Elsa Barker. Letters from a Living Dead Man — royallib.ru

Just as a man, when he has cast off his old clothes, puts on a new one,

So the one who stays in his body throws worn bodies and enters into new ones.

Bhagavad Gita, 2:22

Not all of us will die, but everything will change.

1 Cor., 15:51 

The ancient Egyptians and Indians, the Chinese and the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the Greeks and the Slavs knew that the human spirit is immortal and passes from life to life. Testimony to this is found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the ancient Indian Garuda Purana (the “Indian Book of the Dead”) and the Tibetan Bardo Thödol, in Pythagoras and Plato, Apollonius of Tyana and the Gnostics, Jewish Kabbalists and Theosophists of all ages. In Christianity, which also recognises the immortality of the human spirit, the doctrine of reincarnation existed until 553, when it was rejected at the Second Council of Constantinople.

In the history of the world there are many documentary evidences of the existence of life "behind the grave". For example, in the medieval book "History of Choijiddagini" describes the posthumous state of pious Tibetan Mrs. Choijid, in the Orthodox "Chetya-Minei" - the posthumous journey of Blessed Theodore, the servant of the Monk Basil the New. Its “bare-rate” begins with the soul parting with the body, “seizing it as the clothes entice.”

In Russian, death has been defined since ancient times as “success” (i.e. falling asleep), “transition to the other world”, “stay in heaven” or, as Fr. Pavel Florensky, "the afterlife is a completely new country", in which a person is born again, and it is very important that during his earthly life a person is prepared for what he can see there, that is, he knows "a map of another world".

In recent decades, dozens of works of nonfiction and fiction on this subject have been published and reissued. They include The Unknown and Lumen by C. Flammarion, Two Lives by K. Antarova, Initiation by E. Haich, Life After Life by R. Moody, The Life of the Higher Worlds by G. Vale-Owen, and many others. Elsa Barker’s Letters from a Living Dead Man occupies a notable place among them. First published in the early twentieth century, it continues the tradition of drawing a “map of the other world” and offers fascinating testimony to the eternity of life and the possibility of boundless self-improvement.

Little is known about the author of the book. By the time of the appearance of "Letter of the Living Dead", Elsa Barker was a famous writer. The first part of Letters, which she wrote in France and England, was published simultaneously in London and New York in 1914. The second and third parts were written and published when the writer lived in America.

The breadth of horizons, the objectivity of Elsa Barker and her compassionate love for all mankind allowed to cover a wide range of issues in the Letters: from vital life advice to an explanation of the eternal laws of being. Along with a colorful description of the Subtle World (a world that exists beyond normal human perception), the reader is also given important warnings about its dangers. The past and future of humanity are viewed from an unusual perspective. On the one hand, the narrative strictly follows the canvas of historical events, including the First World War and the death of Lusitania, and on the other hand, these events are commented from the standpoint of spiritual knowledge, knowledge of the psychological and karmic relationships of countries and people, which gives a unique opportunity to study the history of the world, which, according to a very accurate expression of N. K. Roerich, "is written in addition to historians."

Elsa Barker’s book is addressed to future generations and appreciates the importance of cultural values and their preservation not only during wars, but also in peacetime. This is especially emphasized by so much done together with her husband to save and increase the cultural heritage of mankind E.I. Roerich: "So, in Mrs. Barker's book "Letters of the Dead Man" it is said that it is after the war that people will be especially concerned about preserving the Monuments of Art and Science. Who knows how many people have read this book and paid attention to these lines! This book was written during the war.”

The problems of peaceful coexistence and cultural cooperation of peoples raised in the “Letters of the Living Dead” and the issues of spiritual improvement remain equally relevant today — at the beginning of the third millennium according to the Christian chronology of our history — and can be of interest to a wide range of readers.

From the editor 

Foreword by E. Pisareva to the edition of 1914

The most painful of all the sufferings of the European world is the fear of death. He comes from complete ignorance - what awaits a man on the other side of the grave. There is no such agonizing fear in the East; there death is regarded as a temporary condition, followed by a new earthly life, and therefore there is no bottomless failure into the unknown, which sweeps through the mind of a European at the thought of his death.

It follows that the fear of death is not an inevitability, but only a consequence of a certain worldview. This is also confirmed by the near-death experiences of deeply religious people who believe in God, in His goodness, and therefore are not afraid. But such people are few. Most feel the need not only to believe, but also to know.

But is it possible to know what a person feels after death? The indications that this is possible are not diminishing, but growing, and this gives hope that the fear of death will be as defeated as any other ignorance.

So far we have known two sources from which people have drawn their knowledge of post-mortem experiences: religious beliefs and messages from the spiritualists. But there is also a third source, the teachings of Theosophy; they give detailed information about human life in the invisible worlds, and this information can rightly be called an antidote that kills the fear of death.

The messages of the spiritualists are not convincing because they are all subjective. They draw the state of one person and have very little effect on people of a different type and mood. The teachings of Theosophy contain objective knowledge concerning all people, but they, unfortunately, are still very little common in the general public and require serious study.

The book Barker, which we offer to Russian readers, differs from otherworldly messages in that we are faced with an attempt to convey not the subjective feelings of a deceased person, but his objective observations. This book aroused great interest in England and in America, and no matter how one treats it - as a genuine message from the other world, or as a literary work - it is full of interesting thoughts and deep psychological indications.

The main objection we have heard against the "Letter of the Living Dead" is their realism, a reflection in a life that we considered incomprehensible, too familiar phenomena for us. Libraries, houses, alleys, even attempts to exist — all this is indignant at the thought of people who are accustomed to believe that the other world can not and should not have anything to do with our earthly world. But why he can not have anything in common - no one can explain it. Like any biased opinion, this confidence rests most of all on the habit of thinking along certain lines, which in this case is caused by the primordial exaltation of the afterlife and the same humiliation of the earthly world.

Meanwhile, science and all observations tell us that there are no unexpected jumps in nature. The law of evolution, i.e., the gradual transition from the simple to the complex, from the imperfect to the perfect, is observed in all areas of nature; why, then, only in this one case, when a person passes from the physical to the superphysical, must some unnatural leap occur? Why should a man undeveloped and ignorant, who was enslaved by his sensuality, immediately forget everything he had lived until then and become perfect and spiritualized? Why not allow a much more natural and reasonable assumption that he will retain all his properties and his narrow horizons, which will prevent him from taking advantage of the great opportunities of a new life, not constrained by physical limitations? If this is allowed, then in the other world there will be the same variety of stages of consciousness and the same diversity of experiences as in the earthly world available to us. Take from earthly experiences only one thing: a large art gallery - and imagine a crowd of people of all classes and all levels of development and education passing by a number of paintings, from a thinker artist to a barely literate laborer. What will each of them do when they leave the gallery? Who will dispute that everyone will bring something different, not at all like what will happen next to him? The same is true always and everywhere, where recognizable phenomena pass through our inner world. The same must be repeated, according to all the laws of reason, and in the new conditions of our afterlife. The man for whom the highest pleasure was to eat and live luxuriously will seek to repeat the same experiences, and since, according to all occult instructions, the superphysical matter of the invisible world is very plastic and easily amenable to the creative power of imagination, it is not surprising if a dead person surrounds himself with things created by his own imagination in order to experience the same pleasures that attracted him on earth.

In 1914, when the Letters of the Living Dead appeared in London, E. Barker did not name their author. In the January issue of the new American magazine "The Chale" E. Barker gives his name, it's the lawyer, Judge David P. Hotch (Hatch) from Los Angeles, author of several books of philosophical content signed by a pseudonym, is very famous in this part of America and has many living friends who can cope with it. His eldest son, Bruce Hotch, expressed to Mrs. Barker, who had never met him before the publication of The Living Dead Letter, his full confidence that these letters undoubtedly belong to his father, the peculiarities of thinking and the manner in which he recognizes them with complete clarity. In addition to that statement, she referred to the many letters she had received expressing her deep interest in the Letters of the Living Dead and her gratitude for having published them for the general public. This is not surprising, because the book is E. Barker is full of such invigorating confidence in the inexhaustible powers of man, it gives so many new inspirations and opens up so many wide opportunities for awakening spiritual consciousness that it can not be welcomed and noted as a phenomenon extremely interesting, forging new ways of communicating with the invisible worlds.

* * *

The book, which appeared this year under this title in England and owned by a rather famous writer in the West, is accompanied by a foreword in which all the circumstances that caused the publication of these letters are told. The author of the book reports first of all that neither she nor the dictator of these letters "X." ever belonged to the Spirits, E. herself. Barker with spiritualistic literature was not familiar at all and treated the question of otherworldly experiences with complete indifference, never thinking about them. During her childhood, she participated several times in mechanical writing with the help of a tablet, and such banality was obtained that did not cause any interest in her. Later, in the presence of a mediumistic personality, she tried several times automatic writing, but did not become interested in it and did not attach any importance to these records. I was many years ago, at the insistence of friends, at spiritualistic sessions, but I remained completely indifferent to this area of psychic research. A few months before the X.'s death letters appeared, she was asked to participate in a mechanical letter using a tablet. The content of the letter was the prediction of a fire in the house where she lived, which was accurately fulfilled. In these fleeting impressions — apart from a series of visions of a prophetic nature, which the author calls “hypnagogic visions” — such were probably the case with most educated people of our time — the whole spiritualistic experience of the author of the book was contained. This fact gives it special importance and interest.

For the first time, the imperative urge to take a pencil and write appeared at Mrs. Barker a year before the publication of this book, in Paris. Following the impulse, she began to write mechanically, and it turned out a message of a completely personal nature, very interesting for her, signed with the letter "X." The next day, after showing an interesting message to her friend, she was very surprised to learn from her what Mr **, Which Mrs. Barker knew well. But Mr ** was at this time in America, among the living, and the message came from the other world. Shortly after, it was reported that Mr ** He died in a western North American state a few days before the message signed "X." I shall continue with the true words of Mrs. E. Barker.

"Shortly after receiving news from America of Mr **, I was sitting in the evening with that friend who had informed me who had been called a conditional X sign in her life; she began to ask me to try whether a new message would come from him, and I agreed, more to please her than out of personal interest. Then came the first message, beginning with the words: "I'm here, do not be afraid of mistakes..." It was written with pauses and gaps between individual phrases, large and incorrect letters, but completely automatically, as well as the first time. I was writing so hard that my right arm was almost paralyzed the next day.

A few letters signed "X." were automatically written down by me over the following weeks; but instead of being carried away by these messages, I felt rather prejudiced against such an occupation, and it was only the insistence of my friend, who saw in them the desire of "X." to engage in intercourse with the earthly world, that made me overcome myself.

"X." wasn't an ordinary man. He was a very famous lawyer, deeply studied philosophy, the author of many books, a man whose high ideals and pure enthusiasm were the inspiration for all who knew him. He was 70 years old. He lived far away from me, and I only saw him at long intervals. As far as I can remember, he and I never talked about postmortem consciousness.

Gradually, as my prejudice against automatic writing was overcome, I began to feel an interest in what "X." was reporting about the afterlife. I didn't read anything about it, I didn't even read Julia's Letters, and so I didn't have any preconceived ideas.

Over time, the painful sensation in the hand stopped, and the handwriting itself improved, although it was never very clear.

At first, the letters were written in the presence of my friend; but later "X." appeared only when I was alone. It was in Paris, it was in London, because I was constantly moving from one city to another. Sometimes he appeared several times a week; sometimes a whole month passed and I did not feel his presence. I never called him, and I thought very little of him in the intervals between his appearances, for my time, my thoughts, and my pen were occupied with entirely different tasks.

In writing these messages, I was for the most part in a semi-conscious state, so that before reading what I had written, I had only a vague idea of its content. And several times I was so close to complete loss of consciousness that, laying down a pencil, did not have the slightest idea of what I was writing.

When it came to publishing these letters for the first time, this idea was unpleasant for me. Having written several books, more or less famous, I was not alien to some vanity in terms of literary reputation, and I did not want to be called a fantasist. At the insistence of my friend, I agreed to write a foreword to the book, which would say that the letters were written in my presence. That promise satisfied my friend, but not me.

There was work inside of me. If I publish these letters, I thought, without preface at all, they will be mistaken for fiction, and everything important that is contained in them will lose all its value in the sense of indicating the post-mortem state of man. If I write that they have been communicated by automatic writing in my presence, the question arises, whose hand these messages were made, and I will be forced to evade the truth. If I frankly confess that the messages were written by my hand and I report the facts as they occurred, then only two hypotheses will be possible: either that these letters are the true messages of a disembodied person; or that they are fabrications of my own subconscious. But the latter hypothesis does not explain the first letter X, which appeared before I knew about his death, unless we assume that the subconscious of each person knows everything. But in that case, why did my subconscious choose this path of long-term mystification of my waking consciousness and without any prior suggestion from me or anyone else? Neither I nor anyone around me knew about the death of "X."

So that someone could accuse me of deliberate deceit and writing in such a serious matter, I did not allow this and now I consider it incredible in view of the full possibility for me to have a different, legitimate outcome for my imagination in the works of poetry and novel.

About three-quarters of all the letters were already written when I finally resolved this issue. I have decided either not to publish them at all or to publish them with a foreword in which all the circumstances of the occurrence of these letters will be frankly stated.

When the publication was decided, the question arose: whether to print them whole or make cuts? I decided not to release anything but the personal files of X himself, my friends and mine. I did not add anything, and only occasionally, when the construction of the phrase was too unsuccessful or there were repetitions, I allowed myself an external correction.

Among the statements concerning the future life, there are those that are the perfect opposite of my own ideas about the same issue. I kept them as they were written. Some of his philosophical positions were completely new to me; sometimes I only grasped their full depth after a few months.

If anyone asks me what I think about these letters, whether I consider them to be genuine messages from the invisible world, I will answer in the affirmative. There were many hints and indications of circumstances in the released places concerning my personal life that I personally did not know, and all that I was able to verify proved to be unmistakable. If we assume the favorite telepathic theory of modern psychologists, whose telepathy manifested itself in these letters? The friend I mentioned couldn’t do it, as the content of the letters was as much a surprise to her as it was to me.

But I still think it necessary to mention that I have no claim to the scientific significance of this book, since it would require scientifically furnished evidence. Except for the first letter signed by "X." and communicated to me before I knew that Mr ** He died, all the rest were written outside the "scientific and test conditions" as understood by the scientist psychologist of our time. As proof of the existence of the soul after the death of the body, the contents of these letters must be either accepted or rejected by each according to his personal characteristics, inner experience and intuition.

I must add that if it were not for my complete trust in the source of these letters and the same trust of my friends in me, this book could not have arisen at all. For doubting the invisible author or the visible intermediary would paralyze both to such an extent that their work could not be carried out.

As for me personally, these letters have contributed to the final destruction of all fear of death in me, they have strengthened my belief in immortality, and they have turned to my consciousness the otherworldly existence into the same life and reality as our life on earth. If they give even one reader the same joyful feeling of immortality that they gave me, I will be fully rewarded for my work.

To those who are inclined to blame me for the publication of this book, I can say only one thing: I have always sought to give the world the best in me, and these letters, I think, are perhaps the best I can give.

Foreword by the author to the edition of 1919

One evening in Paris (last year) I suddenly felt something urge me to pick up a pencil and write, although I had absolutely no idea what it was. In obedience to this seemingly external impulse, my hand slipped on paper, and soon a remarkable personal message appeared before me, signed "X."

The message was clear, but I was surprised by the signature.

The next day I showed it to a female friend and asked whether she knew who “X.” was.

"Well," she replied, "don't you know that this signature usually hides our acquaintance, Mr **".

I didn't know that.

During this time, Mr ** It was six thousand miles from Paris and, as we both believed, in the world of the living. But a day or two later, a letter came from America saying that Mr **, A man in the western United States died a few days before I received an automatic letter in Paris signed "X."

As far as I know, I was the first person in Europe to hear this sad news, and I immediately informed my friend about the death of "X." She was not surprised; moreover, she told me that she had a similar feeling a few days ago when I showed her the letter "X.", but then she decided to remain silent.

Needless to say, this unusual incident made a strong impression on me.

But at the same time, I continued to be surprisingly indifferent to the question of the possibility of communication between the two worlds. Spiritualism has never aroused much interest in me, and I have not read even the most well-known works on this subject.

Over the next few weeks, several more X-signed letters were written with the same automatic letter, but instead of feeling the enthusiasm put in such cases, I was increasingly reluctant to submit to the need to write letters, and only my friend was able to convince me that I should continue to do this and that if X really wants to tell the world something, then I should consider the records as a rare privilege.

Gradually, as I overcame my prejudice against automatic writing, I found myself increasingly interested in the fact that "X." was telling me about life outside of Earth...

When I was first asked to publish these letters with my own foreword, I was not very enthusiastic about the idea. I had already written several books, more or less known, and the strength of my literary reputation was already the subject of some vanity for me. And I did not want to be called eccentric, or what is called, a woman "with strangeness." I agreed to indicate in the foreword that the letters were written by me by automatic writing, which was generally true, though not all true. This formulation satisfied my friend, but over time she ceased to satisfy me. She didn’t seem completely sincere.

I've been scratching my head about this problem for a long time... This question was finally settled when about two-thirds of the letters had already been written; I decided that if I ever published those letters, I would publish them with a very frank introduction, in which I would set out all the circumstances of their receipt.

I must say that the interest aroused by the Letters of the Living Dead, published simultaneously in London and New York, struck me. Requests for translation rights began to be received, and I was literally overwhelmed by letters coming from all over the world. I wrote a lot of answers, but it was simply impossible to answer all the letters.

In the first book I did not report who the author of these letters was, because I felt that I could not do so without the consent of his family; but in the summer of 1914, while I was still living in Europe, a rather lengthy interview appeared in the New York Sunday Word with Mr. Bruce Hatch, in which he expressed confidence that the Letters were genuine messages from his father, the late Judge David P. Hatch from Los Angeles, California.

After the letters ceased to arrive in 1913, I felt the presence of "X" only two or three times during the next two years, when he gave me some brief advice concerning my personal affairs.

4- Who February 1915 In New York City, I suddenly felt that X was in the room, and I felt the urge to write, but, as it had been before (except in one or two cases), I had no idea what he was going to say. With my hand, he wrote: “When I come back and tell you the history of this war as seen from this side, you will know more about it than all the governments of the belligerent countries combined.”.

I showed this letter to two of my friends who showed great interest in the previous book, Mr. and Mrs. Vance Thompson. And with the kind permission of "X.", we agreed that the Thompsons would be present once a week for automatic writing sessions to achieve a better "concentration." Their sincere faith helped me a lot in my hard work on the first half of this book.

The recording of "X." is, of course, not limited to the sessions we had together, but about a third of the first half of the book was written in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, and besides, in their house. After that, they went to California, and I continued to work alone.

The reader will probably be interested to learn more about the process of automatic writing. This process gradually changed from a rigid and purely mechanical impact on my hand from the outside (at the beginning of work on the first book) to a delicate appeal directly to my mind.

If the reader tries to imagine the presence of his friend, whose image is vividly imprinted in his memory, then subtracts from him what he sees with his physical vision, leaving only the subtlest mental vibrations that allow him to feel his presence, and then adds the inaccessible description of "inner vision", then he may be able to understand how I managed to feel the presence of "X." in my room.

Apparently, in the same way, Helen Keller guesses about the approach of her friends, distinguishing one from the other, although she does not see or hear anything.

When I began to feel the presence of the X., I immediately took up a pencil and a notebook, as befits a personal secretary, and then by an effort of will slowed down the activity of my objective mind until there was not a single thought or even a hint of a thought in it. And then words began to sound directly in my brain, still moving my hand without the help of consciousness. It was as if I was listening to a dictation, not with my ears, but with some small but oversensitive part of my brain.

At first, when I started writing the sentence, I couldn’t even approximate how it would end. I didn’t know if it would be the last one, or if it would be followed by a few thousand more words. I simply wrote and wrote in a state of voluntary self-denial, until the above sense of presence suddenly disappeared. And so, no more words came, the automatic writing process was over.

It is quite natural that a skeptical reader (as it was, however, at first and I myself) will have a question: and not my own subconscious dictated to me all these “Letters of the Living Dead about the war”, in order to somehow explain the causes of this world tragedy, a couple of years ago it seemed impossible.

However, based on my extensive experience of automatic writing under the dictation of "X." and the fact that for two years I received only two or three not very important messages from him, although I often thought about him, as well as my habit of subjecting to the most scrupulous analysis all phenomena that are paranormal in nature, I can now confidently state that I can quite distinguish the true presence of "X" from my own memories.

Moreover, in my opinion, there is hardly a man, even if he does not have a hundredth part of my occult experience, who would be more skeptical of my letters than I myself. I am happy to accept any logical argument that these letters are not what I have proclaimed. But when I compare all the pros and cons, I come to the conclusion that the proofs of the authenticity of these letters are much greater than the proofs of the contrary, and therefore I unwittingly agree with the occult character of their origin.

Unfortunately, this evidence is, for the most part, too complex and too personal to be mentioned in this foreword, although I could give a dozen examples, such as that described in Letter 36, dictated to me an hour after the Lusitania sank, and nine hours before I knew it myself. It may be only a curious coincidence, but when I was just beginning work on the second book, three occult students from different countries wrote to me at once that they felt the return of "X.", who would continue to write his letters with my help. After that, several other people verbally or in writing told me the same thing.

Many of the events of this war I myself was able to observe at the time of their origin, being at this time in the astral body. Thus, I was able to witness the landing of British troops on the continent, which I reported to a British officer in England even before there was an official report about it. This story was later corroborated by a French friend who brought me a newspaper from Paris with the corresponding report.

While in New York, I observed the shelling of Scarborough just as it was happening, and then told my friend about it, although at that time I did not yet know which English port city had been attacked. Only later did I hear about it in the newspapers.

However, I myself could never read the thoughts of X., even when I clearly felt his presence in the room. I knew only what he dictated to me, not having the slightest idea of what he actually knew. In one of his letters, he told me that he would dictate from time to time what he thought was right.

Only in one case did I allow myself to disagree with the opinion of "X." Sometimes when he says that the Germans did this and that, if I had been the author of these letters, I would write instead of "Germans" - "Prussians". I have many friends among the Germans, and I can’t personally blame any of them for their government putting the whole world in such dire straits.

And therefore I think it necessary to emphasize that I myself cannot bear any responsibility for what X writes, but only accurately convey his own words.

Only a few days after 28 July He dictated his last letter to me, I noticed that he had finished this book about the war just on the day of the anniversary of Austria's declaration of war on Serbia, as well as the announcement by the Pope of his great call for peace.

In my previous letters, which I began receiving more than three years ago, X asked me never to try to call him, and subsequently advised me not to ask him any questions. I never did either, although I was sometimes tempted to ask him how this war, which left a deep mark on my soul, would end. But I understood that while such curiosity could provide additional food for my objective mind, it could dull my own intuition. Recently, I have completely abandoned the search for answers in this way, even through my hypnological visions, so as not to see anything in them that could subsequently prevent me from completely getting rid of my own thoughts during telepathic writing sessions.

