry sky with a glance, and how much less people think about it! While in all nature there is nothing that can make such a deep impression on a heart as this very starry sky in the silence of the night, where all the tumult of the world is at an end and even the green-flowering nature shows itself only in black outlines, and so gives man time and opportunity to allow certain suspicions free reign, which at such moments sneak up on the soul, which would like to have solved so many a question.

23] Unfortunately, it is generally the opposite. Most people, when they return home in the evening or late at night from worldly pleasures, trivial (shallow) conversations, sneak along their heads bowed towards the earth, reveling in what they have recently experienced – scarcely acknowledging the great universe above their heads - they are like the animals who cannot turn their heads upwards, but turn their eyes to the earth, which after a short time will be their last place of residence.

24] Who would dare to speak to such animal people of anything other than what they have just experienced, who would dare to tell them:

25] "Lift up your eyes a little above yourselves! Up there is a Mysterious world that will soon be your longer stay, where other conditions, other circumstances will determine you and your way of life; up there the self-conceit of so many will sink down into nothing. All dignities, treasures, riches, everything you must leave behind here - poor you entered the world and poor you arrive in that world which you have not even looked at".

26] Animal-people like you are, I know well why you shy away from the sight of the starry sky - because it agitates your conscience, because certain feelings could awaken in you that you would like to suppress. You avoid all serious questions, avoid even the answers to them, because they do not coincide with your worldly ideas.

27] The kingdom of the dead and eternally living stands before you in a starlit night - you fear the former and do not believe in the latter. Therefore you flee away from this black, Mysterious veil of the future into a salon illuminated with candles and lamps, look there as one deceives the other by trying to impose on him a better opinion than he has of himself; indulge there in tables full of artificial food (and drinks) that will help you to get where you want to go as late as possible. Swarming through the nights in the exhilaration of sensual pleasures, until the sun has chased away the dark specter of the night, then stagger home to replace in your morning sleep what you have wasted up to there, and you will soon learn what it has done to you to completely ignore the irrefutable and to deceive no one more than yourself!

28] The starry sky is such a simple image of the great creation that it cannot be better given, for you see on the limited horizon, which arches over your head in hemispherical form, in small constellations, nebulae and comets, a kingdom before you which is infinite.

29] These great worlds, for which your imagination no longer has a number, appear to you as little stars, flickering and shining in the purest light.

30] You see them change their position, they rise and descend, that is, your earth in its axes and solar movement leads you in flight past these worlds.

31] You have no certainty of their "what are they?" "How great are they?" - "how are they arranged?" etc., All these questions will remain unanswered scientifically; where your mind says I don't know anything about it, and points you to your heart, where intuitive feelings must replace what astronomical calculation can no longer answer.

32] So let your heart feel what the starry sky involuntarily imposes on you. Deepen yourselves in these creative thoughts which may have destined the creator of this visible universe to create so many, so great and so glorious worlds!

33] Let the thought gain space which often overwhelms you when illusions and misfortunes follow you, when the world with all its material pleasures has closed itself to you, that perhaps somewhere else a better being, a quiet place to live after the day's efforts of life on earth, where nothing was constant and even the supposed happiness was of short duration.

34] Behold, the mind has no comfort for you, but the heart to which I have bestowed the gift - if it wills to soar far above the worldly, above matter; let it speak in comforting words! For - - - "heart" and "love" are synonymous. Let it be said to you that everything that the two testaments taught you in religious matters, My teaching, My presence on earth, My death, My resurrection, that all this was not an empty delusion, let it be said to you that already in that time I spoke: "In My Father's house are many dwellings" - that already in that time I pointed to an eternal duration of all that was created. Let all this pass in front of your soul and the nightly starry sky will appear different to you - it will speak an understandable language. There you will see not only shining stars of different sizes, even large solar bodies not materially decorated, but dwellings for millions and millions of creatures, all of which describe their paths according to regulated laws, gradually developing step by step, admittedly not according to your tiny annual accounts, but for which purpose the development periods must also be expressed in other numerical values according to the scale of the whole world structure.

35] You will see there a great thought of creation being carried out, first of all the love for the foundation and secondly a certain spiritual perfection as the highest goal; for just as your intuition will say that among these millions of worlds there must be a hierarchy, a higher or lower order, so also the beings living on them must be more or less spiritually perfected, where the rest of their lives is left to their own devices.

36] Where one rule, one law and the transition from one stage to the other happens only gently, then the Creator of this immense kingdom cannot be regarded otherwise than as a Father to His children. But where this relationship shines out from all creations, it is quite natural that when the sun sinks and the nightly starry sky shows itself to your eyes, you should feel no other language, no other feeling in your heart than the language of love, of gentle feeling, of fatherly love, whereby He tells you all: "Look around you! all this I created for you, I created for My children who are to give back to Me the Love which I have poured out into all creation!"

37] When this language finds its place in your hearts, then the starry sky is a celebration song of spiritual harmonies and every ray of light from a distant sun is a spiritual kiss from a world far away but still related to you. Then you will judge the nocturnal silence, the colorful flickering of millions of worlds differently, when the spiritual breath of creation gently comes to you, which encompasses everything, drives everything to perfection, to finally unite all tested spirits in one place where day and night, birth and death have ceased, everything material has disappeared, spiritual light, spiritual joys, namely eternal pleasures, will replace everything that the spirits, clothed in bodies or not, had to go through.

38] Therefore I advise you, if you do not want to study, do not want to seek Me in My works on a small scale - at least do not despise the impression which the night sky adorned with stars makes on you. Do not believe, with a few words read from Me that you are already with Me - oh no! There is still a long way to go; for with words I will not move you to tears, nor are your promises enough for Me.

39] I want action! I want to see in your behavior that My words have penetrated into the blood, that meekness, tolerance, especially against the lowly, against the servants who have driven away brutality – I want to see that you have a heart not only for yourselves but also for others!

40] As long as this gentle mood has not won room in your heart, all reading, all raving for My words is of no use to you. And it is because of this that I gave you this word so that perhaps in the evening or at night you might sometimes look up where an eternal world awaits you, but which you will not enter with song and sound, if you do not bring all the harmony in your hearts. For remember, there is measured according to other standards than you would like to weigh your words and deeds; there they ask for your spiritual value and not how many dictations you've read or transcribed. It would have been desirable if you had understood at least one thing completely in order to progress spiritually; but unfortunately I cannot give you this testimony Myself!

41] Therefore, go out into night darkness! Look at the great universe, learn to look at it with spiritual eyes, compare your insignificance with it, and then sink together before the power of a Creator who besides this immensity only gives love and only wants to receive love again!

42] But if the result of such contemplation cannot appease your self-conceit, your pride, your commanding fury; if you cannot have the heart to treat all men as your brothers and sisters with equal love, then leave the reading of My words; for then a crust of dirty self-importance and material interests is drawn over your heart, which makes it impossible that better feelings, more human views can emerge in it.

43] Then no starry sky will help as a shining gospel, just as little as the written one, and it must be left to other circumstances to bring you to where in the end all must come.

44] So, now you know what you have to do - - I have shown you the ways to Me. If you lack the strength to walk them, walk the ones that are yours, the success will show you where the right one would have been! Amen.