I guess this experience cured me of curiosity once and for all. I have learned to feel independent and passionless, like a comet. And also - almost as lonely and able to continue to defend their loneliness and independence. But here’s the strange thing: as my hatred of all the atrocities of this war grew stronger and stronger, I was imbued with more and more love for all these struggling human souls on both sides of the front line, until finally I began to perceive them all, shedding blood on the battlefields, as my own friends and brothers. Indeed, love is a miracle, which, in contact with the cruel prose of life, elevates it to the level of the Divine.

In the letter No 4 this book from 10 March "X." says that the Forces of Good have already triumphed over the Forces of Evil and that peace will soon reign again on Earth, although he did not specify when. Even before the Lusitania was declared dead, but an hour after it had actually happened, he wrote to me that the demons, who had been safely dispersed by the Light Forces of another world, had reassembled and returned to take revenge, and that he himself should have guessed that, obeying the Law of Rhythm, they inevitably had to regain their strength and attack again.

In the light of the Law, this letter seems to me the most interesting part of the whole book. It explains the words often repeated in letters that even the Living Dead cannot know everything, while at the same time knowing incomparably more of the living, because they have a more perfect vision and much more complete information.

Regarding this repeated attack by the Forces of Darkness, it is interesting to note that just before the letter that referred to the death of the Lusitania, X. described his encounter with the Dark Being.

It can be seen that all the X stories in this book are permeated with two main ideas: the mystery of Good and Evil (Love and Hate) and the idea of brotherhood of people.

By looking into one’s own soul and identifying in it the eternal conflict between good and evil, one can learn to protect oneself from both external evil and the evil lurking in oneself.

To make this clear to me, X. has shared with me some secrets that have not yet attracted enough attention from the average person.

The existence of the Astral World permeating the World of dense matter and extending far beyond the latter has already been mentioned more than once in theosophical and other literature, and "X." also draws the reader's attention to this fact. The astral world is called the world of feelings and desires, and a person can act in this world, being in his astral body (it is also a sensory body, or body of desire), consisting of a special kind of subtle matter indistinguishable by ordinary vision.

The astral world, in turn, is permeated by the world of thought, which again goes far beyond the first. And man is said to have, in addition to the astral body, also the body of thought, the mental body, by which he can maintain contact with and act upon the world of Thought. And so on — level by level — man approaches a formless universal state, or, as they say, pure divinity.

The "X." described by the evil astral beings are the permanent inhabitants of the astral world.

Some of them do not have physical bodies at all, which are necessary for activity in the material world. Others are more or less independent astral entities of people who during sleep wander through the world invisible to our eyes. They took an active part in this war.

They also speak of elemental entities related to earth, air, fire or water. They develop in a direction different from that in which a person develops. Some of them are good, others are full of anger. Much has been said about these elements in the writings of Paracelsus. They were also actively involved in the war.

Other, higher Beings can act on all three levels: physical, astral, and mental, as well as in even higher worlds beyond our understanding. Were it not for the beneficent activity of some of them, mankind would have destroyed itself long ago or would have been destroyed.

"X." says that the hatred and suffering generated by the great war has made the Astral World a place unpleasant to live. The place of his post-mortem tests is exactly reminiscent of Roman Catholic Purgatory. The church has a lot of knowledge.

Good and evil can be called opposite and at the same time mutually complementary forces: the first operates in harmony with the Law of the Universe (otherwise called the Will of God), and the second - contradicts the Law.

Some readers may be shocked by what X says about black magic. However, he did not seek to cause shock with his statements, but only to warn and enlighten humanity on this matter. Superstition is called the dark side of religion, but superstition cannot simply be brushed aside with the contemptible kind of connoisseur. It needs to be understood. All things require us to understand. Even the great psychologists and scientists now do not believe that such things do not deserve their interest. Take Professor William James, Sir Oliver Lodge, or Dr. Baraduke. And if we try to recall all the famous scientists who are now engaged in the study of occult phenomena, the resulting number of researchers will be worthy of a whole reference book. So when I admit that I'm looking for the Invisible World, I'm just joining my humble persona to a pretty good company.

"X." also speaks of the Dark Being who inspired F. Nietzsche to confuse young Germany. Probably behind every powerful person whose actions left a mark in this world was also Someone invisible - light or dark. This question has both theoretical and practical interest. Inspiration, like magic, can be either black or white.

The voices that Joan of Arc heard today would be called clairaudience phenomena. History shows that they called on her to become no more, no less, a savior of France. Martin Luther once inked the devil, but the Reformation was not affected by the fact that he was sometimes visited by visions. Saul of Tarsus, according to the chroniclers, also had visions.

"X." mentions his own Master. When I compare the California judge I know with most of the men and women I know to whom I have had empty conversations, it seems quite natural that any one of the people can go even further in their development than X., if they are determined enough. If X has been able to become what it has become in the less than seventy years of its life, then there is hope for us — those who look to eternity.

The other basic idea contained in these Letters on War is, in my opinion, the brotherhood of all men.

Until now, the development of the world has proceeded in the form of alternating distinct periods determined by successive dominant races, which give their epochs their own unique appearance. "X." speaks of a new, so-called Sixth Race, which will soon appear in the United States of America.

If America accepts this idea as a working hypothesis, not as a repetition of the slogan “Deutschland uber Alles”, but, say, as “America for all” (and not above all), it will be able to create its “machine of peace” as opposed to the “military machine” created by Germany. If America takes the propaganda of the Brotherhood as seriously as Germany does the propaganda of world domination, it will be this new human race. The process of mixing races in America has opened up vast spaces for her to experiment in the spiritual sphere. Both Europe and Asia are looking at it with interest. England, Germany, France and even Japan, which only outwardly seems to be mired in materialism, but inwardly is deeply spiritual, but most of all, perhaps, Russia would respect this noble goal. Perhaps the world will suffer enough for this war to readily embrace the idea of the Universal Brotherhood.

In America, there are already movements objectively aimed at the implementation of this idea. "X." refers to the Woodcraft movement, a public organization, probably up to hundreds of thousands of men and teenagers (women in it - just a few), who spend all their free time "returning to nature", campfire, to experience the fraternal feeling that can not give urban life.

"X." also says that he will have to do another thing in the future. I don’t know what it is, because I have nothing to do with it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day he announces to me that it is related to the goals that the Friends of the Forest movement sets for itself.

The third book, the last in a series of books about Living Dormition, was written between February 1917 and February 1918. After that, I lost my ability, or, if you like, my inclination to automatic writing.

This third manuscript was shorter than the previous two, so I assumed that it would remain unfinished and would never be finished; and it was only after my publisher had convinced me to publish it in its current (unfinished) form that I finally read it all for the first time, from beginning to end, and concluded that it really was a completed work, an organic whole.

"Perhaps," I told myself, still not quite trusting my feelings, "and there is indeed some divinity guiding our actions." For if this book had been published immediately after its writing, it would have seemed premature; and now much of its content looks as topical as the editorials of today's newspapers.

I am glad that these “Last Letters of the Living Dead” call for courage, for endurance, for faith in the great and orderly future of America and the planet as a whole, and call for addressing all the positive qualities that we now need so much to restore peace.

I do not believe that Bolshevism or any other form of psychosis can take root in the United States.

There is no reason for a country with universal suffrage, both for men and women, to plunge into the abyss of thoughtless destruction. During the last election campaign, I watched with interest the attitude of women to this duty and at the same time — privileges. I’ve watched only one party, the Democrats, but I’m sure the same thing happened everywhere. With what extraordinary dignity did they hold on to this new responsibility; and in the relations between men and women there reigned an emphasis on politeness and respect. And the campaign of the Fourth Voluntary Loan and the publication of lists of losses at the same time made this event even more important. No, these balanced, civilly responsible women will never be dragged into the abyss of collective madness; and as men returning from the front come back to these women — their mothers, wives and sisters, I do not think that in peace we will lose what we gained during the war.

And now I can only invite you to read these "Last Letters of the Living Dead", not forgetting that they were written between February 1917 and February 1918.

Elsa Barker. 

Written on Easter Day, year 1919, 

New York. 

Letters from the Living Dead

Letter 1 

Return

I'm right here! Don't be afraid of mistakes!

I have spoken to you, and now I speak again.

I've had some amazing experiences. A lot of the forgotten I am beginning to remember. Everything that happened was good; it was inevitable.

I can already tell you apart, though not very clearly.

I haven't seen darkness here. The light here is amazing, much more amazing than the sunlight of the south.

No, I'm still struggling to navigate around Paris, everything seems different to me. And if I see you, it's probably because of your own life force.

Letter 2 

Don't tell anyone

I’m right in front of you in space, that is, I’m right in front of you, leaning on something, probably a couch or a sofa.

It's easier for me to come after dusk. When I got out of here, I thought I could reach out to people with your hand.

I feel stronger now. There is nothing to fear - it is only a change of state.

I can't tell you how long I've been in silence. I don't think so long.

I signed "X." The teacher helped me connect.

Don't tell anyone except ***, About my appearance, it's better. I will come whenever and wherever I want, and would not want to interfere.

Allow me to use your hand from time to time; I will not abuse it.

I want to stay here until I am able to come back stronger. Wait for me, but not now.

Everything is easier for me now than it was at first. My weight has decreased. I could still be in my body, but that would be a waste of energy.

I saw the teacher. He's close. His attitude towards me is very comforting.

But now I'd better leave. Good night!

Letter 3 

Guard the door

You have to take some precautions to protect yourself from those who are cramped around me.

You must guard yourself day and night with a vow. Nothing can penetrate this barrier - nothing that you will not allow your soul to come close to you.

Don't let these Astral World larva suck your powers out. No, they do not bother me, because I have already got used to the idea of their constant surroundings. You don’t have to be afraid if you protect yourself.

Letter 4 

Cloud on the mirror

(After the phrase was half-finished, the writing was suddenly interrupted and resumed only after a while.) 

When you answer my call, wipe clean your mind as the child wipes his aspid board, preparing to write down the teacher's new task. Your smallest personal thought or fantasy will be like a cloud on a mirror obscuring the reflection.

You will be able to receive letters in this way, but your mind should remain silent without trying to ask me questions during the writing.

This time I was interrupted not by the creatures gathered around, but by your own curiosity - how the phrase that started will end. You have suddenly become active, instead of remaining passive, as if the receiving telegraphic apparatus were beginning to send its own message.

I have learned here the cause of many psychical phenomena which formerly struck me, and I intend to protect you as far as possible from the overlapping currents harmful to our work.

One night when I came to you, you wouldn't let me in. Was it good?

But I'm not blaming you. I will come again and again until my case is finished.

Soon I will come to you in a dream and open a lot of interesting things.

Letter 5 

Promise of Unspoken Things

After a while, I'll pass on to you the knowledge I've gained since I've been here. I see the past through an open window. I see the path I have come down, and I can chart the path I intend to follow in the future.

Everything seems easy now. I could do twice as much as I do — before I feel strong.

I have not yet settled anywhere and move from place to place where I am attracted; I dreamed of this always when I was in the body, but I could never realize this dream.

Do not fear death, but live on Earth as long as possible. Despite everything I've acquired here, I regret sometimes that my involvement in the world has ended. But regrets lose their weight in the other world, just like our bodies.

And I'll tell you about things that have never been said before.

Letter 6 

The Magic of Will

You haven't quite mastered the secret will yet. It can make you anything you want within the limits of your energy; for in that unit of power called man, everything is either active or in a potential state.

The distinction between painter and musician, or between poet and novelist, is not a qualitative distinction, for each person includes everything except quantity, and thus each has the opportunity to develop himself in any line chosen by his will. The choice could have happened a long time ago. It takes a lot of time, often many lives, to achieve a certain art or ability for a particular kind of creativity, prevailing over all other abilities. Concentration is the key to strength here as elsewhere.

As for the willpower in your daily tasks, there are two ways to manifest the will. You can focus on a particular plan and execute it or not, depending on the stock of the force that you have. Or it is possible to direct the will so that the best, highest and wisest of all possible plans is revealed by subconscious forces in yourself and in others. The latter path leads to domination of the whole environment instead of domination or attempt to dominate one part of it.

In this communication between the visible and the inner world, you who belong to the former tend to think that we can know everything. You demand that we play the role of predictors of the future or tell you what is happening on the opposite side of the globe. Sometimes it is possible, but mostly not.

In time, I will be able to penetrate your consciousness, as the Master does, and will know all the thoughts and plans that arise and arise in it, but now I do not always succeed.

For example, I was looking everywhere *** I couldn't find him. Apparently, you should think about us very intensely so that we can communicate with you more easily.

I study all the time. The teacher helps me hard. When I've learned to use your hand perfectly, I'll tell you about the life that's being led here.

Letter 7 

The light behind the blanket

Leave me a passage in the thick cloth that covers you from my sight. I often see you as a bright spot of light, and this is probably the moment when your soul is enveloped in strong feelings or when your mind is overflowing with strong thoughts.

Sometimes I can read your mind, but always not. Sometimes I want to get close to you and I can't find you. Probably, and you could not always find me if you were here.

Sometimes I am alone, sometimes surrounded by others.

Strange, but now I feel my body is quite real, and at first it seemed to me that my hands and feet stretched in all directions.

Here, as a rule, I do not walk as before, but I do not fly in the exact sense of the word, since I have no wings; and yet I pass through space with incredible speed. But sometimes I still go.

Now I'm asking you. You know how hard it was at times for me to get in touch with you, but I kept pushing. And you do not despair and act as if all the means of communication were in your hands. Do not be in doubt, for when you are in doubt, you draw me to the Earth, causing a desire to help you. This is as bad as mourning the dead.

Letter 8 

The iron grips of matter

A person who has passed into the “invisible” world has a sudden memory of the Earth.

“Oh,” he says, “the world continues to live without me! What am I missing?"

It seems to him almost impertinent on the part of the world that he continues to exist without it. He's starting to worry. He's sure to be thrown out of the circle of time, forgotten, thrown out.

He looks around and sees nothing but the quiet spaces of the fourth dimension. Oh, whatever he'd give to feel the iron grips of matter again! Hold something physical in a tight hand!

Over time, this mood passes, but the day comes when it returns with a vengeance. It must emerge from this thin, sparse medium into an energetically resistive medium of dense matter. But how do you do that?

Oh, he remembered! Every action comes from memory. It would be foolish to do this experience if he did not already do it.

He closes his eyes and plunges into the invisible. He is drawn to human life, to human beings, entering into intense vibrations of union with them. Here he feels sympathy—perhaps the sympathy of past experiences shared with the souls with whom he is coming into contact again, though perhaps it is merely sympathy arising from mood or imagination. Whatever the case, he relinquishes his right to freedom and triumphantly loses himself in the lives of human beings.

After a while, he wakes up and looks at the hard soil and people’s faces with surprise. Sometimes he cries and goes back. If he loses his hunt, he can come back — most often to start again the tedious pursuit of the same clutches of matter.

If he is stubborn and has a strong will, he can stay and grow into a human being. He can even assure himself that his former life in the subtle substance was only a dream, and indeed, in a dream he returns to it, and this dream haunts him and darkens his stay in matter.

But years pass, and the material struggle begins to tire him: his energy is exhausted. He returns to the invisible realm, and people say again that he is dead.

But he's not dead. He just got back from where he came from.

Letter 9 

Where souls ascend and descend

My friend, there's nothing wrong with death. This is no harder than traveling to a foreign country - the first journey for a person who has become somewhat old-fashioned and crystallized in the habits of his more or less cramped corner in the world space.

When a man comes here, the strangers he meets here are no more alien than foreigners to the one who first encounters them. He does not always understand them, and in this his experiences are again similar to being in a foreign country. After a while, he begins to step forward and smile with his eyes. His question, "Where are you from?" is the same as on Earth. One is from California, the other from Boston, the third from London. This happens when we meet on the big roads, for here too there are roads along which souls come and go, as on Earth. Such a road is usually the shortest line between the large earth centers, but it is never above the railway line. It would be too noisy. We can hear the sounds of the earth. They produce a kind of push in the ether, which brings us a sound vibration.

Sometimes some of us settle in one place for a long time. I visited an old house in Maine, where a man on this side of life had lingered for a number of years; he told me how all his children had grown up and how the foal he loved before leaving here had grown into a big horse and died of old age.

There are lazy and stupid people here, just like you. There are also brilliant and attractive ones, one presence of which has a beneficial effect.

It may sound almost ridiculous that we wear clothes like you, but we don’t need them in such quantity. I haven't seen any suitcases here; I've only been here recently.

Heat and cold no longer matter to me, although I remember that at first it seemed cold to me, but it has already passed.

Letter 10 

A Date in the Fourth Dimension

You can do such a huge benefit by giving me your hand from time to time, which surprises me with your fear.

The philosophy I want to convey to you must penetrate into the world. It is possible that only a very few will understand its depth in this life, but the seed sown today can bear fruit in the distant future, like those grains of wheat that were buried with mummies for two or three thousand years and still sprouted when they were placed in suitable soil, in our days. The same with philosophical ideas.

Some have said that it is foolish to work for philosophy, instead of making philosophy work for itself, but a man cannot give even a small grain of true philosophy without himself shaking seven more. To receive, you have to give. It's the Law.

I can tell you a lot about this life, and it will help others when the time of great change comes for them. Almost everyone brings here memories of the past, more or less vivid memories of their earthly life — at least most of those with whom I have already dealt.

I met one person here who didn't want to talk about Earth and talked about "moving forward." I reminded him that no matter how far he went, he would still return to the place from where he set out.

You may be wondering if we need food and drink. In a sense, we certainly eat and absorb a lot of water. You should also drink more water. It nourishes the astral body. I do not think that a body devoid of moisture could have enough astral energy to give way to a soul that is on this plane of life, as you are doing now. There is a lot of moisture in our body. Perhaps the contact with the so-called spirit therefore causes in some hot people a feeling of cold, and they shudder.

I have to make an effort to write through you, but this effort is worth it.

I come where I feel your presence. I can see you better than anyone else. And then I do the opposite: instead of going in, as I did before, I go out with more force towards you. I'm taking over you with a swift onslaught.

Sometimes your writing stopped in the middle of the phrase you started. The reason for this was my poor concentration. You may have noticed that when you move from one world to another, a sudden noise or maybe an invading thought can bring you back. Same here.

Now the element in which we live. It is certainly there in space, for it envelops the whole earth. And everything, every visible thing, has its corresponding duplicate here. When you go into sleep, you enter this world, you see things that exist or have existed in the Material World. You will not see anything in this world that has no physical correspondence on Earth. There are, of course, imaginary pictures, mental images; but to see imagination does not mean to possess astral vision. What you see when you go to sleep has a real existence, and by changing the speed of your vibrations you pass into this world, or rather you return to it, for it is necessary to leave it in order to enter again.

Imagination has great power. If you paint a picture in your mind, the vibrations of your body can adapt to it or, otherwise, tune in the same way, if only the will works in the same direction as it happens when you think about health or illness.

You could make an interesting experience: when you want to go here, select a certain symbol and keep it in front of your eyes. I'm not sure, but it's possible that this will help you change your vibrations.

I'd like to know if you could see me if you went to sleep thinking about me.

Today I feel very strong because I have been in the presence of someone much stronger than I am for a long time, and therefore today I could help you in such an experience better than at any other time.

I continue to learn a lot that I would like to convey to you. For example, I could show you how to come here of your own free will, as the Masters do.

At first, I only possessed your hand to write through it, but now I am able to control your entire psychic organization. Teacher helped me with that. You won’t feel so tired with this new technique, and neither will I.

Now I'll leave and try to meet you after a while. If the experience fails, do not lose confidence, but try again another time.

Letter 11 

The Boy Lionel

You will be interested to know that here, as well as on Earth, there are people who have dedicated themselves to the good of others. There is even a large organization of souls called the League. Their task is to help those who have just moved here; they help them adapt to the new conditions. This league is very useful. They work like the Salvation Army, only on a more — I will not say, high — intellectual plane. They help both adults and children.

Children have interesting features here. I myself did not have time to observe all this; but one of the workers in the League told me that it was easier for children to adapt to this life than for adults. Very old people have a tendency to nap a lot, while children come here with a large amount of energy and bring with them the same curiosity that is peculiar to them on Earth. There is no drastic change. Children grow up here, as I am told, as imperceptibly as they do on Earth. The general rule is to maintain a normal rhythm, but there are times when the soul returns very soon. It is possible that this is a soul with great curiosity and strong desires.

Horrors are even worse here than on Earth. The traces of corruption from vice and intemperance are much more obvious here than there. I saw faces and shapes here that were truly terrible, faces that seemed half rotten and falling apart. But these are hopeless cases, and such League workers leave them to a sad fate. I’m not sure about the future of these people: whether they can embody in this cycle, I don’t know.

But the kids are so adorable here! One teenager is often with me; he calls me a father and is genuinely happy with our meetings. He must be about thirteen years old, and he's been here for a while. He couldn't give me the exact date, but I'll ask him if he remembers the Earth year of his coming here.

It is not true that you cannot hide your thoughts here. You can keep secrets if you know how to do it. This is done by suggestion or imposition of a pledge. Although it is incomparably easier to read other people’s thoughts than on Earth. We communicate with each other about the same as you. But as time goes on, I notice that I am starting to talk more often, not with my lips, but through strong projections of thought. At first I opened my mouth when I wanted to say something; now I do it occasionally, because of habit. When a man has just passed here, he will not understand another until he speaks; or rather, until he himself learns to speak differently.

But I started with the boy. He is extremely interested in some of the earthly things I tell him about, especially airplanes, which were not yet particularly perfect when he moved here. He wants to go back and fly an airplane. I tell him that he can fly here without an airplane, but for him it is not the same thing; he wants to “put his fingers” in the car itself.

I advise him not to rush back. The most interesting thing is that he can remember his previous lives on Earth. Many here do not have any memories of their previous lives, they remember only what they experienced before leaving here. It’s not a place where everyone knows about everything. Most souls are almost as blind as they are on Earth.

In the previous incarnation, the boy was an inventor, and this time, he said, he moved here in an accident. He should have stayed longer to get a stronger rhythm for his comeback. But it's my own idea. I am so interested in this boy that I would like to keep him, and this probably affects my opinion.

You see, human beings are not alien to us.

Do you think you want to ask me something? Try to speak loudly. I think I will. Yes, I feel much younger than on Earth and much stronger and much healthier. In the beginning I felt at times, as in my illness, oppressed, and at times free of that feeling; now it is quite different! My body doesn’t bother me much.

I think that old people grow younger here until they get the appearance of their blooming years, after which they stay at this age for more or less a long time. You see, I don't know everything. I managed to collect a lot of forgotten information, but I still have a lot to learn about the details of this life. Your curiosity will help me to study the conditions of this life, which otherwise I would not have done for a long time, and maybe never. Apparently, here, too, most people do not learn anything, and here in the foreground is the desire to succeed, as during earthly life.

Yes, there are schools where those who wish can study, but there are not many Great Teachers here. As a rule, the professors here do not have the highest wisdom, just like on Earth.

Letter 12 

The World of Premises

I need to add to what I said when I tried to explain to you that everything that happens here exists on Earth. Since then, I've learned that's not entirely true. There are different layers here. I just found out. I still think that in the layer closest to Earth, everything or almost everything exists on Earth in dense matter. But if you move away from the Earth (how far, I can not determine by earthly standards), you can reach the Sphere of samples or, so to speak, the primeval images of things that have yet to arise on Earth. I've seen forms of things that I know didn't exist on your planet, such as future inventions. I have seen wings that a man can adapt to his body. I have also seen new forms of aircraft. I have seen models of cities and towers with strange, wings-like projections, the use of which I completely incomprehensible. The progress of mechanical inventions has obviously just begun. Next time I will move further into this World of First-Instances and see if I can penetrate even further.

But keep in mind: I tell you exactly as a traveler would tell you about things he sees for the first time. Sometimes my explanations may be wrong.

When I was in what we will call the World of First-Instances, I met no one there but one random traveler like me. I draw the natural conclusion from this that only a few who leave the Earth visit this area. I deduce from all that I have seen, and from the communions with souls who have passed here, that most of them do not go very far from the Earth.

It is strange, but I have seen people who imagine themselves in a real orthodox paradise: they sing in white robes with crowns on their heads and harps in their hands. Those who do not belong to them call this area "Heavenly Land".

I have been told that there is also a fiery hell, almost with a smell of sulfur, but so far I have not seen it. When I am stronger, I will try to get to him, and if it is not too painful, I will go further, if I am allowed.

I am currently moving from place to place and have still not thoroughly studied any area.

The boy, who is Lionel by the way, I took with me yesterday afternoon. Maybe you should have said last night, because your day is our night when we are on your side. You and the solid Earth are at the center of our great sphere.

I took the boy with me for a walk, as you would say.

First of all, we went to the old quarter of Paris, where I lived in my former life, but Lionel did not see anything at all, and when I pointed to him some buildings, he asked me quite sincerely if I did not see them in a dream. I probably have a developed ability that not all the inhabitants of the astral country have. So, when Lionel found that Paris was a figment of my imagination (he himself lived in Boston), then I went with him to Heavenly Land. He immediately saw her and said, “This must be the place my grandmother told me about. But where is God?”

I couldn't say that, but we noticed that everyone was looking in the same direction. We also began to look with others and saw a bright light like the sun, only the light was softer and not as dazzling as that of the material sun.

"Here," I said to the boy, "is what those who see God see."

And now I have to tell you something very strange: while we were looking at this light, a figure began to slowly form between him and us, which we on Earth used to call Christ. He looked at people with tenderness and extended His hands to them. Then His image changed, and on His right hand was a lamb; and then He stood, as if transfigured, on the mountain; then He spoke and began to teach them, we could hear His voice. And then He disappeared, and the vision ceased.

Letter 13 

Real and unreal forms

When I first came here, I was so interested in what I saw that I did not ask how to treat the environment; but later I began to notice the difference between objects that at first glance seem to consist of the same substance. So I begin to see the difference between what undoubtedly existed on earth, such as the form of men, women, and children, and between other things, which, though visible, seem tangible, but nevertheless must most likely be thought-images.

This idea came to me when I was looking at the dramas played out in the “heavenly land”, and it recently came to me again with even greater force when I was conducting research in the field that I called the “world of prototypes”.

Later I will probably distinguish between both species at first sight. For example, if I meet here a creature or something that seems to be a creature, and I am told that this is a famous hero of a novel like Jean Valjean Victor Hugo, I will have reason to think that this is just a thought, but so vital that he seems to be a real being in this world of rarefied matter. I have never seen such heroes.

Thus, until I can make sure that the creature I meet hears me and can respond to me or others who address him, I cannot finally decide that it really exists. From now on, I will explore everyone I meet. The hero of the novel or other creation of thought, no matter how alive they may seem, cannot answer questions, because they have no soul, they have no real center of consciousness.

When I see a strange form of wood or animal, and can touch it, for the senses act here in exactly the same way as on Earth, I know that it exists in the subtle matter of the astral plane.

I think that all the beings I have seen here are real; but if I meet one that cannot be touched and that cannot answer the questions, then I will get confirmation of my hypothesis that the particles of matter from which the thought-images are made have a sufficient degree of cohesion to appear real.

Undoubtedly there is no spirit without substance, and no substance without spirit, hidden or revealed, but a painted man at a distant distance may seem to be a man himself.

Can there be conscious, intentional thought patterns here? I think so. This form of thought must be very intense in order to persist for a long time.

Letter 14 

Paracelsus Folio

I recently asked my Master to show me the archives where the records of the observations of those who lived here could be kept, if such an archive exists. He said:

He was a big fan of books on earth. Come on.

We entered a large building, like a library, and I was amazed. It was not the architecture of the building that struck me, but the number of books and manuscripts. There must have been millions of them.

I asked the teacher if all the books were there. He smiled and said:

Are you still not enough? You can choose whatever you want.

I asked what the principle of the books are - on subjects or otherwise.

“There is a certain order here,” he replied.

I said that I would like to see books that record observations on this country, which is still unfamiliar to me.

Then he took a voluminous volume from the shelf. The text was printed in a large black font.

- Who wrote this book?

- There's a signature here.

I looked at the end of the book and saw the signature Paracelsus was using.

- When did he write that?

Soon after moving here. It was written between Paracelsus' life on Earth and his next incarnation.

The book I opened was a treatise on human, angelic, and elemental spirits. It began with the definition of the human spirit as a spirit that had an experience of life in human form; and the elemental spirit was defined as a more or less developed self-consciousness that had not yet had such an experience.

The author then defined the angel as a high-grade spirit who had not, and probably will not have, experiences in matter. He then argued that angelic souls are divided into two sharply different groups, the heavenly and the underworld; the former belong to those angels who worked in harmony with the laws of God, the latter to those who worked against this harmony. The author argues that each of these groups is necessary for the existence of the other, that if all were good, the universe would cease to exist, and that the good itself would cease to be good because of the absence of its opposite, evil.

Paracelsus claims that in the archives of the kingdom of angels there is an indication that the good angel became evil and the evil angel became good, but that these were rare cases.

He further warns those souls who will reside in the area where he wrote it and in which I myself am at the present time, so that they do not come into contact with evil spirits. He states that there are more temptations in the subtler forms of this life than in the life of the earth, that he himself was repeatedly beset by evil angels urging him to join them, and that their arguments were sometimes extremely plausible.

He goes on to say that during his earthly life he had frequent contact with spirits, both good and evil; but that while he was on Earth, he never — as far as he knew — talked with an angel of the evil race.

He points out to his reader that there is only one way to determine whether the being of this Subtle World belongs to angels or to human or elemental spirits - an angel can be distinguished only by the greater power of the radiance surrounding it. He says that both good and evil angels are surrounded by extraordinary radiance, but that there is a difference between them, noticeable at the first glance at their faces: the eyes of the heavenly angels burn with love and intelligence, while it is extremely difficult to look into the eyes of the angels of hell.

He also says that an angel of darkness can deceive a mortal man by appearing before him as an angel of light, but that such deception is impossible in relation to a soul freed from its physical body.

Maybe next time I'll go on with it, and now I have to rest.

Letter 15 

Roman Toga

Especially interesting for me is the lack of conventions. There are no two people dressed alike; or not, that’s not entirely accurate. A lot of people dress so unusually that their appearance gives the local world a great variety.

My own clothes are similar to those I wore on Earth, although one day, as an experience, having stopped mentally on one of my former lives, I put on a dress of that time.

It is easy to buy the right clothes. I cannot say how I found what I found when I came here; but when I began to pay attention to these things, I found myself dressed as before.

Many people wear costumes from ancient times. But I don't think they've been here all these past centuries. Maybe they wear it because they like it.

Generally, most people stay near the places where they lived on Earth; but I chose to wander from the beginning. I move quickly from one country to another. One night I can spend in America, the other in Paris. I used to rest on the couch in your living room, and you didn't know it.

Although I think you would probably feel my presence if I stayed just as long around you awake.

But do not think of it that we need to rely on the solid matter of your world during rest. Not at all. We can rest on the subtle substance of our own world.

One day, after I moved here, I saw a woman in Greek attire and asked where she had taken him. She said she did. To my question: How? she replied:

I just made a pattern in my mind and it turned into my clothes.

- How did you fix it? Tracks?

But not at all as it is done on Earth.

Then I looked closely and noticed that her clothes consisted of one piece of matter, caught on the shoulders with pins with colored stones.

After that, I started trying to create things myself. That's when I came up with the idea of putting on a Roman toga, but I couldn't remember what kind of look she had.

When I then met my Master and told him of my desire, he taught me how to make clothes to my liking: one must imagine clearly a sample of clothes, make them visible to oneself, and then, by the power of the desire to clothe this imaginary sample with the subtle substance of the mental world. After that, the desired clothes will appear.

“In that case,” I said, “is the substance of the mental plane different from the substance that makes up my body?”

"Ultimately," he replied, "matter is the same in both worlds, but there is a big difference in the speed of vibrations and in the sparseness.

The substance from which our clothes are made seems very thin, whereas our bodies appear quite dense. We don’t feel like transparent angels sitting on moist clouds. If it were not for the speed with which I am carried through space, I am sometimes ready to think that my body is as dense as before.

I can often see you, and to me you seem transparent. I think it's the same thing again about adapting to the environment.

At first, it was difficult for me to measure the amount of energy needed for each specific action. So, for example, at the beginning, when I wanted to move a short distance, say, a few yards, I was a mile away from the intended place, before it takes so little effort to move here, but now I have adapted.

I decided to store a lot of energy for a very active life on Earth when I get back there. Here, the most difficult task for me is to write with your hand; at first it took away all my strength, but now I feel less and less resistance on your part, and I have to expend less and less effort. And yet, I couldn’t write without taking your life energy, which I don’t want.

You may have noticed that you stopped getting tired after writing, as you did at the beginning.

But I'm talking about the lack of conventions in our world. We welcome each other, but only when we want to. Although I have seen a few old women who were afraid to talk to strangers, they probably were very short-lived here and have not yet gotten used to earthly habits.

Letter 16 

The thing to forget

I would like to say the word to those who are nearing death. I would like to ask them to forget about their physical bodies as soon as possible after the change, which they call death.

Oh, it's a terrible curiosity to look at that thing we once took for ourselves! It returns from time to time with such force that it forces us to act as if against the will and draws us to it, to this thing. Some it takes over like a terrible obsession, and they can not get rid of it, so long as there is at least the slightest residue of flesh on those bones that once served as a support for them.

Tell them to throw the slightest thought out of their minds about their bodies and move on to a new life free. Looking back at the past can sometimes be very useful, but not at these decaying remnants of the past.

It is possible to see in a coffin because the body we wear now glows in the dark and is able to penetrate dense matter. I did it myself, but I decided never to come back and look at it.

I don’t want to shock or upset you — I want to warn you. This is a very depressing sight, and it is possible that from many souls who have just moved here, that is why it is so sad. They come back again and again to a place they shouldn’t have visited.

You need to know that when we think hard about a place, we immediately move there. Our body here is so easy that it is able to follow the thought with almost no effort. Tell people not to do this.

One day, while walking down the alley, for we too have trees, I met a tall woman in long black robes. She was crying, and the people here have tears too. I asked her what she was crying about, and she looked at me with indescribable sadness.

“I was just looking at it,” she said.

My heart was hurting for her - I knew how she felt. The shock you experience on your first visit is repeated over and over again, for this thing is becoming less and less like what we identify with in life.

I often wished, out of purely scientific interest, to ask Lionel if he had ever returned to his body, but I never did, for fear of instilling this idea in him. He's full of such restless curiosity. It is very possible that those who come here as children have less of this harmful attraction than we do.

We should remember during our earthly life that this outer form of ours is not us at all, and then we would not attach such an exaggerated importance to it.

As a rule, for a very long time, those who have been here do not seem old at all. I have learned from my Master that after some time the old man forgets that he is old; we have a tendency to remain young, and this is reflected in the appearance, for here our bodies take exactly the form that corresponds to our thoughts. The law of rhythm operates here, as elsewhere; children grow up and can even reach old age if their consciousness expects such a change; for the most part, people meet here in the color of the years, for there is a tendency either to reach a flowering, or to return to it, and then to remain in this state until an irresistible attraction to the Earth arises again.

Most of the inhabitants of the area do not know that they have lived in the flesh many times. They remember their last life more or less clearly, but everything that was before seems to them like a dream. The memory of the past should always be kept as clear as possible - this helps to build the future.

People who imagine their departed friends to be wise and omniscient would be very disappointed if they knew that in reality the afterlife is only an extension of life on Earth! If earthly thoughts and desires were directed to material joys alone, they seem to remain the same here. I have met true saints since I was here; but they have also, in their earthly lives, aspired to high ideals, and here they can live indefinitely these ideals. Life beyond death can be so free! There is no mechanical life here that makes people such slaves on Earth. In our world, only his thoughts are held back. If they are free, he is free. But there are a few people in my philosophical warehouse. Here there are more saints than thinkers, since the highest ideal of most people tends rather to religious than to philosophical life.

I think the happiest people I've ever met here are painters. The substance of this world is so light and plastic that it is unusually easily folded into forms created by the imagination. There are beautiful pictures here. Some of the artists here try to convey their paintings to the inner vision of earthly artists, and sometimes they succeed; and then the true creator is glad that his friend on Earth took his idea and revealed it on the canvas.

Not everyone is able to see clearly how much the artist inspired by him expressed his idea, for it takes a special gift or special training to see the phenomena of another kind of matter; but the spirit of the inspirer catches the thought in the mind of the artist inspired by him and in this way learns how much his idea has been realized on Earth.

The same with poets. Beautiful poems are created here, and they are imprinted in the thoughts of earthly poets. One of the poets here told me that it was easier to achieve with short poems than with epics and dramas, which require a long effort. The same can be said about musicians. When you are at concerts where beautiful music is performed, there are surely spirits all around you who love music and revel in musical harmony. Earth music brings a lot of joy here. We can hear her. But none of the music lovers here will show up in a place where they drum and fake. We prefer stringed instruments. Of all the Earth influences, musical sounds most easily reach this area of life. Tell that to the musicians.

If only they could hear our music! I didn’t understand the music on Earth, but now my hearing has changed. And I think you should hear our music the same way we hear yours.

You may be wondering where I am. I really love one lovely place in the village, on a mountainside, near my own town. There is a path around the hill, and above the road there is a hut. Sometimes I stay there for a long time and listen to the murmur of a stream running off the mountain; tall, slender trees have become like brothers to me. At first I see physical trees in a vague way; then I enter a small hut and lie down on a wooden bench leaning against the wall. I close my eyes with a special effort, or rather, with aspiration, I acquire the ability to see my favorite place. But you have to add that it happens at night, when my body emits light. In bright sunlight, we cannot see at all, our light is quenched by bright sunlight.

One day I took Lionel with me and left him in the hut, and I myself withdrew for some distance. Looking at the hut, I saw that it all glows with an unusually beautiful glow - the glow of Lionel himself. A small structure with a pointed roof had the appearance of a pearl illuminated from the inside. It was very beautiful.

After that, I went to Lionel and told him to stand aside while I took his place in the cabin. I wondered if he would see the same thing. When he came back to me and I asked him what he saw, Lionel exclaimed:

What a wonderful man you are, Father! How did you do that the whole hut was glowing?

Then I was convinced that he had seen the same thing I had seen.

But now I am tired and wish you good night and pleasant dreams.

Letter 17 

Second wife

I am often asked to resolve various difficulties. Many people call me just a “judge”, but usually everyone retains the name that he wore on Earth.

Men and women come to me to solve some of their perplexities regarding ethical and other issues; they even come on the occasion of quarrels. You probably thought you weren't fighting here? Not only do they fight, but they also fight for a long time.

Those who hold different religious views are often involved in heated clashes. Coming here with the same beliefs that they professed on Earth, and having the opportunity to see their ideals and really experience their aspirations, people of different faiths become even more intolerant here. Everyone is convinced that he is right, and the other is wrong. This is especially common among newcomers to the world. After a while, they become much more tolerant, concentrating within their own lives and enjoying the proofs and realizations that each soul builds for itself.

I would like to give you an example of what matters I have to be a "judge" here.

There are two women here who were married to the same person during their lifetime on Earth. The first woman died, then her husband married another, and soon — a year or two later — both husband and second wife moved here. The first woman considers herself the only wife of her husband and follows him everywhere. She says he promised to meet her in heaven. He also feels more inclined to the second wife, although he has good feelings for the first. But he gets bored with what he calls recklessness. He told me once that he would like to get rid of both of them in order to calmly give himself to the research he was interested in. He often sought my company, and both women who did not want to part with him also came to me. One day, when the three of them came to me again, my first wife asked me this question:

This man is my husband. Shouldn't this woman go away and leave him alone for me?

I asked my second wife about it. She replied that without her husband, she would be very lonely here, and since she possessed the latter, he also belongs to her more than to the other wife.

Immediately a scene broke out in my memory between the Sadducees and Christ when they asked Him a similar question, and I repeated His answer as far as I could remember it: "The risen from the dead do not marry and do not marry, but are like angels in heaven."

My answer seemed to strike them, and they withdrew in deep thought.

My own observations on this point lead to the fact that the difference between the sexes here is as real as it is on Earth, although it is expressed differently.

After a while, all three came to me again and said that they had taken a fresh look at their difficulty; it is possible that this new point of view was angelic, since the first wife decided to "allow her husband to spend some time with his second wife if he needs it."

But the fact is that the man had a tender love for one young person before meeting with both wives. This girl died too, and now he felt a strong desire to find her here. Whether he will succeed, I cannot say. But his situation is not easy, and I think it is no exception. Though there is a way by which he could get rid of the compulsive company of his wives and secure solitude for himself; yet he does not know it yet. The knower can retire here as well as on Earth — by building a wall around himself through which only the Initiate can see him. I did not reveal this secret to my friend, but in time, perhaps, I will open it if it takes loneliness to develop. Now, I think it is more useful for him to adapt to this double right on him and find the truth behind his difficulties. Maybe he'll find out that he doesn't really "belong" to any of these women. The souls staying here begin to love independence to such an extent that they are ready to give up their rights and claims to someone else’s freedom.

Here you can grow spiritually, if a person has such a need, although few people take advantage of this happy opportunity. Most people are content to absorb earthly experiences and experiences; and here people lose opportunities just as they did during their earthly life. There are teachers here who are always ready to help someone who wants their help to penetrate the secrets of life - here, beyond and lost in the distant, distant past.

If a person realized that his recent stay on Earth was only the last in a long series of lives, and if he focuses his thoughts on restoring to the memory of the distant past, he can remember these lives. Many may think that a single release from the material veil is enough to free the soul from all obscurity; but as on Earth, so here too, everything happens in one way or another, not because it must be, but because it is.

We attract to ourselves the experiences for which we are ripe and need them; but the demands of most souls are too insignificant here, just as on Earth. Tell people to strive for more and their thirst will be satisfied.

Letter 18 

Individual Types of Hell

I have told you before of my intention to visit hell; but when I began my research in this direction, it turned out that there are many varieties of what we call hell.

Everyone is building their own hell. 

Yes, I am convinced that people put themselves in hell, that God does not send them there. I started looking for hell out of fire and sulfur and found none. Dante probably saw what I saw. But there are other, individual types of hell.

(For some unknown reason, the writing suddenly stopped and never resumed that evening.) 

Letter 19 

Shelter of Love in Heaven

After our last letter, I met a very interesting person. It is a loving heart that has been waiting for its beloved here for 10 years.

On Earth, she was assured that he had died and was persuaded to love another, but she could not forget him, because every night he met her soul while sleeping, every night she came to him here and sometimes, waking up, could remember everything he said to her during the date.

She told him that she would not stay long in the sunlit world and would come to him here, in the self-luminous world.

Some time ago, she finally came here. He had been waiting for her for a long time and built a small house out of the matter of this world, which he dreamed of arranging for her on Earth.

He told me that one night, when she came to him in a dream, she said that she would join him tomorrow. He was amazed and almost ready to stop her, as his death was sudden and very painful, and he did not want suffering for her. He was constantly guarding her, trying to warn her of every danger; but this time, when the first shock had passed, he felt that she would indeed pass to him. He was very happy.

Here he did not seek new love, for when you leave Earth with one great love and when the earthly beloved does not forget the departed, the connection can last for a long time without weakening. You who have remained on Earth have forgotten all that you have experienced here and therefore do not know how happy your memories bring us, do not understand how hard your forgetting is for us. Although it often happens that the most spiritually advanced are the ones that are forgotten on Earth by loved ones; but nevertheless, it is sad to be forgotten.

You awaken strength in us by leaving us to ourselves; but this power is hard, and not all souls are ready to take advantage of the forced loneliness to climb the ladder of spiritual perfection faster.

But back to the couple we're interested in. All that day he stayed by her side. He could not see her body, for the rays of the sun were too bright for him, but after a long wait he felt her hand in his hand and, though it was invisible to him, he knew it was here. And he spoke to her, using earthly words. But she didn’t seem to understand him. He spoke to her again, but she still did not answer, although he knew from the handshake that she was aware of his presence. And so they stood, hand in hand, in the darkness of sunlight: he is able to speak, thanks to his long experience in the world of subtle sounds, she is speechless and confused, but continues to hold on to his hand.

When the sun's rays went out, he began to distinguish between her face and her eyes, wide open and frightened. They remained in the room where her lifeless body lay. It was summer and the windows were open. He tried to lure her into the expanse of the fragrant night that represented the day to them, but she held his hand and did not want to leave. Eventually, he managed to get her a little distance away; now she heard him and answered.

“My dear,” she said, “which of the two am I?” I see myself — I feel myself — and there I am too. It's like I'm in two places. Which of the two is the real me?

He comforted her with words of love. He was afraid to touch her, for the touch of souls was exceedingly strong, and he was afraid that she would not return to that abandoned form and that a new separation would not occur.

And although she often came to him in a dream, now it was different, much more vital, and he felt that she really crossed the threshold of great change.

She kept holding his hand and at the same time didn't want to get away from that thing. He stayed with her all night and all the next day until the sun shone and he stopped seeing her again.

During this day, friends of his beloved violated the peace of her body, doing with him what is necessary for the living and only disturbs the dead. He stayed with her for the second night and the second day. He heard her grieving parents crying, though they could not see him or his daughter; but on the second night, his lover's little dog ran into the room where her body lay, saw them, and began squealing lamentably. They both heard that scream. Now she heard more clearly when he spoke to her.

Where will they take it? she asked.

And then he remembered the moments when he stood as enchanted near his lifeless shell, over which his bride shed bitter tears. And he began to urge her to withdraw altogether; but it seemed to her that it was beyond her strength. On the third day, when her body was put in the coffin, she was worried. At the same time, he felt — he could not see — a whole crowd gathered in the room, and heard funeral music. Music is much easier to hear than human voices; good preparation is needed to hear the latter.

At this time, his beloved was in a state of great excitement, which was passed down to him; they began to move slowly, unbearably slowly, and he said to her, "Don't be upset, they want to bury this; but you are safe with me."

It is not without reason that some strange, inexpressible silence is felt over the house of death, which cannot be explained by the sadness of the remaining ones. They feel the presence of a soul gone from the world, though they cannot see it. Their own souls involuntarily guard these first moments of her confusion. Change would not be so painful if the passing into another world remembered that it had happened to him before, but we forget everything so easily. Sometimes we call the Earth the Valley of Oblivion.

Over the following days and weeks, this man remained close to his beloved, all the while trying to distract from the land and from this, which attracted her as well as many, with a painful craving.

I have learned here that souls who have lived a long time on Earth come off much easier, but this woman was no more than 30 years old, and therefore she was released with such difficulty even with the help of her lover. But one day, or night, in your opinion, he brought her into the house that he had prepared for her in heaven, and they began to live there. Sometimes he leaves her for a short time, and sometimes she leaves him, for the joy of living together is enhanced here, as on Earth, by temporary separation. During the first days, she was hungry from time to time, and he tried to satisfy him by offering various substances of the world. Gradually, she got rid of the Earth and earthly habits and only occasionally, in a dream, returned to her parents.

Never ignore dreams about dead people. These dreams always make sense. They do not always convey the truth, for the door between the two worlds is extremely narrow, and thoughts are often distorted, passing from one world to another. But don’t forget that we can still communicate with you in this way. I came to you in a dream, standing behind the bars of the walled garden in which you walked. I smiled and made a sign for you to come up to me, but I didn't want you to stay here with me. I wanted you to come here in spirit; although it is easier for me than for you to pass into our world.

Good night.

Letter 20 

The Man Who Found God

I think there is no better way to introduce you to this life, so extraordinary for you, than to convey to you my impressions and conversations with the men and women I meet here.

I once told you that I meet more saints here than philosophers, and I want to tell you about a man who makes me feel truly holy. Yes, there are simply saints and great saints, just as there are ordinary and great sinners.

I once walked on top of a mountain. I say “walking” even though moving here doesn’t require any effort, but it’s almost the same.

At the top of the mountain I saw a man standing alone. He was staring at the distance, but what he was looking at, I don't know. He was completely immersed in himself or in communicating with someone I couldn’t see.

I stopped waiting. Finally, with a deep breath, for we are breathing here, he turned to me and said with a kind smile:

— May I be of service to you, brother?

I was embarrassed, feeling that maybe I had interfered with some kind of invisible communication for me.

"If it's not too bold of me," I said, "I'd like to ask you what you were thinking, standing here and looking into space?

I felt that I should not have done this, but my serious desire to learn everything that was available to me deserved forgiveness, and I was forgiven.

This man had a beautiful face without a beard and a youthful fire in his eyes. His clothes told him that he thought very little about his appearance.

He looked at me in silence and then said:

I was trying to get closer to God.

- What is God? - I asked. - Where is God?

He smiled. I've never seen a smile like that.

“God is everywhere,” he said.

What is he? he insisted. Again, he repeated, but with a different emphasis:

- There is a God.

- What do you mean? - What do you mean?

“There is a God, there is a God,” he repeated.

I do not know how the meaning of his words was conveyed to me, perhaps by sympathy, but it suddenly broke out in my mind that when he said, "God is," he wanted to express the fullest realization of God, which is possible for the spirit; and when he said, "God is," he wanted to express by this that nothing exists except God.

In all likelihood, what I felt reflected on my face, judging by the following words of the saint:

Don’t you know that He exists and that everything that exists is He?

"I'm starting to feel what you mean," I replied, "although I can only feel very weakly.

He smiled and didn’t answer, but I had questions.

“When you were on Earth, did you ever think about God?”

- Always. I thought very little of anything else. I looked for Him everywhere, but only at times did I have an awareness of His true nature. Sometimes, when I prayed, and I prayed a lot, a sudden question arose in me: who do you pray to? And he said, “God! I pray to God!" But although I prayed to Him daily for many years, only at times did the true consciousness of God flare up in me. But the hour came (I was alone in the forest at the time) when the great revelation came. It did not come in the form of definite words, but rather as a silent and ugly miracle, too great for a limited thought. I fell to the ground and probably lost consciousness, because after a while — how long, I don’t know — I woke up and, rising from the ground, began to look around. And then I gradually remembered the experience; it turned out to be too majestic, above my strength, when I experienced it.

To express this great, too great for my mortal nature, I was able only in such words: “All that is, is God.” It has proved so simple, and yet this simplicity must include myself and all beings — men and animals; and even trees and birds and rivers must be part of God, if God is all.

From that moment on, life took on a new meaning for me. I couldn’t see a human face without remembering the revelations — not remembering that this human being is part of God. When my dog looked at me, I said to her, "You're a part of God, too." As I stood on the riverside listening to the sound of water, I said to myself, “I listen to the voice of God.” When someone in my life was angry with me, I would ask myself, "What could I do to offend God?" When someone spoke to me with love, I would say, "God loves me now." And from this consciousness I was captured by the spirit. Life has become incredibly beautiful.

I was so immersed in God, and so eager to find Him, that I thought little of my fellow men, and neglected even those who were closest to me; but from that day on I began to draw near to my brothers. And I became convinced that the more I sought God in them, the more often God answered me through them. And life became more and more wonderful and beautiful.

Sometimes I tried to convey to others what I felt, but they did not always understand me. And I began to realize that God purposely hid Himself behind a veil, for a reason known to Him alone. Perhaps to rejoice by tearing them apart? If so, I decided to help him as much as I could, and I sought to help other people to know God as I knew Him. For years I have taught people. In the beginning, I wanted to teach everyone. But I soon became convinced that this was impossible, and then I chose a few who called themselves my disciples. I asked them not to say that they were my disciples, but to persuade them to pass on to others the knowledge I had given them. And so it was not I alone, but many who gradually joined the miracle that was revealed to me on the day when I stood alone in the forest and awakened to the consciousness that God is, God is.

Having said this, the saint turned around and left me with all my questions. I wanted to ask him when and how he left Earth, and what he's doing here, but he's gone.

Maybe I'll see him again someday. But whether I see him or not, he has given me something that I, in turn, give to you, as he himself wanted to give his knowledge to the world.

Letter 21 

Leisure and Souls

One of the joys of this being is in leisure, in the possibility of dreaming and getting to know one's own essence.

Of course, there is a lot to do here; but although I intend to return to the earthly world after a while, I feel that here I will have time to get to know myself. I have striven to do this as much as I can on Earth; but here I am less distracted and there is no need for the process of dressing-undressing, the need to earn a living for myself or for others.

In view of my leisure here, I am going to not only acquire general knowledge within a few years — to become acquainted with the conditions of this four-dimensional world, but also to go through in reverse order all my previous lives and to learn everything that I have learned in them. I want to synthesize all the experience of my ego, up to the present, in order to deduce from this synthesis what I can do in the future with the least difficulty. I think (though not quite sure yet) that I can bring a lot of this knowledge with me when I get back to Earth.

I'll try to let you know when and where I can be found. Why are you scared? It won't be soon. I could probably speed up my comeback, but that wouldn't be wise, because I couldn't come back with the kind of strength I want. Since action and opposition are opposite and equal, and the human ego is only capable of developing a certain amount of energy at a given time, it is better for me to remain in the conditions of this light matter until I gather enough energy to go back very strong. But I will not do as most souls do: they stay here until they are tired of this world, just as they used to be tired of earthly life, after which they rush back almost unconsciously - an irresistible force of rhythmic tide and ebb. I want to control that rhythm.

During the time I've been here, one of the people I know has come back to Earth. He was ready when I first found him. The most surprising thing was that he himself did not understand his condition. He complained of fatigue and the need for frequent rest. It was, in all probability, a natural instinct to prepare for a higher effort to open the doors of matter once more. It’s easier to get here than to go from this world to yours.

I know where this soul is now: the Master told me. This surprised me, since the person in question should not, in my opinion, be interested in the Master. But who knows? He may be in touch with their teachings in the Hereafter.

But I wanted to talk about local leisure. I wish you had more leisure time too. I am not talking about laziness, but about a passive state of mind that is as important as the active state. Only when you are passive can we reach you. If your body and mind are constantly busy, it is difficult for us to influence you from here. Take a little time to do nothing at all every day; in this case, the subconscious parts of your mind will begin to work. They will remind you that there is an inner life, for that inner life that is available to you on Earth is the real point of contact with the world in which we live.

I have already told you that both worlds touch, and they touch through the inner world. You go inside to get out. This is a paradox, but paradoxes hold great truths. Contradictions are not truths, but paradoxes are not contradictions.

There is a big difference in the time people spend here. You talk about homesickness, there are souls who feel such longing for the Earth. Sometimes they come back almost immediately, but it’s a big mistake. With the exception of very young souls who have not used the energy of the last life, returning back too quickly deprives the soul of the power of resistance.

Strangely enough, here one can meet people who long for Earth, just as some earthly poets and dreamers long for the inner life.

This use of the terms “external” and “internal” may seem unclear, but remember that you need to enter within yourself to reach us, and we need to go out of ourselves to reach you. In the normal state, we experience here what can be called subjective life. We become more and more objective as we get closer to your world, you become more and more subjective as you get closer to our world. If you were clearly aware of this, you could visit us for a few moments at almost any time, provided you penetrated deeply enough into yourself.

It is not necessary to hurry - it must be firmly remembered. What you can’t do this year, you can do next year. But if you rush and constantly rush in different directions, you will achieve little in this work. Eternity is long enough for the full development of the human ego — it seems to be specially designed for this purpose. The phrase “The purpose of life is life” seems to me very true since I had the opportunity to explore the concept of eternity from a new perspective. This view gives a new perspective on time and eternity. I now see things I have never seen before: things that I have never really wasted time on. Even my mistakes were a valuable part of my experience. We lose to acquire again. We enter and exit the circle of power in much the same way that we enter and exit life to learn what is in it and what is outside it. And in this, as in everything else, the purpose of life is life itself.

Take your time. A person can grow gradually to strength and knowledge or can take them by effort. Will is free. But gradual growth does not have as powerful an impact as free effort.

Letter 22 

Serpent of Eternity

I want to talk to you today about eternity. Until I moved here, I could never catch the idea. I thought in terms of months, years and centuries. Now I see the full circle. Entry into and exit from matter is nothing more than a contraction and expansion of the ego’s heart; from the point of view of eternity, they are also relatively short. Life on Earth seems like a long time. That's what she looked like to me, but now she doesn't seem like it.

It is often said, “If I could live my life again, I would do so and so.” In fact, one cannot relive the same life, just as one cannot go back and repeat the previous impulse, but one can prepare for the life to come. Suppose you have ruined your existence. Most people are guilty of this from the standpoint of their highest ideal, but every person who can think must learn a certain experience that he can only take with him. He may not remember the details of his previous experience when he returns to the sunlight of another earthly life, although some people are able to remember them through sufficient preparation and concentrated will; but the inclinations of each given life, its drives and desires, are in almost all cases transferred to the next life.

You must get rid of the habit of looking at real life as the only one, get rid of the idea that life "behind the grave" will be an endless existence in one state. You could not endure an infinite existence in the subtle matter of the inner world, just as you could not live forever in the dense matter in which you are now imprisoned. You would feel tired. You couldn't stand it.

Learn the idea of rhythm. All beings are subject to the Law of Rhythm, even the gods, though in a grander form than we are, with greater periods of ebb and flow.

I didn’t want to leave the earth. I fought until the end, but now I see that my departure was inevitable. If I had begun my struggle earlier, I would have prepared my ship for a longer voyage; but when all the coal and all the water had gone out, it was necessary to enter the harbor.

It is possible to equip even a small life-raid for a longer life-travel than the appointed sixty to seventy years; but in this case it is necessary to be economical with coal and not to waste water. There will be people who will understand that water is the moisture of life.

Many people do not like the idea that life after death is not an ever-lasting movement forward in the spiritual worlds, although very few of the protesters have any idea what they are talking about when they talk about the spiritual worlds.

Eternal life is possible for all souls; it is so; but it is impossible to move in one direction. Evolution is on the curve. Eternity is a circle, a serpent swallowing its own tail. Until you agree to enter and exit from dense matter, you will never learn to overcome matter. There are people who can stay in it and get out of it of their own free will and as much as they want, but they are not the ones who run away from life in its dense form.

I used to be afraid of what I called death. There are those here who fear what they call death: a new birth in the earthly world. There are many who know as little about rhythm as most on your shore. I met men and women who didn’t even know they were coming back to Earth, who talked about the “great change,” how the people of Earth talk about death and everything on this side as “unproven and even unproven.” As you can see, this is very tragic, although ridiculous.

When I learned that I was about to die, I decided to take my memory, philosophy, and mind with me.

Now I want to tell you something that might surprise you. There is someone who has written a book called The Law of Psychic Phenomena, and in this book he speaks of two parts of the mind he calls subjective and objective. He says that the subjective mind is incapable of inductive reasoning, that the subjective mind accepts any premise given to it by the objective mind, and, on this premise, can reason with impeccable logic; but that it cannot penetrate beyond the premise, that it cannot reason in the opposite direction.

Now I must remind you that in the state of matter in which I am, people lead mainly subjective life, just as people on Earth live mainly objective life. And since people are here in a subjective state, they reason based on the assumptions already given to them during their objective existence on Earth. That is why most people in Western countries, where the idea of rhythm, or reincarnation, is unpopular, come here with the established idea that they will not return to earthly life. They continue to argue based on the premise given to them.

Of course, your idea of invisible worlds will not change the essence of things. Those who do not believe in new births will still not be able to escape the rhythm of rebirth; but they hold on to their faith until the rhythm of the tide picks them up and causes them to re-enter physical matter — but they are unprepared and carry with them almost no memory of life in this world. They only brought the memory of this life because they expected such a transfer of memory.

Many people in the East who have always believed in reincarnation remember their previous lives because they were confident in the ability to remember them.

Yeah, when I realized I was about to leave Earth, I made a vow. I decided to keep the memories of my coming here, as well as the subsequent departure from here. Of course, I can’t swear I’ll remember everything when I get back into physical matter, but I’ve made that decision and I’m sure I’ll achieve some success if I can only find the right mother. She will be suitable if she is also close to the idea of reincarnation, and especially if she knew me in my last earthly life as ***, So I could tell her as a child that I was the one ***, The one she knew, and that she wouldn't bother me or drive my memories inside with her doubts and skepticism.

I am sure that many children bring memories of their life here, but that these memories are subsequently lost due to the constant suggestion of others that they see the earthly world for the first time, that they are newly created, etc.

In fact, eternity is immeasurable, and the worlds in which we live contain incomparably more than can be dreamed of by ordinary teachers of our children.

If only you could grasp the idea of immortal life and hold on to it! If you thought of yourself as a being without beginning and without end, you could start a lot of new, worthwhile endeavors. This is an amazing consciousness - confidence in eternity. Small difficulties, in fact, seem small to those who think about themselves within millions of years. You can add billions and trillions, but the idea will remain the same. Numbers are only a symbol of a large number, whether it be years or banknotes. No millionaire knows exactly how much money he has at a given time, for interest should also be taken into account, and therefore their number is always approximate. The same with immortality. Don’t think of yourself as having lived a million or trillion years, but think of yourself as truly immortal, without beginning or end. A person who is considered rich is richer than one who counts his money, and it does not matter whether this amount is large or small. Keep the consciousness of eternity and work in that consciousness.

Enough for today.

Letter 23 

Appeal to the defender

Tell your friend who is worried that I may cause harm by using your hand for my messages that this matter was thoroughly studied by my Master and myself before I decided to take this step.

Ordinary mediumship, when the organism of a more or less unhealthy earthly personality is revealed to every spirit, whether good or bad, has nothing to do with your position. In this case, I, who was your friend on Earth and who came here before you, return to convey to you my knowledge acquired in a foreign field.

I do not create any disturbances in your nervous system through which unwanted and evil forces could penetrate and master you. Moreover, if there were such an attempt, I would not allow it, for I now know the means by which I can protect you from what is called mediumship. Moreover, I advise you never, despite any requests, to give your strength at spiritualistic sessions. Wandering spirits of the so-called Invisible World have no right to enter your body just because its internal structure allows for such an invasion, just as a street mob has no right to break into your house just because among this crowd there are curious, hungry and chilly. Don't let that happen. Communication with me is a different matter: it is solely and solely based on no personal desire or curiosity.

A lot has changed since I started writing through you. At first, I used your hand from the outside — sometimes, as you remember, with such force that the next day you had it sick. Then, after reading the means available to me, I tried a different method, and you noticed a change in the nature of the records themselves. They began with clumsy large letters and only became clearer and clearer gradually as my control of your hand improved.

Recently, I have tried a new method: I tune into your mind and establish a perfect telepathic connection with your thinking, capturing in it what I want to say to you. In order to write successfully in this way, you must achieve complete passivity, extinguish all your own thoughts and surrender to my thoughts; but you do it every day when you read an interesting book. You give your mind to an author who leads you, captured and passive, along the paths of your thinking.

These experiences of improving the way we communicate have been very interesting to me.

Tell your friend I'm not a light-minded researcher. During my earthly life, I have been one of the most important scientists to whom truth is most important, and I have never abused anyone’s human being and, of course, I would not start with you, my faithful friend and student.

Likewise, I will never allow myself to interfere in your life, in your occupations and in your work. When I wandered the Earth, I was never considered a dangerous person; my properties did not change from the fact that I changed clothes.

I need to give something to the world. You are the only person who can be my secretary. The question is not whether I need your scripture, nor even whether you want to write, but the benefits we can bring to the world. I think there's a benefit. You think it's possible. Such and such express their fears and doubts. I can't help it, neither can you.

God is with them! Why do they want to lock the door behind me? Of course, I will not spoil their otherworldly affairs. There is no doubt that you will receive no other reward for your work than the shaking of wise heads and smiles of superiority, or the assurance of “scientifically” minded people that I am your own “subconscious thinking”.

All you need is that you don't get upset, otherwise I won't be able to write through you. Your mind must be as calm and unflappable as a lake in quiet weather, otherwise nothing will come of it.

Give them my loving greetings.

Letter 24 

Prohibited knowledge

I've been going through a lot of experiences in the last few days. You would never have guessed where I was yesterday. I was at the funeral of the Japanese emperor. Couldn't you just move from Paris to Japan and come back so soon?

Before I left, I didn’t know that Mikado was dead. My Master took me with him, warning me that something would happen that I should see.

His foresight was justified. I saw a great soul freeing itself by suicide. It was a sad and terrible sight. (Now that I was writing this, Master approached me and advised me not to talk about it any more). 

Here you can see terrible things along with beautiful ones. Regarding suicide, I can only say one thing: if people knew what suicides were going to happen, they would have remained until the end, despite the most difficult conditions.

The appearance of the Master and his advice deprived me for a while of the desire to write. I'll be back later.

After a while

I was able to do what you wanted, find a boy who had recently drowned.

While you were looking at his portrait, I saw his reflection in your eyes and took with me the memory of his appearance. I found him in a state of great confusion. When I spoke to him about you and your desire to help him, he was surprised. I was able to give him some help, although he has a friend here, an old man who is much closer to him than I am. I wouldn't try to get in touch with him through me if I were you: he's going the other way, and he's got trusted friends here. His condition required a distraction, and I pointed out to him a pastime equally enjoyable and instructive for him.

Are you surprised by the expression “time”? But time exists here too. As long as there is consistency, there is time. Perhaps there will come a "time" when everything will exist simultaneously - the past, the present and the future. But as long as the past, present, and future are different, there is still time. It is nothing more than a phenomenon of consistency.

Within, at the bottom of itself, one can find a place of silence where all things appear to exist simultaneously in complete harmony, but as soon as the soul begins to consider things separately, consistency immediately arises.

Merging with everything is something else. There is no time for him, but as soon as you start to connect yourself with individual things or become aware of them, time immediately appears.

Letter 25 

A world without shadow

I did not immediately notice one of the most striking features of this world. One evening, slowly moving forward, I saw a group of people heading towards me. Where they were, it was very light, because there were so many. Suddenly, looking at this light, I remembered a saying from one hermetic book: “Where the light is strongest, there the shadows are deepest,” but looking at this group of people, I saw that they do not cast shadows. I called out the nearest of them — it was soon after I came here — and drew his attention to this strange phenomenon. He smiled and said:

Are you probably here recently?

- Yeah, recently.

Don’t you know we’re lighting up the space we’re in? The substance that makes up our bodies is luminous. How can we cast shadows if light is emitted from ourselves in all directions?

In the sunlight? he asked.

“Oh,” he replied, “in sunlight we are completely invisible. The light of the sun is too harsh, and it quenches the light coming from the spirits.

Perhaps you will be surprised that I feel the warmth of burning firewood in your fireplace now? There's magic in the burning tree. Burning coal has a completely different effect on the mental atmosphere. If a man who had no visions, and who was usually insensitive to the subtler sensations and messages of the Invisible World, tried to meditate daily for one or two hours before burning firewood, his inner vision would begin to reveal itself to things of which he had no idea before.

The people of the East, who worship their Lord and light the fires, do well, and many things are revealed to them, except what is not seen. The fire of burning wax also has a magical effect, though not as much as a burning tree. Try to sit in the evening only with the light of a wax candle, and see what visions will appear from the “emptiness”.

I haven't told you about Lionel in a while. He is now most interested in finding an engineer’s family in which he could be born again.

“Why are you in such a hurry to leave me?” I asked him when he first started talking about it.

“But I don’t think I’ll leave you forever,” he replied, “I’ll come to you in a dream.

“Not at the beginning,” I told him, “because you’ll be in prison, blind and deaf, for a long time, and you’ll be able to come to me here, maybe after I’m back on Earth.

“Then why don’t you come back with me?” he asked. “Tell me, father, why don’t we have twins?”

This thought seemed so funny to me that I laughed heartily, but Lionel objected with complete seriousness:

But there are twins! I knew my twin brothers when I was in Boston.

But it is not my plan to be someone’s twin when I return to Earth, and so I told Lionel that if he wanted to have my company, he should stay where he is.

"But why don't we go back together and become cousins or at least neighbors?" he insisted.

"Maybe it's possible," I told him, "if you don't mess it up with too much haste.

This boy surprises me. In our world there are boundless opportunities to work with subtle matter, invent and conduct experiments, yet he is determined at all costs to work with iron and steel. Strange!

Someday I'll try to bring the boy to you before you fall asleep. This is the best time for true visions. Those that appear during sleep can easily mix and get in a mess because of the vibrations of physical matter that you are going through when you wake up. Don't forget the boy. I told him how I was writing with your hand, and he was very interested.

“Why don’t I use the same principle in the telegraph?” he asked.

But I advised him not to do so, so as not to put himself at risk of interrupting the earth telegram for which he had been paid.

From time to time, I take him with me to the World of Primordials. He has his own little model there, which he amuses himself with while I explore other things. This is a model of the wheel that it drives with electricity, emitting it from its own fingers. No, of course, the wheel is not made of steel, in your understanding of the word.

You need to understand that both worlds are composed of matter not only having different vibrational rates, but also charged with different magnetism. You know that two solid objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, but this law does not apply to two objects, one of which belongs to our world and the other to yours. Just as water can be hot and humid at the same time, so a square meter of space can contain a square meter of earth matter and at the same time the same amount of matter in our world.

No, don't be too picky about expressions! You have no name for the matter that exists here because you know nothing about it. Lionel and his electric wheel would remain invisible to you if they were put in front of your fireplace at this moment. Even the magic of a burning tree would not make them visible, at least not while daylight is shining.

Now I have to go.

Letter 26 

Circles in the sand

I am just now beginning to enjoy the romance of life here. I must have always been a romantic — only on Earth there were too many things to do, too many responsibilities, too many needed me. I'm free here.

You cannot form a true picture of the true meaning of freedom unless you remember the last time you were in this world, which I doubt.

When I speak of "romanticity," I mean the charm of being, that magical shade that paints the gray face of life pink.

This opportunity to dream and realize your dream is fascinating, because here the realization occurs simultaneously with the emergence of the dream. Everything here is so real, imagination is so powerful, and the ability to connect phenomena is so great - almost limitless!

Dreamers are never idle here, for our dreams are a kind of construction; and even if this did not happen, we have the right to do what we please. We deserve our rest. We have work ahead of us.

Understand that more energy is spent on Earth to put one heavy leg in front of the other heavy leg and propel a body weighing about two hundred pounds one mile than is required here in order to go around the world! This will give you an idea of the excess energy that we have here in order to rejoice and build dreams.

It is very possible that you are working too much on Earth — more than is really necessary. All of the unnecessary things that you pile around you, the artificial needs that you generate, the dizzying pace of your lives to get all of these things, seem here to be something ridiculous and even pathetic. Your political economy is nothing more than a child’s play, your state institutions are ingenious machines for making unnecessary things, most of your work is useless, and your whole life would be almost fruitless if, through great suffering, your souls, though against your will, did not know that most of their aspirations are in vain.

How I myself sweated and moaned in my time to draw my little circle in the sand! Now I realize that if I had given myself more time to think, I would probably have restored some of the knowledge I had gained in other lives, and although I would still be forced to draw this circle of mine in the sand, I would have done it incomparably easier and twice as fast.

Here, if I like, I can spend hours watching the colour of the clouds change. Or better yet, I can lie on my back and remember. It's so interesting to send your thoughts back, year after year, life after life, century after century and ever further back, until you see yourself... a turtle! But you can also look ahead, higher and higher, life after life, century after century, eon after eon, until you recognise yourself in an Archangel. Looking back is memory, looking forward is creativity. Undoubtedly, we are creating our own future. Who else but us could do this? We are influenced, moved, pushed, helped, and held back by others, but only we forge the links of the endless chain of our existence. We tie knots, which will later have to be untied, often with such difficulty and bewilderment.

Looking back at my previous lives, I was able to understand all the reasons and causes of my last life. In some respects, she was the most unsatisfactory of many lives, except for one; and now I understand her purpose, I understand that I sketched out a plan for her when I was last here. I was even influenced to live there with friends I met here.

But now I have come to a new turn of the road and started climbing again. And I again sketch out the scheme of my immediate existence, although I am in no hurry. God is with you! I do not want to leave until I have exhausted the whole cup of freedom and joy of the local existence.

Especially since there is so much to learn here. I want to restore what I learned in those previously forgotten and now restored lives.

Do you remember how you had to repeat the lessons of previous weeks or months during school hours? This custom is based on the right principle. Now I have a repetition of the “lessons”. Little by little, before returning to your world, I will review all these repetitions, capturing by force of will those memories that I would especially like to take with me. It would be quite impossible to preserve inviolable the vast panorama of experience which now unfolds before my eyes; but there are a few basic things, philosophical principles and illustrations, which I must not forget. Similarly, I would like to carry with me the knowledge of certain formulas and the habit of certain exercises, which you might call occult, with whose help, having reached adulthood, into pictures of the past, which now unfold before me whenever I wish.

No, I won't tell you anything about your past. You can and should restore it yourself. Anyone who understands the difference between memory and imagination can do it. Yes, the difference is subtle, but it is as real as the difference between yesterday and tomorrow.

I don’t want you to rush here. Stay where you are for as long as possible. A lot of what we do on this side, you could do just as well while staying in the body! Of course, you will have to use more energy, but energy exists in order to use it. Even when we accumulate it, we only save it for future use. Don't forget that.

One of the reasons why I rest, dream and enjoy so much here is because I want to accumulate as much energy as possible to come back with more strength.

It is good that you have taken to heart my advice to stay idle from time to time and get to know your own soul. A lot of unexpected things are ahead of someone who decides to voluntarily explore his soul. The soul is not a wandering light, it is a beacon that helps to avoid the underwater reefs of materialism and oblivion.

I experienced a lot of joy, looking at my Greek incarnations in memory. What a concentration these Greeks had! They knew a lot. For example, the waters of Leta — what a deep concept brought from this shore by a powerful memory!

If a person were constantly striving to remember, if he devoted time to analyzing what was, one could hope for a more significant future for him! Do you not know that man can become a god or one who, compared with ordinary humanity, possesses all the signs and majesty of God? "You are gods" was not just said in an allegorical sense.

I saw a teacher from Galilee and talked with him. He was both a man and a god at the same time.

The world needs him again.

Letter 27 

Magic Ring

It would be very difficult for you to imagine the difference between your life and ours. Starting with the difference of substances and substances not only of our bodies, but also of the natural things around us.

Are you struck by the expression “natural things” when applied to this world? Do you think we have surpassed nature? But there is no being and no phenomenon beyond its limits. Even God is no exception. There is nature.

Imagine spending sixty or seventy years in a body that was stubbornly leaning towards obesity, becoming motionless and rheumatic until the need to occasionally lie down in a hospital bed for more or less unsuccessful repairs. And then imagine that you suddenly changed this heavy body into a light and elastic one. Can you imagine that? I have to admit, this would have been very difficult for me very recently.

Put on this light form, which glows strong enough to illuminate the space around you when it is not quenched by the brighter light of the sun, imagine yourself being transported from place to place, from one person to another, from one idea to another. Over time, even the habit of eating gradually disappears. We are no longer bothered by hunger and thirst, although I, for example, am still reinforced from time to time by light food, which can be called microscopic in comparison with the meat dinners that I destroyed on Earth.

Further, we are no longer tormented by a thousand and one petty earthly duties. There is also more confidence in the mood of the other soul. Obligations are not customary here — I am talking about binding obligations. Usually, although there are exceptions, desires are mutual. When I want to see a friend, at the same time he feels the desire to be with me - and we naturally attract each other. Communication here is unusually beautiful, but loneliness is also full of charm.

After the first two or three months, I no longer felt alone. At first, I was like a fish taken out of the water. Almost everyone experiences this except perhaps very spiritual people who are not bound by earthly chains or earthly ambition. I fought so hard against the idea of dying that my new state seemed like a disaster to me at the beginning, and I was running around in circles under the impression that I would lose valuable time that could be usefully used in the struggle and tension of earthly life.

The Master came to my aid, but he was too wise to have nursed me even at the very beginning! He reminded me of a few basic principles and gave me the opportunity to apply them myself; gradually, as I mastered these techniques, I also mastered myself. It was only after that that all the beauty and wonder of my new state began to open before me, and I realized that instead of wasting time, I had gained the opportunity to receive a huge experience that would serve me later.

I have been in contact here with many people of all degrees of mental and moral development, and I must confess that a person with a perfectly clear idea of the true meaning of life and of the possibilities of evolution is as rare here as on Earth. No, we do not suddenly become omniscient just because we change the tissue of our body.

A person who has been vain on Earth will be vain here, although in later life the Law of Reaction itself — if one has passed the measure of vanity — can send him back as a humble and even shy person, at least for a while, until the reaction is exhausted.

I have often felt sorry for people who have manifested themselves in life as slaves of the business routine. Many of them can’t get rid of it here and there, and instead of enjoying it, they go back to their old “things” over and over again and spend time on various tasks, tactical or financial, until they come to almost the same exhaustion as before their “death”.

As you know, there are teachers here. Few reach the height of my own Master, but many take the trouble to help newly returning souls. Assistance is offered to all, although this assistance is not always accepted. In such cases it is offered again and again, for those who sacrifice themselves for others do so without hope of recognition or reward.

If I had thought of writing a scholarly treatise on everyday life, I would have started very differently. First of all, I would postpone my work for ten years until all my facts were distributed and labeled; and then I would start from the beginning and dictate to you a book so boring that you would fall asleep over it, and I would have to push you from time to time to pick up a pencil that fell out of your hand. Instead, I decided to write soon after coming here, and my letters are really letters of a traveler from a foreign country. They convey his impressions, sometimes his mistakes, and sometimes his provincialisms and local prejudices. But, at least, this is not a retelling from other people’s words.

I'm glad you're keeping my picture on your fireplace: it helps me come. There is a lot of power in the photo. I have recently sketched for you pictures on the canvas of your dreams, to show you the insignificance and futility of certain things. Do you know we can do this? The possibility for the so-called dead to influence the living is enormous, if only there is a sympathetic connection. I have already told you how to protect yourself from unwanted influences, and therefore you have nothing to fear. I will always warn you in time if there is the slightest danger from this side. I have already drawn a magic ring around you, through which only the most powerful spirits could cross, or rather, not by themselves, but with the help of the Master, I have drawn this circle. You are doing our job, and therefore you are entitled to our protection. The axiom that "every worker deserves his pay" is true in both worlds.

Only you can destroy the barrier. If you inadvertently opened access to unwanted influences, we would hurry to close the circle again. From this you will see that I have already attained a certain authority; yes, I now have the right to say so. Are you surprised?

Letter 28 

If you are not like little children

I have heard a man I know call this world "the world of games," for, he said, "we are all children here, and we are creating the environment that is desirable for us." Just as a child transforms a chair into a tower or a galloping horse, so we can carry out everything that our imagination creates in this world.

Have you sometimes been amazed by the sheer vividness of children’s imagination? A child says simply and with conviction: “This rug is a garden, that floorboard is a river, that chair is a castle, and I am its king.”

Why is he saying all these things? How can he talk to them? Because — and that’s the thing! — he subconsciously still remembers the life here, which he left relatively recently. He carried with him into earthly life something of his lost freedom and the power of his imagination.

But this does not mean that all things in this world are one imagination, not at all. The objects here of subtle matter are as real and comparatively as real as you are; but there is also the possibility of creating, and of matter even more subtle, that which constitutes the substance of thought.

If you create anything on Earth from dense matter, you create the same thing primarily from the substance of thought; but the difference between your creativity and ours is that until you have surrounded the creation of your thought with dense matter, you do not believe that this invisible creature really exists outside your own imagination. We can see the creation of our own thoughts or those of others, if we want them to.

We can also — and I say this for your comfort — see your creatures of thought, and by adding the power of our will to yours, we can help you to realize them in material form.

Sometimes here, in our four-dimensional world, we build gradually and for a long time, especially if we want to preserve our creation for others to stay for a long time. But to all highly developed spirits, images are always visible.

Of course, you understand that not all spirits are highly developed. In fact, only a very few have gone very far from you; but even the most stupid person here owns what you have lost — the belief in creating your own thought.

The power that makes creation possible does not leave the soul when the latter is clothed with matter again. Only this strength soon fades, and the imagination loses its confidence due to the distrust of adults who constantly say to the child: "This is only a game; this is not really; this is imagination alone."

There are almost no limits to the possibilities of imagination, but in order to take advantage of all its power, you need to trust your imagination. If you keep instilling in yourself, as a mother would instill in her child, “But it’s just a play of imagination, it’s unreal,” you will never realize the ideas that your thought creates.

The imagination itself is like a child: it must be encouraged and believed in, otherwise it cannot develop and do its job perfectly.

The man who called this world the arena of play conducted all sorts of experiments with this power in himself. And he did things that would hit you hard. Thus, for example, he helped his wife, after her so-called death, to carry out their general plan, which seemed impossible to them because of their own lack of faith. But the people who make experiments here are an exception. Most of my current fellow citizens are content with where they are and don’t care about the Earth at all. No doubt these few are "dreamers" like me who are not content with one world and want to touch both; but they are rare, just as poets are on Earth. For the vast majority, the world in which they are at this time is enough.

For my part, I would not, as you put it, agree to disturb anyone with the thought that I could interfere in other people’s affairs, which are completely irrelevant to me. But if, invisibly and intangiblely, I could help you with the power of my confident imagination, there would be nothing wrong with it, and for me it would be a necessary proof.

Letter 29 

An Unexpected Warning

I would be very distressed if reading these letters caused unreasonable people to pursue spirits — the invocation of irresponsible and often lying elemental spirits into their human sphere. Tell them not to do it.

My messages, with your help, are a different matter. I could not do them if I did not know the method communicated to me here, and I could not do them if you interrupted me with your own related thoughts and questions, whether or not they touched this message. It is only because you remain passive and do not show curiosity by letting me use your hand, as I would use my stenographer's on Earth, that I can write long and coherent phrases.

Most messages from here, even if they are genuine, are not of great value because they are almost always colored by the thought of the person they are going through.

You are right in deciding not to read anything about it while my messages continue, and not even to think about the area of life where I am. In this way, you will avoid preconceived thoughts that would interrupt the flow of my own.

You may know that during my earthly life I have studied Spiritualism, as well as many other things in the field of the occult, always trying to catch the part of truth that was hidden in such phenomena; but I was convinced, as I am convinced to this day, that except in one case — when you want to give a scientifically furnished visual proof that such things can be — in all other cases the spirit is not involved in the pursuit of these things.

This may sound strange from the side of the so-called "spirit", and even entered into communication with your world. If this is the way some people think, I have nothing to do with it. I may seem inconsistent, but I will not change my statement about the harm of any kind of irresponsible mediumship.

If it were true that at every mediumistic session there would be only such an afterlife as wanted to say something important and sincere, then it would be a different matter; but this world is as full of idlers as the world of the earth. Since our world is populated from your world, it is natural that our population is of the same grade as yours. It didn’t change much when it passed through the gates of death. Tell me, could you advise a well-bred and fine-feeling woman to sit in the middle of Hyde Park and suggest to everyone passing by in crowds, to approach her and talk through her or touch her and mix her magnetism with her magnetism? You shudder, but that shudder would be much stronger if you saw what I see here.

In addition, there is another category of beings, which Theosophists call Elementals. Much nonsense has been written about these elementals; but you may take it as a fact that there are units of energy and consciousness in this world which correspond fairly exactly to what the Theosophists mean by elementals. These entities are, in general, not particularly developed; but since earthly life is the stage to which they aspire, and since it is the immediate and inevitable stage of their evolution, it is quite natural that they feel the strongest craving for it.

So don’t be too sure that whoever knocks on your desk or other furniture is definitely the spirit of your deceased grandfather. It may be nothing more than a blind and passionately thirsty entity, a rushing consciousness trying to take advantage of you to accelerate its own evolution, wanting to penetrate you to experience the earthly vibrations through you.

It is possible that this blind entity will not harm you, but it may happen that the harm from it will be great. Therefore it is better not to encourage their attempts to penetrate the veil that separates us from them; for this veil is thinner than you think, and though you cannot see through it, you can feel through it.

Having said this, I consider my duty to be fulfilled, and perhaps next time I will tell you something more interesting; for I often feel like the astral Scheherezade, experiencing her fabulous nights! But I'm afraid I won't be here before the first thousand nights. No, I do not intend to "die" again to another world; but when I give you what I would like to report on this life, I intend to explore other planets, if I am allowed to.

Sometimes I feel like a young man who has received a great inheritance, and with him an unlimited opportunity to travel. And though he may stay at home for a while to arrange his affairs and adapt himself, so to speak, to the new freedom of movement that has opened up before him, there will come a time when he will want to try his wings. I hope my metaphor isn't bad? If so, you can include it in my emails.

Letter 30 

The Problem of Celestial Mathematics

By the vivacity with which you sometimes feel my presence, you can judge the intensity of the life I live. No, I don't look like a pale ghost that's carrying grave damp. I am perfectly real and as whole and unharmed (at least as it seems to me) as during my earthly life, when I was clothed with more or less unhealthy flesh and blood.

It's very good that you didn't have "messages with that world." It would be very inappropriate if you were afraid of me. But others might be frightened if they felt my presence the way you feel it.

One day I knocked on the door of my earthly friend's room with the faint hope that he would welcome me. He jumped out of bed, then climbed into it again and pulled a blanket over his head with obvious anxiety. He was quite frankly frightened at the thought that it could be me! Not wanting to cause a heartbreak or such a shock to my friend's hair that they - as the old song goes - "sit one night", I quietly retired. He must have convinced himself the next day that there were mice behind the panels.

But since you know better, it gives me real pleasure to come to you to talk to you. "An old friend is better than two new ones," and the spirit society would not have satisfied me at all if everyone I knew and loved had turned their backs on me.

Recently, I have asked myself the question: what should I strive for here and what do I want? A year ago I would have answered, "Forces," but now my answer is different, I answer myself, "Knowledge," for knowledge is the forerunner of power. If I have enough knowledge, I will have enough strength.

And I come to you only to give you and others the bits of knowledge that otherwise would not be available to you. The most valuable bit I can give you is this: By exercising the will, a person can retain his objective consciousness even after death. Many who have come here are immersed in a kind of subjective bliss that makes them indifferent to what is happening on earth and in heaven. I could have done it myself if I wanted to, and quite easily.

I think I have told you before that the difference between a man on earth and here is that on earth he possesses both subjective and objective consciousness, but the latter functions mainly, whereas here the tendency to subjective consciousness prevails, although both consciousnesses persist after the transition here.

Almost at any moment, by focusing and looking inside yourself, you could fall into a state of subjective bliss similar to that enjoyed by souls who have crossed the line of so-called death. Indeed, it is only through this subconscious experience that man is able to learn what he knows about the invisible world. When the storms and passions of bodily life are brought to silence, one can look into one’s own inner life, and this inner life is the life of the four-dimensional plane. Do not accuse me of contradictions and ambiguity. I said that objective consciousness is as accessible to us as subjective consciousness, only in us the inclination to the latter prevails.

Do you remember the couple I wrote about a few weeks ago? He had come here before and waited for her, and helped her to cross that ghostly country that lies between the two states of our existence.

I saw them again, but they showed no interest in my appearance. On the contrary, I think they were even unhappy that I had awakened them from the state of subjective bliss into which they had plunged since they had finally succeeded in uniting.

While he waited for her all these years, he held himself awake by the force of waiting; while she had to remain without him on Earth, she kept thinking about him, and thus polarity was maintained. Now they have found each other; they remain in the "house" which he built for her from the substance of the Subtle World; they see each other's faces, whether they look inward or outward; they are satisfied; they have nothing more to achieve, so they say to each other, and so they plunge back into a state of subjective bliss.

To this state of bliss, to this, so to speak, they have the right to chew it. No one can take it away from them. They deserve it for their work, it belongs to them according to the Law of rhythmic justice. They will enjoy it for a long time. I think they will go through the same experiences over and over again that they experienced together and separately. And then the day will come when one of them will feel a satiation from all this sweetness; the muscles of his or her soul will require tension, they will want to stretch out from the lack of exercise; he or she will have an astral spiritual yawn and - under the Law of Reaction - he or she will step over the face of this world.

Where will he or she go, you ask? Of course, to Earth.

Let us imagine him or her awakening from the subjective state of bliss they imagined as an achievement, and imagine that he or she retired for a short walk in blessed and healing solitude. And then, with something like a light feeling that people have in their eyes and in their hearts early in the morning, he or she will be attracted to two lovers on Earth. Suddenly, the voice of the flesh, an irresistible call of hot blood and activity, raised to the highest degree, will capture the half-awakened soul, and then it will again pass into the world of material creativity. It will sink into the flesh of the Earth and hide in it. She will be waiting for a new birth. It will appear with greater force due to the previous rest. At first, I said "he" or "she." You can be almost sure that a man will wake up first because of his polarity.

Just remember that in painting this imaginary picture of my lovers, I do not mean the general way in which all souls return to Earth. I can only guess how this pair will return (for it will probably follow him immediately after waking up to find itself abandoned).

The reason why I think they will return this way is because they have indulged too much in subjective bliss.

When's that gonna happen? I can't say that. Maybe next year, maybe hundreds of years from now. Not knowing the size of their combined forces, I cannot determine how much subjective bliss they can endure without a rapid backlash.

I'm sure you're thinking, could I ever get myself into the state of bliss I was talking about? Maybe. Maybe it would have captured me, but not for long and not now. Anyway, I don't have a lover here who could enjoy such bliss with me.

Letter 31 

Change of focus

In recent days I have visited many places on earth under the guidance of the Master. I have been to countries and cities where I have lived and worked among people during my previous lives. One of the advantages of traveling to foreign countries is that they help a person to remember their former existences. There is undoubted magic in the places where you lived.

I have visited Egypt, India, Persia, Spain, Italy; I have visited Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Turkey and many other countries. And the Dardanelles were not closed to me as they were closed to you because of the war. Each position has its own advantage, and mine has it as well; The law of equality works everywhere.

In some of my life, I have been a great travel lover.

You may not understand how I can so easily move from this world to yours and see in both. But you must remember that my world and your world occupy approximately the same space, that the surface of the Earth coincides with the lower, densest “layer” of our world. And as I mentioned earlier, there are places that are accessible to us that are high above the earth's surface. "Heavenly Abodes" are more than symbols.

Once I change my focus, I can be in your world at any time. The fact that I am invisible to the physical eye does not prove that I am not there. Without this transference of center of attention — which is achieved by an act of will by a certain method to be known — I could occupy the same space with some of the inhabitants of your world and not even know it. Note this well, but this is only one side of what I want to say; the other side is that you can at any time — as far as space is concerned — find yourself in close proximity to the interesting things of our world and not be aware of it. But if you focus on our world, you will be more or less aware of it. Just as I, knowing how to focus on your world, can immediately transfer consciousness into it and enjoy the views of different cities and changing panoramas of different countries.

At the very beginning of my stay here, I did not see the Earth very well, now I see it much better. No, I am not going to give you a formula for passing on to others that would make them and you able to arbitrarily change the focus of attention to enter into communication with this world; I am not going to because such knowledge at your stage of development would bring more evil than good. I only affirm the fact and leave it to the one who has enough curiosity and who has the necessary abilities to do so.

The purpose that made me write these letters is to convince those who are hesitant that the soul continues to live and feel even after the bodily change that you call death. Many people think that they believe, but this belief is not always real. If I could make myself felt as a living entity in these letters, it would strengthen the consciousness of immortality among those who read them.

Our century continues to be vulgar and materialistic. Most feel no real interest in life on the other side of the grave. But all men will sooner or later come here, and some of them may find the change less difficult and less terrible because of what I have told them. Isn’t it worth the effort that you and I are making?

Every person approaching the great change who wants to seriously and carefully read these letters and learn their content, and who will not forget him when he comes here, will be protected from all fear.

But back to my travels. I was in Constantinople and stood in the very room where I had a wonderful experience one day, hundreds of years ago. I saw the same walls, I touched them, I read the ethereal record of everything that happened inside these walls and my own history associated with them.

I walked through the rose gardens of Persia and breathed in the scent of flowers descended from the very roses whose fragrance had brought me ecstasy when I walked through those same gardens in another body, quite unlike my most recent form. That fragrance made me remember.

I lived in Greece, but only in its ancient days. What a race that was! I think the secret to her power was concentration. The whole air around the peninsula is filled with reflections of her exploits, her bold thoughts and brave deeds. The old ethereal record is so bright that it shines through later inscriptions; for what is called the "Astral Chronicle" is everywhere in layers - one above the other. Any layer can be read either by natural affinity with it or by an act of consciously directed will. And it’s no more surprising than what happens in the British Museum when any of you walk among millions of volumes, choosing from them the one he needs. The most amazing things are always very simple, if only to own the key to their secret. It must be admitted that a lot of nonsense has been written about vibrations, but nevertheless the truth is hidden here. No smoke without fire.

In India, I saw yogis during meditation. Do you know why their special way of breathing entails mental results? No, you can't know that. Listen, then, to what I may call poison, the breath that is delayed produces what I may call poison, and acts upon the psychic nature of man by changing his vibrations. That's it. How many books have been written about yoga, but who mentioned it? The ordinary healthy lungs, in ordinary breathing, are freed from this poison by processes well known to physiologists; but for a man still living in physical conditions, a change of vibrations is necessary to adapt himself to the psychic world. And this change in vibrations can be achieved by a slight increase in the above-mentioned poison. Is he dangerous? Yes, it is very dangerous; and only for those few who know how to treat it, it is no more dangerous than any medicine from your pharmacopoeia.

Another time I will tell you about other secrets that were revealed to me when I moved from this world to your earthly world and back.

Letter 32 

My decisions

I was standing on the roof of the eastern palace at night looking at the stars. Anyone who can look into the invisible world and change his focus of attention will easily understand how I, using the opposite process, can see in the world of dense matter. Yes, it is the same, only facing the other side.

I stood on the roof of the eastern palace and looked at the stars. There were no mortals nearby. When I looked at the city that had fallen asleep, I saw a cloud of souls guarding it, and I saw messengers from another world coming and going again. Once in two in this cloud of spirits there was a pale frightened face, and then I knew that there, below, someone died.

But I've been looking at spirits since I moved here, so I've been much more attracted to looking at the stars. I have always loved them, and I love them now. Over time, I hope to learn more about them. But until I finish these letters, I will not leave the sphere of the Earth. At such a distance from Earth as Jupiter, I may not be able to write at all. It is true that here one can carry on with almost the speed of thought, but something tells me that it is better to postpone further wanderings for a while. I might not want to go back if I get there.

And for me, this correspondence with the Earth is of great importance. During my near-death illness, I often thought about whether it would be possible to return to Earth from time to time, but I never dreamed of anything like that. I could not imagine that anyone, sufficiently balanced and trustworthy, would be brave enough to help me in such an experience.

It was clear to me that one should not communicate through the hand of a person with an unprepared mind unless one had first hypnotized him. It is also impossible to write with the help of the hand of a person of average development, since such a person cannot remain passive enough.

To speak of what I have seen in your world since I came here makes little sense; and I have only spoken of it so that you may know that it is possible. Just like clairvoyants see our world with its new phenomena, and I look back at your stage of existence. It is interesting to live in both worlds, enter and exit them at will. But when I come into your world, I never interfere in his affairs. You don’t know it, but there is such a strict border customs between your world and ours that travelers can’t carry anything with them — not even prejudice.

If you had come here with the intention of seeing only certain things, you would not have been able to evaluate what you saw correctly. Many have passed here with such an internal mood after death and have learned very little from it. Only a wanderer with a wide-open soul can make discoveries.

I brought some solutions here, but they were firmly accepted:

1) to maintain its identity;

2) to retain the memory of my earthly life and to bring with me the memory of this life when I return to the earthly world;

3) to see the Great Teachers;

4) to restore the memory of my former existences;

5) to lay the necessary foundations for the full meaning of earthly life when I return next time.

That sounds very simple, doesn’t it? And I have already managed to do a lot in this direction, but if I had not set myself these tasks, I would have achieved very little.

The only sad side of death is that the average man learns so little from it. It is only the certainty that the chain of earthly lives is almost limitless that gives consolation; I know that one can take no haste, that all the links in the chain of lives, however small, are located in their inevitable places, and that this chain is a circular movement - a symbol of eternity.

And it often seems to me that most human souls waste their lives on this side as fruitlessly as they do on the other side. But it only seems because of the incompleteness of my knowledge.

Viewed from the height of the stars, where I still hope to rise with time, all these flat spaces will smooth out at a distance in the overall picture of life, and the whole picture can show the prospect of such beauty, which I never dreamed of when I was only a tiny speck in this picture.

Letter 33 

Lionel's Transition

I was left without my little Lionel. He went — I would not like to say: dear to all flesh, or rather — dear to all spirits who sooner or later make their return journey to Earth.

I learned from the Master that my boy's craving for the Earth would soon be satisfied that he would be sent to a family where his exceptional creative abilities would find fertile ground. I learned that the necessary bond of mutual love was already tied between Lionel and his future mother, and his future father, an engineer, will give him from an early age the help that will help develop his abilities. I was allowed to tell Lionel.

I found it in our favorite shelter, in a hut on the bank of a stream at the foot of a wooded hill, which I mentioned in one of my letters. He was in deep thought.

I waited until the boy opened his eyes and looked at me. When I informed him of the imminent change waiting for him, he came into such rapture that he reminded me very clearly that I was still human. I suddenly felt sad and hurt that my boy, whom I loved so much, wanted to leave me voluntarily. But since the will is really free, I did not make any effort to keep it. He was still young in age — he had not grown up in this world since he came here as a child — in his thoughts he was no less mature than I.

“Think about it,” Lionel said happily, “when you get back, I’ll be older than you!” And how good it is that my future father can teach me. But when I grow up, I will invent many things that are unknown to him. Do you remember the invention I made in the World of Primers? When I get back to Earth, I will do it. Do you remember how this invention moved with the help of electricity from my fingers?

“And if someone else invents the same thing before you?” I asked. “Do you want me to pledge your invention so that no one but you can use it?”

- Can you do that?

- I think I can.

Then we’ll go there and do it right away! I can leave this world very soon!

I found Lionel’s haste very amusing. We went to the “World of Archetypes”, and I drew a circle of prohibition around his invention: a ward that, I hope, will protect the archetype until Lionel claims his rights to it.

What is inspiration? What is genius and its inventions? People on Earth have little understanding of the meaning of these words. It is possible that the famous poem was sung by our favorite poet before his birth. It is possible that the great invention was in the world of the first images, protected by the forbidden circle, while its creator grew up on Earth to adulthood, to the opportunity to claim the right to their own spiritual creativity. Perhaps if two people invent the same thing at the same time, one of them has appropriated to himself the idea of the other, which the other left behind, returning to the earthly world. And it may be that both borrowed in the Invisible World the creation of a third person still waiting to be born on Earth.

The next time I saw Master, I asked him if Lionel’s soul could return to our world before his earthly birth.

“If it were the soul of the Adept, it would be possible,” the answer followed, “but for an ordinary soul, even a highly developed one, it is impossible.

Do people on earth come here in their dreams?

“Yes, but when the soul descends into matter, preparing for a new birth, it enters into what you call potentiality, and all its powers are needed for a great effort to form a new body and adapt it. After birth, when the eyes have already opened and the lungs have expanded to receive air, the task is already easier, and it is possible that then not quite spent energy will be able to bridge the gap separating both worlds. But, he continued, women preparing to become mothers often vaguely feel what kind of soul they will give shelter. If they do not even realize the full significance of the miracle that is being performed through them, they have strange dreams and visions, which can be called insight into the past incarnations of the unborn child. They see the unknown countries in which the creature that is born in them has lived in the past; they experience desires in which they themselves cannot realize - reflected desires that are nothing more than the hidden desires of the unborn; they experience incomprehensible fears, but these are nothing more than echoes of his former fears and fears. A mother who nourishes a truly great soul may during this period of creation grow herself to a degree that far exceeds her own normal capacities. While the mother of the unborn criminal often experiences such strange perversions that do not at all correspond to the ordinary mood of her soul. If women were sufficiently conscious and aware, they would be able to judge from their feelings and thoughts what kind of souls were preparing to become their children; knowing this, they could prepare themselves for the appropriate upbringing of their children. More knowledge is needed, here and everywhere.

Thus, and on the example of Lionel's transition, I learned something, as I learn daily from my new experience.

Letter 34 

Victims of their own limitations

It is not surprising that children, no matter how old and wise their souls are, should in each new life reconsider the relative values of all things by the artificial standards of your world, for here these standards lose their significance.

And people who attach importance only to these artificial standards must inevitably suffer in this more natural world. Recently, I was struck by a lady who had just come here and found no soul that was any closer to her. Even her mother never met her. This surprised me very much, for I knew that the mother's spirit, if it had not yet returned to earth, was experiencing a special kind of tremor, as if an inner one, when the child to whom she gave life on Earth is approaching birth in the spiritual world - a tremor that can be called sympathy for ancestral suffering, the last gentle echo of motherhood.

This woman was so lonely that I began to look for among the spirits I knew who could devote their time to her, but, unfortunately, there were no people between them who crocheted and gossiped in our world as they did in yours.

Don't be surprised! Do you think the habits of a lifetime can be dropped in an instant? We know that there are no sudden jumps in all nature, so why should they appear in the change we call “death”? As on Earth, women dream of their needlework, so they do here. In this world it is as possible to knit as in your world it is possible to indulge in dreams.

Understand that this world is no more sacred than your world and no more mysterious to those who live in it. For the serious soul, all states are sacred except for profanation, which is found here as on Earth.

The woman I am now thinking of lived and was content with only a conditional, so-called secular life, and it was to such an extent that she did not have a single, experiencing earthly life, connection, the connection that is created by inner intimacy. And of course, she could not feel happy in the new conditions of life.

Another time I met one of my old acquaintances, Mrs ***, who complained bitterly about the inhabitants of this world for the fact that they are all interested in something of their own and do not want to deal with it at all. When it turned out from her complaints that she wanted to devote everyone to their personal troubles, it became clear to me why no one wanted to listen to her. Poor thing didn't realize that our anxieties are as little of interest to others in this world as they are on Earth. And what is amazing: she continued to experience imaginary troubles here in the same way as on Earth: everything was not to her liking, she was unhappy with everyone. To this soul I helped by turning her attention to the religious experiences of the world here and showing her the orthodox Sky, which I have already mentioned in one of the letters.

Here, in the sentiments of these two ladies, I was struck by the extent to which all the properties of man's inner life are transferred here; and in this world, where it is possible to live so freely and freely, these properties seem to be reborn again in the form of imaginary restrictions and insurmountable obstacles.

But there is another post-mortem condition, in my opinion, much more severe. During my stay here, I have seen men and women immersed in a state of deep sleep, with faces devoid of any expression. At first, not understanding the reasons for their sleep, I tried to wake one of them, but I failed. I went back to him over and over again and found him in his former lethargy.

One day, when I was with the Master, I asked him about the reasons for this state, seeing one of these unconscious forms. He explained that these are the people who denied the immortality of the soul. They remain in a state of deep sleep until the irresistible Law of Rhythm draws them out of this state of unconsciousness for a new incarnation. To my question whether it is possible to get them out of this state, the Master answered in the affirmative. But in order to counteract that power which keeps a man in such a state of deep sleep, to break that pledge which man himself has imposed upon his soul, when he has demanded unconsciousness and annihilation for himself, to counteract this, a more powerful force must be put into operation. That force is will.

My failed attempt showed that such an awakening required a will more powerful than ordinary human will, and I asked Master if I could be present at such an awakening. From the reply that followed, it became clear to me that there must be a very serious cause — perhaps a feat of good in the past of such a person, so that the Master could become between him and the Law of Cause and Effect, which he had arbitrarily set in motion.

After a while, the Master gave me the opportunity to observe such an awakening. I am sorry that I cannot tell you how this amazing resurrection from apparent death was accomplished. Imagine at the feet of the Master a creature seemingly dead, with a face devoid of all life and expression; and above it is a divinely beautiful figure of the Master with an expression of mighty power on his face, with eyes shining with deep thought. He pointed out to me a barely noticeable light coming from a lifeless body. I saw him, but the Master saw much more: in this pale radiation, the whole past of that man was visible to Him.

The scene that followed was so majestically beautiful that it reminded me of the “Resurrection of Lazarus.” "The soul of man is immortal," said the Master, staring intently into the half-opened eyes of the awakened man. And then, in a tone of insurmountable command, "Get up!"

The man rose with effort; and though his body had almost no weight, it was evident how difficult it was for him to break out of his lethargy. Gradually, consciousness returned to him, and the words of the Master began to exert their effect.

These words first reminded the awakened of his past. About how he was mistaken in his theories; about the fact that there is no death, but only the Law of Rhythm, which forces the soul to enter into dense matter and come out of it as the tide and ebb alternate in the ocean, and in consciousness - sleep and wakefulness.

After bringing the awakened man fully to consciousness and explaining his situation, the Master entrusted him to one of his disciples. The disciple was to present to the awakened man’s awareness what might be called a panorama of eternity, continuing until it was indelibly impressed on his consciousness. When this happened, the awakened man would return to Earth and would have to persuade other doubters and unbelievers. The balance of violated truth would be restored once he had brought as many people to an awareness of immortality as he had previously led astray by spreading his false materialistic ideas about death.

When I was alone, I thought long in my heart about all that I had seen and heard.

Letter 35 

Lowest Sphere

In one of my visits to you I began a story of what might be called hell; but I was recalled, and my letter remained unfinished. Now I want to continue what I started.

First of all, you need to know that there are many kinds of hell, and they are mostly the work of our own hands. This is one of those banalities that are based on fact.

Once, guided by the desire to find that particular kind of hell, where the drunkard was supposed to be drawn, I found that part of the astral sphere that covers

A land that corresponds to one of the countries where drunkenness is particularly rampant. Souls released from the body usually remain close to the places where they lived, unless there is an important reason for their removal from there.

Without much difficulty, I soon found hell infested with drunks. What do you think they were doing? Repent in your weakness? Not at all. They crowded around the places where the evaporation of alcohol and even heavier evaporation from those who abuse alcohol make the atmosphere so nauseating. It’s no wonder that people with sensitive organizations don’t like their neighborhoods so much.

You'd turn away with disgust if I told you everything I saw there. One or two examples is enough.

I started by bringing myself into a neutral state so I could see both worlds at the same time.

A young man with a restless eye and a suffering face entered one of those "wine palaces", in which thick gilding and brilliant polishing of fake mahogany inspire the unfortunate traveler that he enjoys the luxury of "the kingdom of this world." The young man’s clothes were worn out, and his shoes were seen. His face had not been shaved for a long time.

He leaned against the rack, greedily emptying the glass with some soul-destroying mixture. And beside him, rising above him, bent over him so that a repulsive, swollen, terrible face was pressed against his face as if to breathe his breath, there was one of the vilest astral beings I had ever seen in this world. The hands of this creature (I use this word to express his vitality) squeezed the body of a young man: one long and bare hand gripped his shoulders, the other wrapped around his thighs. It literally drained the wine-soaked life-forces of its victim, absorbing them, absorbing them into itself, to satisfy through it the passion that death only increased tenfold.

Is this a creature from the hell, you ask? Yes, for I could see his inner state and be convinced of his suffering. Forever (the word “forever” can be used for what seems endless) it was doomed to thirst and thirst and never to find satisfaction.

In him remained only that portion of consciousness that once made him a man, that faint spark that gave him from time to time a fleeting insight into the monstrous horror of his own position. It was not a desire to be saved, but the very consciousness of the impossibility of deliverance only increased his suffering. And fear was seen in his eyes, fear of a future into which he could not look, but which — he felt it — led him to still greater torment; to a future when the astral particles of his present shell could no longer hold together for lack of a soul uniting them, when they would begin to pull and tear what was left of his astral nerves — in terror and anguish to tear away that form which was so near to its end.

For only the soul is preserved; what the soul leaves must perish and disintegrate into its component parts.

And the young man leaning against the counter of this gilded alcoholic "palace" felt unspeakable horror and tried to leave this place; but the hands of the creature that was now his master, covered him more and more closely, disgusting, covered with fumes cheek pressed closer to his cheek, the desire of the vampire caused a response desire in his victim, and the young man demanded another glass.

The earth and hell touch each other, and there is no impenetrable boundary between them.

I saw a hell of lust and a hell of hatred; a hell of deceit, where every object that the inhabitant of hell tried to grasp turned into something else, opposite to the desired object, where there was eternal mockery of the truth and where there was nothing real, where everything became - changeable and wrong, like the lie itself - by its own opposite.

I have seen the distraught faces of those who have not yet fully surrendered to lies, and the terrible efforts they have made to grasp the reality that was instantly in their hands. For the habit of lying, carried over into this world of changeable forms, surrounds the false personality with ever-changing images that do not cease to tease and elude it.

Whether such a person wants to see the faces of his beloved friends - his desire is fulfilled, but as soon as the desired faces appear, they immediately turn into shaggy furies. If he wants to restore the fruits of his ambition, they rush before him, but only to turn into a disgrace, turning pride into powerless shame. Will he want to shake the hand of a friend - the hand reaches out to him, but it is clamped by a knife that penetrates the inside of the liar without destroying it, and all the same fruitless attempts are repeated again and again until the exhausted consciousness finally weakens.

Beware of dying remorse, for it will be followed by the harvest of heavy memories. It is much better to go into eternity with the karmic heaviness that you bravely carry on your back than to slip into the back doors of hell with a sense of cowardly uncertainty.

If you have sinned, accept this fact fearlessly and decide not to repeat the sin; he who dwells on his sins in his last hour will experience them again and again after he has crossed the threshold of death.

Each action is accompanied by its own inevitable reaction; each cause is followed by its effect, which nothing but the mighty dynamics of the Will itself can change; and when the Will changes the consequence of the preceding cause, it always happens by the appearance of an opposing, more powerful cause than the first one, a cause so strong that the other irresistibly carries it away with it, just as a strong stream attracts a weak stream of water and an open stream of water.

If you confess your sins, hurry to do good deeds that are more important than your sins, and you will collect a reward for them.

Letter 36 

Beautiful creature

Yes, I have seen angels, if by angels I mean spiritual beings who have never lived on Earth as human beings.

In the sense of vitality, the brightness of the sense of life, the angel is in the same relation to a person as a person is to a rock. If we have ever experienced this state of heavenly joy, we have now lost it altogether because of the long-standing fusion with Matter. Can we ever get him back? Our destiny is in our own hands.

Shall I tell you who I call the Beautiful Being? If he has a name in heaven, I haven't heard that name. Is it possible to call the Beautiful Being a woman or a man? Sometimes it seems one thing and sometimes another. There's a secret I can't get into.

One evening I rested on the rays of the month; this means that the poet, hidden in every man, awakened in me as well. I felt like I was lying on the moonlight and my heart was filled with ecstasy. For a moment I broke out of the clutches of time and lived in that heavenly silence which is nothing but the greatest activity of rapture, brought to the utmost height. I was probably experiencing a premonition of the paradoxical state that the sages of the East call Nirvana.

I was conscious of both the moonbeam and myself, and the rest of the universe rested in me. Never in my life have I been so close to the realization of the supreme consciousness: “I am”.

The past and the future seem to be in the present. If any voice had whispered that it was yesterday, I would have agreed with it; if another voice had objected that it was a million years ago, I would have agreed with it as well. But whether it was yesterday or a million years ago, I didn’t care. Perhaps the Beautiful Being appears only to those for whom moment and eternity are one. It came to me, and I heard a voice say, "Brother, it's me."

In my mind there was no question: "Who is talking to me?" The voice that said, "It is me," could belong only to that Individuality which itself is almost as vast as the Universe; which sank into the ocean of the Universe, but also knows little by virtue of what everything has enclosed in itself.

There was a Beautiful Being in front of me, shining with its own radiance. If it were not so beautiful, I would be astonished; but the very perfection of its form and posture gave rise to an atmosphere of solemn silence. I was not surprised because my state of consciousness was a miracle. I was so high above my normal state that I had nothing to compare the experience of those moments to express their depth.

Imagine a youth that has become immortal, a present that has become eternal. Imagine the blooming freshness of a child's face and the eyes of bottomless wisdom. Imagine the brilliance of a thousand lives concentrated in these eyes, and the smile on the lips of love so pure that it does not ask for love from those who give it with its smile.

But the earthly language cannot describe the unearthly, nor can the earthly mind grasp the extent of the joys that the Beautiful Being revealed to me in that highest moment of my life. For the very limits of existence have been extended to me, and the meaning of the soul has been revealed in new, uncharted depths. Those to whom the Beautiful Being is present can never remain the same. They may forget at times, and may lose even in the business buzz of the great magic of the seen Phenomenon; but every time the memory of it is carried through in their soul, the latter will invariably soar in admiration on the wings of the experienced delight.

This can happen to a person who lives on Earth; it can happen to someone who is floating in interstellar spaces; but the experience must be the same for everyone once it has appeared, for only someone who is in a state close to the Beautiful Being can It reveal itself. And no one else.

A Song of a Beautiful Creature

“When you people hear the rustling sound, listen carefully, for it is possible that this is news that reaches you.

When you feel in your heart a mysterious and beautiful burning, perhaps it is sent to you from an unknown wonderful hearth.

When an unknown joy overflows your being, and your soul breaks free from its habitual state and reaches out... to some desired secret, know that the secret itself extends its warm and loving, albeit invisible, embrace to you.

We see each other in the unseen.

Here, delicate colors and charming shapes shine, and the eyes rejoice in beauty unprecedented on Earth.

Oh, you don't know all the joy of a simple life - to be and sing in your soul incessantly as a bird sings to its friend!

For whenever your soul sings, it is a song rushing to your friend.

Don’t you think that only spring can shake and make you listen to the rustling of the wings?

No, the spring time of the heart lasts forever, and autumn may never come.

Listen up! When the lark sings, it sings for you, when the water jets sing, they sing for you, too.

And when your heart rejoices, there is always another heart that somewhere responds to your joy, and the soul of those who listen to Heaven rejoices in eternal Joy.

I rejoice when I am here and I rejoice when I am there. Beauty is everywhere I go.

Can you, children of the Earth, guess why?

Go out to play with Me on the flower-covered fields of space. I'll be waiting for you at the intersection where the four winds meet.

You will not go astray if you follow a ray that shines in the depths of the gardens of hope.

There is also music in the thunderous noise of the Earth when it sweeps through space.

There is music in tones unknown to the heavy hearing of the Earth, and in harmony, the chords of which are those souls that are tuned in the same way.

Look... Can you hear them?

O, ears are made to hear, and eyes are made to see, but hearts are made to love!

The clock goes without leaving traces, and the years are like sylphs dancing on the air, but the centuries perform solemnly and quietly.

But we smile, for joy is in the solemn course of centuries.

Joy, joy everywhere. It is for you and for me; it is as much for you as it is for me.

Do you want to find me where the four winds meet?”

Letter 37 

Where there is no time

I think it is now clear from all that I have conveyed that not all souls who have crossed the air boundary are either in heaven or in hell. Few reach the extremes, most spend the period assigned to them in the same way as they spent the earthly period assigned to them, not understanding either the possibilities or the true meaning of their position.

Wisdom is a tree that grows very slowly; the rings deposited around the trunk represent earthly lives, and the furrows between them are periods between two lives. Who complains that the acorn is slowly turning into an oak? Similarly, it is unreasonable to think that the truth about the great leisure of the soul, which I sought to convey to you, must be necessarily sad. If a man were to become an Archangel in a few years, he would suffer terribly from the excruciating strain of growth.

The law is inexorable, but at the same time it is good.

However, many souls are in heaven, and the sky is not one — there are many, and I have seen some of them. But don’t think that many are moving from place to place, from one state to another, as I do. Everything I describe to you is not exceptional, but so that the same person can see and describe so many different things is an exceptional phenomenon. I owe it mainly to my teacher. Without his guidance, I could not have gained so much experience. Yes, there are many heavens. The other day I experienced a craving for beauty, which sometimes took hold of me on Earth. One of the strangest phenomena of this air world is a powerful attraction by attraction (I mean the attraction of events). You just want something big enough and you’re on the way. The bodies here, light as a down, move very quickly when they are set in motion by free will.

I felt a desire for beauty, which is equivalent to the desire to merge with the sky. Whether I have changed my place or the Sky has come to me — I can’t say that — space means so little here. Every valley that exists outside becomes a valley inside. We want to get somewhere, and we’re there immediately. Why this is so, I can’t explain it to you yet, and I want to talk about the sky that I just saw: it’s so beautiful that I’m still in the grip of its charm.

I saw double rows of dark trees like cypress trees, and at the end of this long alley I noticed a gentle diffused light. Somewhere I read that the sky was illuminated by a thousand suns, but that sky was quite different; the light that illuminated it was gentler than the moonlight, though clearer than it. It is possible that sunlight would be perceived through several layers of alabaster. But that light didn’t seem to come from anywhere. He just was. As I moved forward, I saw two figures walking hand in hand. On the faces of these creatures was an expression of such happiness that you will never see on Earth. Only a spirit who is not conscious of time can look like this.

I thought it was a man and a woman, even though they were so different from what you call a man and a woman. They did not look at each other, moving forward. The light contact of the hands made them so united that they did not seem to need eye contact — it could add nothing to their satisfaction. Like that light coming out of nowhere, they just were.

A few moments later I saw a group of children dressed in light, dancing among the flowers. Holding hands and forming a circle, they danced, and their clothes, like petals of flowers, fluttered rhythmically back and forth, to the beat of their dancing bodies. Great joy filled my heart. They were also not aware of the time and could dance here for an eternity, I thought. But whether their joy was momentary or eternal, it didn’t matter to me or to them. Like the light and like those two lovers, these children were, and that's enough.

Passing the cypress alley, I stopped at a wide valley surrounded by a whole forest of flowering trees. The smell of spring stood in the air, and birdsong was heard in it. In the middle of the valley there was a fountain, throwing water jets high in all directions, playing them in the air, from where they fell with a transparent lace down. The atmosphere of unspeakable charm was spilled over everything. From time to time, beautiful creatures passed through this fragrant valley, most of which, I think, once belonged to humanity. They moved in groups or two, smiling at each other.

On Earth, you often use the word “peace”; but compared to the world of this place, the greatest peace on Earth would seem vanity. I realized that I was in one of the most beautiful heavens, but that I was alone in it; and it was only this thought of loneliness that permeated my heart as I saw the Beautiful Being before me, of whom I wrote in the last letter. He smiled, and I heard:

He who is sad to know his solitude cannot remain in heaven. I came here to keep you here.

Is this the sky you always live in?

I live everywhere and nowhere. I am one of the voluntary wanderers who find the charm of home in all heavenly and earthly places.

Do you visit the earth sometimes?

- Yes, and even to the farthest reaches of hell, but I never stay there for long. I want to know everything that exists and to be free of it.

Do you like the earth?

Earth is one of my games. Sometimes I sing to the children of the earth, and when I sing to the poets, they are sure they hear the voice of their Muse. This is the song that I sang to a soul that dwells among men:

"My sister, I'm with you often when you don't know it.

For me, the soul of a poet is a light source, in the depths of which I can see my own reflection.

I live in the spells of light and color which you mortal poets vainly seek to express in magical words.

I am in the sunset, I am in the star, I have watched the moon grow old and you have become young.

As a child, you looked for Me in a fast-moving cloud; in maturity, you imagined that you had caught Me in the glitter of your beloved's eyes, but I never give, I always elude people.

I beckon and fly away, and the heads of blooming flowers do not bow at the touch of My feet.

You can find Me and you can lose again, for a mortal cannot hold Me back.

I am the closest to those who seek beauty in thought or form. I am flying away from those who want to detain me.

You can ascend every day to the kingdom where I am.

Sometimes you meet Me, sometimes you don’t; for My will is that the will of the wind — I don’t succumb to any lures.

But when I am Manu, souls come to Me from all four ends of heaven.

Your soul is also coming, for you are one of those whom I have called by the magic of My magic.

You need me, and you matter to me. I love to see your soul in the hours of her dreams and delights.

When anyone who belongs to Me dreams of paradise, the light becomes brighter for Me, who sees light in all things.

Oh, don't forget the charm of the minute, don't forget the seduction of the heart!

For the heart is wiser than all the magicians of the earth, and the treasures of the moment are richer and more wonderful than the accumulated riches of the ages.

The moment is real, while the ages are only deception, only memory and shadow.

Believe that every moment is everything, and a moment is more than time.

Time carries an hourglass, and his steps are slow; his hair has bleached with the frost of years, and his staff has dulled with untiring motion; but he has never managed to catch a moment in his rapid flight. It grew old, throwing nets for a quick-flashing moment.

Ah, that magic of life and the endless combination of living things!

I was young when the sun came into being, and I will be young when the moon falls, dying, into the arms of my daughter Earth.

Don't you want to be young with me?

Dust is nothing, the soul is everything.

Like the silver sickle of the month on the water surface of a lake — such is the moment of awakening love;

Like a wilted flower in the bosom of a weary world, such is the moment of dying love.

But there is love and Love, and the love of light to its radiance is the love of the soul to the soul.

There is no death where the inner light shines, illuminating the inner fields - an otherworldly, unattainable achievement.

You know where to find me.”

Do you want to know what language I speak to the people of Heaven? I think I speak my own language, and they answer me in my own language. But maybe it just seems to me, but in fact we use the plastic language of thought itself.

Have you ever met someone whose language you don’t know, and felt an exchange of thoughts going on between you and them? Expression of eyes, facial expressions, an elusive gesture and - internal exchange has been made. Try to intensify this interpenetration a thousand times, and maybe it will turn out what seems to me a conversation similar to the earthly exchange of words.

Letter 38 

Celestial Hierarchy

I am going to say something that may strike a considerable number of people; but to those who are too dear to their own ideas and are reluctant to let others have their own ideas, I would advise you not to open at all the carefully guarded doors that separate the country of the so-called living from the country of the so-called dead.

What I am saying can be summed up in the following words: There are many gods, and all together they make up the One God. All gods exist in God. Do what you will with me, but this is the truth, and the truth is more vital than all dreams, even yours or mine.

Have I seen God? I have seen him who is called the Son of God, and you must remember his words that he who has seen the Son has seen the Father.

But you ask me about all the gods, for there are many of them in the world pantheon. Yes, they exist here as a reality.

You will ask again whether it is possible to create gods by imagination and then give them life in an invisible world. Oh, no. They existed here originally, and a person has received an idea about them for a very long time, through his mental and spiritual perception. Man has not invented them, and the materialists who assert this know little about the laws of existence. It was easier for primitive man to know them because of his spiritual affinity and closerness to them.

Reading the folk tales of these gods, you are very likely to have been lenient with naive myth-makers and thanked your lucky star for having to live in a more enlightened age. But these ancient storytellers were actually “enlightened,” for they saw in other worlds and told about what they saw.

Many of the world’s favorite gods have lived — according to legend — on Earth as humans. And it is. Does this idea really amaze you?

How can man become God, and how can God become man? Have you ever thought about it? Man becomes God by developing God-consciousness, which means something quite different from developing his own thoughts about God. In recent years you have probably heard or read about the so-called Masters, about people with superhuman qualities who gave up small joys and worldly achievements in order to accomplish something greater.

Human ideas about gods change, just as the gods themselves change, for everything in the world is in the process of “becoming,” as Heraclitus said twenty-four centuries ago. Do you not imagine that the gods stand still, and that you are alone moving forward? Then you can one day outstrip your gods and start worshipping yourself without having anyone higher ahead of you.

With the help of the Master, I had the opportunity to see some of the most ancient gods. If I were to come here with an arrogant contempt for all the gods except my own, I would hardly be given such an advantage; for the gods are just as excluded from themselves as they include themselves, and they reveal themselves only to those who are able to see them as they really are. You might say that this opens the door to polytheism, pantheism, and other fearsome “isms”? But those are just words! I'm talking about facts. And thank God, the time has passed when people were burned at the stake for the fact that before them the vision of an unrecognized god was carried.

Take, for example, the god whom the Romans called Neptune. Do you think this is merely a poetic fantasy of ancient mythmakers? If so, you are mistaken. Tradition says that he ruled the ocean. And what could be more fitting and natural than entrusting oversight of the elements, floods and tides to one capable of directing them? We hear endlessly about the laws of nature. But who puts them into effect? The expression “natural law” is on everyone’s lips, but the Law has those who carry it out both in heaven and on Earth.

I have learned here that there are Planetary Spirits, the gods of the planets, although I myself have not been privileged to communicate consciously with any of them. If the Planetary Divine Spirit is so high that He is beyond my comprehension, how could I dare to think of approaching the God of the gods?

How paradoxical is the mind of a man, if he stands in fear and trembling before a servant, and approaches the master without a shadow of fear!

I have learned here that the Spirit who guards our planet has evolved into a god of power and responsibility in the expired cycles of existence. Anyone who is constantly dealing with a microscope, this idea should not be confused. The infinitely small and infinitely great are the tail and head of the Serpent of Eternity.

Who do you think will be the gods in the future cycles of existence? Will they not be those who, in the present cycle of planetary life, have risen high above the rest of mortals?

Will they not be the strongest and most divine of human spirits of the present day? Even the gods are subject to the Law of Rhythm, and they must have their own rest period, and those who perform duties in the present cycle will probably wish to have substitutes for themselves.

For a person who is eager to move forward, the doors leading to the highest opportunities are always open.

Letter 39 

Cloud of witnesses

Would you be surprised to learn that the difference between the creatures of this world is even greater than that between the inhabitants of the Earth? But this is inevitable, because the world here is freer than your world.

I would not have done my duty if I had not told you about the evil creatures here; no one else will tell you about them, and this knowledge is necessary for self-defense.

First of all, I must tell you that there is a great sympathy between the spirits of this world and the spirits of the world of Earth. Yes, both are spirits, and the only difference is that some are clothed in flesh, and others in a more subtle, though no less real, body.

Know that good spirits, perhaps "spirits of just men made perfect," or those who strive for perfection, are attracted by a powerful force to those fellow spirits on earth whose ideals are in tune with their own. The magnetic attraction that exists between people can be called weak compared to what is possible between embodied and disembodied beings. And even the difference in matter itself is a special attractive force. A woman is not as attractive to a man as a creature in the flesh attracts a person in the astral world. There is no greater understanding between the two than there is between a man and a woman on Earth. But the influence is felt, and the beings of this world know its source better than you, for they, for the most part, retain the memory of your world, while you have forgotten their world.

There is never so strong a sympathetic connection between men and spirits as in moments of the highest human excitement, whether it be hatred or love, or anger or some other strong feeling. For then the fire element in man is most strongly expressed, and the spirits are attracted by fire.

(Writing suddenly stopped at this point, the influence stopped and reappeared only a few minutes later.) 

Do you wonder why I left? To have a wide circle of protection to protect you and me, because some spirits really don't want you to know what I'm going to tell you.

Continuing. When a person is excited, when he feels delight and in general, when his emotional life is strengthened in one way or another, spirits are attracted to him. This is the secret of inspiration; this explains why anger grows by eating itself.

The last thing I want to bring into the circle of your consciousness. When you lose your temper, you lose a lot of control over yourself, by the way, and then it is possible that another entity will instantly take control of you.

This subjective world, as I have called it, is full of hate spirits. They love to stir up quarrels both here and on Earth. They are playing with the evil excitement of others. They come in joyful shuddering, in contact with the poison of anger and hatred; just as some people revel in morphine, so they revel in every inharmonious passion.

You know what the danger is? The smallest germ of anger in your heart can feed and ignite with the fire of their hatred. They may have complete indifference to you personally, but to satisfy their evil passion, they may temporarily become attached to you. A person who is used to being angry or looking for faults in others is constantly surrounded by bad spirits.

But sometimes impersonal interest in quarrels becomes personal: the evil spirit of this world, convinced that in conjunction with a particular person he is able to constantly experience evil excitement, can become attached to his victim; due to this connection, his victim will constantly indulge in evil impulses. This is one of the worst misfortunes that a person can suffer. Taken to the limit, it can become an obsession and end in madness.

The same law applies to other evil passions, such as lust or greed. Beware of sensual lusts, avoid sexual desire, in which there is no element of the heart or spiritual sympathy. There are such terrible things in this area that I would not like to talk about them through you.

Take the case of greed. I saw a miser counting his gold, and I saw the terrible eyes of spirits enjoying his passion. Gold has a special property, in addition to its purchase value and all the associations associated with it. Some spirits love gold as much as the miser loves it, and with the same possessive, drying passion.

I don’t want you to be afraid of gold. Buy it because it is useful, but never be greedy of it. Greedy spirits are not attracted just because a person owns symbols of wealth — houses and lands, trades or capital, or even a small supply of gold coins; one should not only collect coins to satisfy greedy passions.

There are some precious stones that attract different spirits. But you choose the jewelry you wear, most likely by a sense of affinity with them, and this is quite correct. And now that I have warned you of the passions and passion-filled spirits that you should beware of, I shall pass to other feelings and to other spiritual accomplices of human life.

You’ve probably met people who are kind of emitting sunlight, one presence in the room that made you happy. Have you asked yourself why this is happening? The true answer is that their bright mood attracts to them a “cloud of witnesses”, representatives of the joy and beauty of life.

I myself often warmed in the warm rays of one loving heart, which I knew on Earth. I heard spirits crowding around this man saying, "It's good to be here." From this you can conclude how difficult it is for evil to touch it. Many loving and sympathetic spirits would try to warn him if any evil threatened him.

Similarly, it can be argued that a joyful heart attracts joyful events; as well as simplicity and meek humility are very attractive to meek disembodied souls: "Unless you, like little children, enter the kingdom of heaven."

Have you ever seen a child playing with invisible companions? You'll call them a game of imagination. Maybe so, maybe not. To imagine is to create or attract things already created.

I have even seen such a phenomenon as the Beautiful Being hovering in admiration over the inhabitants of the Earth, who experienced true happiness.

A joyful song that breaks out of a crowded heart can attract a host of invisible witnesses who will share the joy of the one singing; for, as I have already told you, sounds are carried from your world to ours.

Never cry, unless it is to restore lost balance. Although weeping spirits are rather harmless, because they are weak. It happens that a sudden stream of tears clears the atmosphere of the soul, but if the tears are long, the surrounding space is filled with crying spirits. You could almost hear the sound of tears they drop through the cover of the ether, if earthly sobbing did not make so much noise.

“Laugh, and the world will laugh with you” is a fairly true saying, but it is also true that you are not alone in crying.

Letter 40 

The Kingdom of God Within

There is one obscure aspect that I would like to make clear, even at the risk of incurring the charge of "mysticism" by those for whom mysticism means darkness.

I have said that earthly human life is both subjective and objective, but that the objective side prevails; and that the life of the "spirits" in the finer environment is also subjective and objective, but that subjectivity predominates in it.

And at the same time, I was talking about visiting Heaven as a place to stay. This requires explanation. Do you remember the saying, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," and also, "Where two or three will gather in My name, there I will be among them"?

Those places in the invisible worlds, which I have called the Christian heavens, are those abodes where two or three, or perhaps two or three thousand — according to circumstances — gather in His Name to enjoy the kingdom of heaven within themselves.

The gathering of souls is objective, which means that souls exist in time and space; the heavens they enjoy are subjective, although all souls gathered can see the same thing at the same time, for example, the One they adore as the Savior. I can't say more clearly than that.

Letter 41 

Lover of invisible worlds

I have already told you about what I have called the Beautiful Being; His residence is the whole universe, His chosen companions are all mankind and all angelic ranks, His games are of years and centuries.

I do not know for what reason, but the Beautiful Being was very kind to me and to my efforts to acquire knowledge and showed me many things that I would not otherwise have seen.

When the leader of travel on the planet is an angel, the traveler is in especially favorable conditions. Letters of recommendation to the great of this world are nothing compared to such a recommendation, for with His help I look into the souls of all beings, and my visits to human homes are not limited to the living room. A beautiful creature has access everywhere.

Have you ever woken up after a beautiful dream that an angel may have kissed you while you were sleeping? I've seen things like that.

Oh, don't be afraid to give freedom to your imagination! The most extraordinary things are at the same time the most true; the banal things are almost all false. When a big thought lifts you up on its wings, don’t try to hold on to solid ground. Let yourself go. He who is highly inspired and has the courage to believe in his vision, can see the Beautiful Being face to face, as I have seen Him. When you move through space, your eyesight becomes sharp. And if you can get up fast enough, you can see the incomprehensible.

Recently I have been thinking about the seed of a flower, for there is nothing so small that does not contain the whole world. I went into my thoughts over the seed and amused myself by following its history, generation after generation, to the very source at the dawn of time. Funny expression "at the dawn of time", because time had so many sunrises and so many sunsets, showing no sign of fatigue.

I traced the genealogy of the seed to the time when the caveman forgot about his eternal fights to enjoy the scent of the flower's great-grandfather; at this point I heard a quiet musical laugh on the left side, and something light and airy, like the wing of a butterfly, touched my left cheek.

I turned to look, but at this time, quickly, like a flutter of a breeze, the same musical laughter was heard on the other side, and another gentle wing touched my right cheek. And then, something like a cover fell on my eyes, and a bright voice said, "Guess who!"

I was all excited to participate in this divine game, and I replied:

Maybe the fairy that makes the blind children of the Earth dream of the colors of invisible space?

“How did you know Me?” The Beautiful Being laughed, taking the veil off my eyes. “I am that fairy.” You must have been watching me touch the eyes of blind babies. Do you want to go with me and see how I do it?

And we went to the most extraordinary evening tour you can imagine.

We started at the house of one of my friends; his whole family gathered in the dining room for dinner.

No one saw us except the cat, which began to purr loudly and bend. It is very probable that if I were alone, she would be frightened of me; but can anyone — even a cat — be frightened of the Beautiful Being?

Suddenly one of the children raised his head and asked:

Why is this milk so good today?

Another child put his head on the table and closed his eyes. His mother wanted to push him, but the Beautiful Being threw a veil over her eyes, and she did not move.

I watched as the Beautiful Being unfolded a fairy tale before the inner gaze of the sleeping child. But soon the child shuddered and opened his eyes wide.

"I saw," said the little boy (and called my name). "He was standing over there smiling, and there was an Angel with him.

"Let us go," whispered the Beautiful Being, "nothing can be hidden from sleeping children.

We ran along the bank of the river, which divides a large city into two parts. From the open window of one of the houses, near the river itself, the sounds of a guitar were heard, and a gentle female voice sang:

When other lips and other hearts

They will tell you their love story...

Then you will remember me.

You'll remember me.

The beautiful Being touched me and whispered:

“When life is so tender to these mortals, it becomes a magical book to Me.

— And yet You Yourself have never experienced human life?

On the contrary, I experience it daily, but I only touch it and rush on. If I had joined her, perhaps I could not have broken away and carried on.

Listening to these words, I involuntarily exclaimed:

I'm afraid you're making a divine play out of everything!

“Hush,” laughed the Beautiful Being. “Anyone who fears anything will lose Me in the fog of their fears.”

It was so beautiful that I said:

- But who are you? What are you?

“Did you not say that I am the fairy who makes the blind children of the Earth dream about the spaces covered with flowers?”

“I love you with an incomprehensible love,” I replied.

Every love is incomprehensible. But let's get to the top of the vision. When you are tired, grasp My fluttering veil, I will wait for you to rest.

We saw strange things that night. We stood above the crater of an active volcano and watched the spirits of fire dancing. Do you think that salamanders are only visible to unrestrained poets? They are as real to themselves and to those who see them as... as the police at the crossroads of London streets.

Real and unreal! The Beautiful Being changed all my ideas about the whole universe. Would I like to know if I would remember all the miracles I have seen when I returned to earth? Perhaps if I can remember even a little, I will be a poet in my next life.

What a wonderful adventure it is to descend your boat on the rising sea of rebirth!

But you might think, if my mood is reflected in you, that I fell into a second childhood? This is my second childhood in the so-called invisible realm.

When, while wandering with the Beautiful Being, my eyes were tired of all the beauty I had seen, my charming companion showed me scenes of the Earth that, if I were alone, would cause me great sadness. But you can't be sad when there's a Beautiful Being around you. This is His charm: to be in His presence is to taste the joys of immortal life.

We looked together at the nightly rampage in what you on Earth call the den of vice. Was I outraged? Not at all. I watched the delights of these tiny human beings as a scientist watched the movement of bacteria in a drop of water. I felt like I was looking at it from the perspective of the stars. I did not dare to say: from the standpoint of God, for whom the big and the small are the same thing; the comparison with the stars is more correct, for how can we judge how God sees, unless we mean by this God within ourselves?

You who read these lines, when you go here, you will be surprised. Small things will seem big to you, and big things will appear small, and everything will be placed in its place in the picture of the infinite plan, in which both your difficulties and all your torments will be details, inevitable and beautiful. This thought arose in me as I wandered from heaven to earth, from beauty to ugliness, with my radiant companion.

If only I could find words to convey to you the influence of the Beautiful Being! It is like nothing else in the universe. It is deceptive, like moonlight, and more tender than the tenderness of a mother. It is more beautiful than the most beautiful flower and at the same time can look with a smile at the ugliness. It is cleaner than the breath of the ocean, and at the same time does not experience any horror before impurity. It is as unsophisticated as a little child, and at the same time wiser than the ancient gods; a real miracle of contradictions, a strange wanderer of heaven, a favorite of invisible worlds.

Letter 42 

The game of "believe - do not believe"

One day I met a man in a theatrical costume who told me he was Shakespeare. Now I am used to such statements, and they do not surprise me, as surprised seven or eight months ago (yes, I still keep count of your months, with a special reason for this). I asked him what evidence he could provide to prove what he said. He told me that his claim does not require any proof. "This number won't pass with me," I said, "because I'm an old lawyer!"

He laughed and said, "But why don't you join the game?"

I'm telling you this rather pointless story because it illustrates an interesting side of life here.

A little earlier, a lady who had come here again, when she saw me dressed in Roman toga, thought I was Caesar. I told her then that we are all actors here, meaning that we, like children, “dress up” when we want to act on our own imagination or when we want to revive some scene from the past. Such acting out of role is usually quite innocent, though sometimes the very ease with which it is done brings with it the temptation to cheat, especially when it comes to earthly people. You know what I mean. The lying spirits so often complained about by the visitors of the spiritualistic sessions often belong to these astral actors, who are often proud of the subtlety of their play.

So don’t be too sure that the spirit posing as your late grandfather really is that person. He may be just an actor playing a role for his own and your pleasure.

“How can you tell the difference between this game?” you ask. It's hard to answer. I would say that the surest proof is your own deep and unemotional conviction that you have a genuine spirit in front of you. There is some instinct in the human heart that will never deceive us if we succumb to its solution without fear and prejudice. How often in worldly affairs we have acted contrary to this inner sign and found ourselves on the wrong path!

If you have an instinctive feeling that this invisible and even visible spirit is not what it claims to be, it is better to stop all communication with it. If it is genuine and has something essential to say to you, it will inevitably come to you again; for the so-called dead often feel the need to enter into communion with the living.

But playing a role in the world is usually innocent and does not mean cheating. It is the need of most people to be from time to time not what they are. The poor man who, dressed in his best dress, in one evening misses his weekly salary, playing the rich man, acts under the same impulse that made the hero of my story to assure that he is Shakespeare. And a woman who dresses beyond her means plays the same game with herself and with society.

All children know this game. The child will tell you with all conviction that he is Napoleon Bonaparte or George Washington and will be very offended if you raise him to laughter.

It is likely that my Shakespearean friend was an amateur actor on Earth. If he was a professional artist, he would probably have called his name, more or less known, while explaining that he was a well-known celebrity.

They are very often proud of their earthly talents, especially those who have recently moved here. Over time, this goes away, and interests become more general.

People do not cease to be people just because they have crossed the border of the visible world for you. In fact, the features of their characters become even more noticeable, because there are much fewer prohibitions. There are no penalties for taking on someone else’s name. Here such things are not taken seriously, for for the sharper vision of this world, the wearing faces are too transparent.

Letter 43 

Heirs of Hermes

Much is true, but much is nonsense about Adepts and Masters who live and work on invisible planets. At present, I too live on the so-called astral plane, and what I will tell you about it is the result of experience, not theory.

Yes, I have met Adepts here — and Teachers. One of them taught me a lot and guided my first steps in this world.

Don’t be afraid to believe in teachers. Teachers are people who have risen to the highest degree of power; and always — whether they are embodied or disembodied — they work on this plane of life. The teacher can come and go again at will.

No, I'm not going to explain how it's done. Too inconsiderate and hot heads who have not reached the Master degree would dare to try and would not return. Knowledge is power; but there is a power which can be dangerous if applied without a sufficient supply of wisdom.

All human beings carry the germs of teaching. This can serve as encouragement for people who are striving for a more intense life than ordinary existence. But the attainment of the Master's degree is accomplished by gradual and usually very slow growth.

My supervisor here has a Master's degree.

There are leaders here who have not attained this degree, just as there are teachers on earth who have not attained the rank of professor; but he who has the desire to teach what he knows himself is on the right track.

I will not hide the fact that my Master approves of my desire to acquaint the world with this life, which directly follows what you call death. Had he not approved, I would have bowed before His supreme wisdom.

No, it's not His name. I will continue to call Him my Teacher when I come to you from time to time. After a while, I'll probably stop showing up. Not because I'm losing interest in you, but because I'm going to have to move far away from your world to learn things that need to be understood in order to be less connected to Earth. I may come back later, but I make no promises. I will come if I can, if it is wise, and if you do not hinder my coming.

I don't think I can communicate through anyone else and write letters like this. I would have to lead another person through the same process you went through, and I know that few, even of those who were my friends, are able to trust me as much as you. And so, after my removal, do not close the doors too tightly in case I decide to come again, for it is possible that I will tell you something extremely important. But on the other hand, please don’t call me yourself: your call can distract me from an important task. I cannot say with certainty that you will be able to do this, but it is possible and would be undesirable for me.

The one who remains on Earth can call on a friend who has passed far beyond the Earth’s atmosphere with such concentrated force that this soul will have to return too early, responding to a hot call.

Don’t forget the dead until they have gained enough strength to feel happy without your memory of them, but don’t plant too much on them.

The teachers I have just spoken of may be as near and far as they please; and they may or may not respond, but the ordinary soul is very sensitive to the call of those whom it has loved on earth.

I had to see a mother who was responding to her child’s tears and prayers, but she could not make him feel her presence. Such failures are a cause of great sadness for some mothers.

One day I saw my Master help a mother to get in touch with an orphaned daughter who was in a dismal grief. The heart of my Master responds with extraordinary tenderness to the sufferings of the world; and at the same time He explains with extraordinary force the greatest problems of thought. He is the personification of Hermes Trismegistus, the Three Great One, the great body, the great mind, the great heart.

He loves children very much, and one day, when I was invisibly in the house of one of my earthly friends, and his little son, falling down, broke and began to weep bitterly, my Great Teacher, whom I saw literally commanding the "Legion of Angels", leaned in his astral form over the child and began to console and caress him.

I was very impressed and told him of my surprise. He replied that he remembered his own childhood in different countries and that his memory still retained a feeling of physical pain and shock from a physical fall. He added that the suffering of children is much deeper than adults think, and that the confusion that is caused by adapting to a new, tender and growing body often causes severe suffering. Thus, the constant cry of some infants is caused by their impotence before the Herculean task of forming the body through which their spirit will be manifested.

He told me the story of one of his previous incarnations, when he was not yet a Teacher, and how much hard work he had to build a body for himself. He could remember the smallest details of that distant life. One day his mother punished him for something he did not do, and when he began to deny his guilt, she scolded him for lying, not realizing, despite all her kindness, that truth was at the very heart of the soul to which she gave the outer form. He added that it was after this childhood suffering, centuries ago, that his conscious struggle against injustice began, which made him the Friend and Guide of humanity.

He attaches great importance to the restoration of the memory of the past, because these memories reveal to us all the paths along which the development of our soul proceeded.

As a rule, teachers do not talk about their past and refer to it only when their personal experience helps to understand one or another law that they want to explain. It is extremely encouraging to the groping man that he who has reached great heights should have gone through the same trials which are now so tormenting him.

Letter 44 

Invisible Christmas Gifts

It’s not too late to wish you a Merry Christmas!

How did I know you were having Christmas? I looked at the houses I knew and saw trees hanging there with shiny ornaments and gifts. Are you surprised I could see them? But you forget that we light our place, and when we know how to look, we begin to see behind the veil.

I can't send you a material gift that you could hang on your Christmas tree, but I can send you a good wish for the holiday.

Mothers who have left young children know well when Christmas is approaching on Earth. Sometimes they bring invisible gifts made from thin

The substance of this world is the power of imagination and love. I saw one grandmother who was throwing flowers around her beloved grandchildren all Christmas Eve. The fragrance of these flowers should have penetrated into the Earth's atmosphere.

Have you ever suddenly sensed a delicate fragrance whose source you could not identify? If so, perhaps someone lovingly showered you with invisible flowers. Love is stronger than death.

The custom of celebrating Christmas is very good, if you do not forget the true meaning of this celebration. For some, it means the birth of a spirit of humility and love; and though love and humility were in the world before the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth, they never — neither before nor since — came with such mighty power. Whether the Bethlehem manger was a physical reality or just a symbol is irrelevant.

A stranger like myself, who wishes to be transported to a certain heaven, must first of all feel what souls who enjoy that sky feel, and then only he can enter into communion with them. He can never be just a spectator. That is why I personally avoid what is called hell, but I visit Heaven often. I have visited the Christian heaven and know its beauty. "In my Father's house are many mansions." That's right.

I was also in the purgatory of Roman Catholics. Do not be arrogant towards those who order Masses for the repose of the soul of the deceased. It happens that his soul is aware of such care for him. She can even hear music and singing, and sometimes it can reach incense, but most importantly, the souls of the deceased feel the power of thought directed towards them. Purgatory is real in the sense of real experience. If you want to call it a dream, call it a dream, but dreams are sometimes terribly real.

Even those who come here who do not believe in purgatory are temporarily more sad until they adapt to the new conditions of this life. But if anyone had told them that they were in purgatory, they would have reacted negatively to the statement, and yet would have confessed; that their condition was painful. The surest way to pass through this difficult transition period is to pass into another world with full faith in immortality, with full faith in the power of the soul to create the conditions of its existence.

Recently, my heart was filled with love for all people, and my soul was full of the idea of Christ. Probably because of this, I easily ascended into the highest of the Christian heavens; and I saw Him Whom they call the Savior in all His beauty. It also comes down to your world at times.

I don't know if I can explain this to you. Christ’s love is always present in the world, for there are always hearts that sustain its light. If the thought of Christ the Redeemer had faded into the earthly world, it would probably have returned to earth to rekindle the flame in human hearts; and whatever positive minds thought, the idea was never more real than it is now.

The world is not as bad as some people think. Do not be surprised if there is a real revival of spirituality. Everything in the world obeys the Law of Rhythm.

The angels of the Christian heavens know when Christmas is celebrated on Earth. Jesus of Nazareth is reality. As a spiritual body, He exists in time and space; as Christ, as the prototype of the spiritual man, He exists in the hearts of all people in whom this idea is awakened. It is the same as the light reflected in many water droplets. He is a model of the greatest teacher. He understood the Law and carried it through his life. And when He said, "Father and I are one," He showed all people how to realize in themselves the high degree of the Teacher. And if anyone asks what is the purpose of earthly life, tell them that this purpose is the evolution of man into a Master. Eternity is long. The goal shines for everyone who has the power and who is not able to lead, he can serve.

I dare not say that each of us is strong enough to attain the teaching, but none of us can be so weak as not to have at least a small part in the great task of developing Masters from mankind. It is a great joy to serve. Those who serve receive their reward.

The great mistake made by all who dispute the problem of evolution is to fail to understand the fact of eternity as eternity, to fail to understand that to be immortal is to have no beginning and no end. Time is sufficient for development, if not in one cycle of life, then in another, which will follow it, for the rhythm does not cease.

While I was on Earth, I did not understand the idea of immortality; and it was only here, when I began to collect the threads of my own past, that I realized it. The thing that helped me the most was the Phenomenon that I know to be the Beautiful Being; It has taught me to revel in the triumph of immortality, the It that plays with infinity as a child plays with balls.

When the Beautiful Being says, “I am,” you feel the same way that you are. When the Beautiful Being says, "I'm tearing down the centuries as a child cuts off the petals of a daisy and throws away the fertile heart to grow flowers that bring forth new centuries," you are experiencing... But there are no words that can express the delight of immortality, which you feel under the influence of the joy of the Beautiful Being.

You completely forget that you considered yourself a being of flesh when this bright genius of conscious immortality rejoices in the rapture of his own being. When the Beautiful Being takes you on a walk through the “heavenly meadows”, you feel like one of the co-heirs of the universe possessions.

The beautiful Being was with me the time I reached the highest Christian heaven. If I could express what I experienced there, perhaps you would start rushing here and you should stay on Earth for a long time to come, you should know the reality of immortality by staying in the flesh and you should pass that knowledge on to others.

I have told you of the heavens in which ordinary good men dwell; but those who love God with deep passion reach such heights of contemplation and ecstasy as human speech cannot describe. Next to the Beautiful Being, I experienced these ecstasies last night when you were asleep.

Where will I be next Christmas Eve? Somewhere in the universe; for we cannot leave it even if we wanted to. The universe cannot do without us, it would be incomplete. Take this thought with you into the coming New Year.

Letter 45 

The Higher World of Dreams

I haven't been here for a while because I've been busy with experience.

Since I have come here, I have so often seen men and women who are in a state of subjective joy of blissful dreams, if one can use such a word, that he has decided, in turn, to spend a few days immersed in his own inner world to experience the same thing that they experience. I hesitated for a long time because I did not want to fall asleep for a long time and waste time, valuable for me and for you.

But when I once expressed to the Master my desire to visit the highest land of dreams, enclosed in my own consciousness, and expressed the fear that I might fall asleep for a long time, he promised to find me and awaken me in exactly seven days on earth, unless I myself woke up earlier than this term. “For,” he said, “you can set an alarm clock in your mind that you can rely on.”

This fact was known to me from previous experiences, but I was afraid that mental sleep is deeper than ordinary earthly sleep and that my “alarm clock” will not start operating at the appointed time.

During my earthly life, I have often heard the argument that spirits who come into contact with their friends say almost nothing about their afterlife. It is very possible that the reason is the uncertainty that they will understand, if they decide to describe their new existence, before it differs from life on earth.

In addition, most of the souls staying here fall into a state of dreams or dreams, which I also decided to experience. Some souls wake up from time to time, and then they can show interest in the phenomena and people on Earth; but if the dream is very deep and the soul wants to leave everything earthly, then this subconscious state can last continuously for many years and even centuries. But the soul that is able to sleep for centuries probably belongs to those souls whose rhythm of life is very slow.

So, before I went into deep sleep, I made a vow to stay in this state for a short time.

Yes, that land of dreams within me was truly full of wonders! In the language of the Theosophists, this is probably what they mean by resting in the bliss of Devachan. But whatever this experience is called, it deserves to be remembered forever.

I closed my eyes and sank deeper than thought, to where the restless waves of life subside and the soul comes face to face with itself and all the wonders of the past. Everything is enchanting in this state. And if the soul can remember its dreams, as mine could, the dreamer’s state is beyond comparison.

I decided to enjoy it and I really enjoyed it. I found the ghosts of everyone I loved in my life. They smiled at me, and I understood the secret of each of them, and what attracted us to each other.

I found all my old ambitions there, and I enjoyed the fruits of all my labors on Earth. The beautiful world is this inner world of the soul, pink as the spring dawn, and every desire of the heart is in it. It is not surprising that the intense earthly life is so often difficult and tiring: this life of dreams, following it, is so beautiful that the balance must be observed.

Rest! Rest! On Earth, you do not know the meaning of the word. I only rested for seven days, but to such an extent that my strength was restored, they were so refreshed that if I had no other intentions, I could, it seems, return to Earth again.

Do not neglect the rest, you who continue to lead a working life under the rays of the earth sun. For every extra hour of complete rest increases your ability to work. Don't be afraid. You don’t waste time when you lie quietly and dream. Like I said, eternity is long. There are enough roadside shelters for rest on the way of time cycles.

If you want a long-term heavenly rest, then use it. Enjoy it even on Earth if it attracts you. Don’t be always on the lookout, even in your writing. Go to the open space and start a game with proteins or stretch at the burning fireplace and dream together with your pet cat. The cat, enjoying slumber at the smoldering hearth, enjoys the same and catching mice, depending on the mood. She can't hunt forever, neither can you.

Try to dive into Devachan someday and you will feel the extent to which it will refresh you. Maybe I am misusing the word "Devachan," you know that I was never strong in theosophical teachings. Thus, I have heard that Nirvana is defined as a state of highly intense motion, to the point where it appears motionless, like a wolf in the air or the wings of a flying hummingbird. But Nirvana is not for all people, at least not for all modern humans.

I have mentioned the wonders of my blessed seven-day rest, but I cannot describe them. Is that possible? A great poet once said that there is no thought and no feeling that cannot be expressed in words. Maybe he lost his confidence now that he had spent about 60 Earth years in this Wonderland.

When I decided to enjoy the rest, I ordered my soul to save all my dreams. Of course, I cannot say whether any of them have escaped, nor can you, waking up, say whether all the night experiences have been preserved in your memory. But when I returned to the normal life of this world, which you call the astral, I felt like a traveler returning from a long journey with a supply of wonderful adventures that he could not wait to tell you about. But I never told anyone about them. And who would listen to that? I don't want to bore anyone, even my "disembodied" cohabitants. If Lionel were here, I would amuse him with my stories; but he is lost to me for a while.

By the way, he had almost no virgin rest. Is it because he didn't have time to run out of normal rhythm when he got here so early? Perhaps. If he had stayed here until full maturity, he would also have rushed to a deeper inner world. But I don't want to argue — it's a record of experiences, the reasoning I'm giving you.

I found in my world a beautiful, inexpressibly beautiful face. I will not tell you whose; let it remain my secret. Undoubtedly I saw many faces, but one was all the more beautiful, and it was not the face of the Beautiful Being. I see a beautiful Being only when I have a very clear consciousness, when I am awake. I have never seen Him in a dream, only His ghost before me in dreams. In the land of dreams in question, we see only what exists in our own consciousness. There are no things there — only memories of things, only images of them.

Imagination creates in this world, as it does in yours: it really forms from the subtlest substance; but I do not think that we have formed from substance in this realm, which I have called the "higher realm of dreams." It is a world of light and shadow paintings, too subtle, too elusive to describe this magical play of light and shadow. You can't say that in words. Can you describe the smell of the flower? Can you tell me how a kiss feels? And even if you were to retell any emotion you’ve experienced, such as fear, could a person who’s never been afraid understand you? Nor can I describe how one can dream in this spiritual world of dreams. I will say one thing: no matter how much you enjoy, no matter how much delight your heart revels in, while you are still in the body, you will have only a shadow of the shadow of what I experienced over these seven days, a reflection of the reflection of that real dream that I experienced in this magical land of dreams. Reflection reflection! I like that expression. It gives the correct picture, although it does not convey an immediate impression. Try to dream, and although you are still on Earth, perhaps you will catch a reflection from the reflection of the unspeakable joys of the spiritual world of dreams.

Letter 46 

Only song.

Do you want to hear another song, or hymn, call it what you want, of that amazing Angel we know as the Beautiful Being?

“Why are you afraid to ask me? I am the great questioner.

My answers are symbols, but the words themselves are symbols.

I haven’t visited you in a long time, because when I’m with you, you can’t think about anything else, and you need to think about those who have followed the same path that you have followed.

You can take a sample of your ways from others, but you cannot take it from My ways.

I bring light into the dark, you don't need to know my name.

The name is a limitation, and I do not want to be limited.

In the long past times of the Angels I refused to enter into the images of My own creativity, I only agreed to play with them. Here's a hint for you if you want hints.

He who is held back by his own expectations becomes a slave. This is one of the differences between me and man.

What earthly father would want to get rid of his children? What earthly mother would want that?

I am! I can make a rose bloom — and then leave it, so that others can enjoy it.

My joy is in creation. I would be bored waiting for all the petals from My rose to fall.

An artist who can forget his former creations is able to do more and more great things.

Joy is in doing, not in holding back what has already been done.

To make and to let go, yes, it is the magic of the gods.

There are human races to whom I have revealed myself, they have made me.

But you do not need to idolize Me, for I do not require idolatry.

Wouldn’t it mean to limit myself to my own creatures if I expected anything from the souls My beauty touched?

If only you knew the magic of this freedom! Freedom to create and leave created!

Are you thinking about retention magic?

Yes, there is also magic in holding on to a thing until it has been perfected.

But when it is finished, whether it be a poem, or love, or a child, leave it.

And then you will be free again and you can start a new creativity. This is the secret of eternal youth.

Never look back with regret; look back only to find out what is behind you.

Look always forward; only when one ceases to look forward does one become old. He's freezing in one place.

I live in every moment, and that means living in eternity.

The present and the future are the companions of My games; we cannot play when we go deeper into the past.

I can only be a great friend in search of joy and beauty.”

Letter 47 

Preaching and Promise

For coming to you so many times and telling stories for your amusement, may I preach this time? I promise it will be short.

You live in a country where the sharp points of the church bell towers penetrate the blue air, and if you look at them from the other side of the cloud cover, these sharp points are like the raised peaks of the attacking army - which they really are when they overwhelm you with inexhaustible sermons. The average sermon is almost always composed of advice, and my sermon will not be more original in this respect than others. I want to give you advice, you and all those who will listen to me with your help.

You have to admit that I have had an exceptional opportunity to offer advice. Indeed, I should have pointed out to you from the point of view of a serious and profound, even imperfect observer, the otherworldly consequences of the causes that are being driven by the inhabitants of the Earth. It is said that causes and effects are equivalent and opposite. Very good. Now I want to draw your attention to several illustrations of this axiom that have come to my mind recently. If I have to repeat one or two things that I have already said, it doesn’t matter. You could forget them, you could not apply them to the work of preparing your soul for the future life on this side of the “fog of death”. I use this mossy expression "the abyss of death" because I write a sermon, not a poem, from the church pulpit almost always pours out a rather beaten rhetoric.

Preachers remind you almost every Sunday that sooner or later you must die. But how do you know that? Is your consciousness permeated by the fact that at any moment, tomorrow, or fifty years from now, you may suddenly find yourself outside of this body, to the connecting force of which you are so accustomed; that you will find yourself, alone or in community, in an extremely thin and light body, at first difficult to control, without certain means of communication with those friends and relatives who are in the same room with you?

Can you imagine such a state? If not, then carry this idea through your mind, embrace it in both hemispheres of your brain, nail it with all the sharpness of your mind. You will surely die.

For God's sake, don't be scared! I do not mean you or any particular person who is to die tomorrow or next year; but you must die some day; and if you remind yourself of this more often, you will ease the shock that is inevitable when the event occurs.

Don’t think about death. God save you from attaching such sinister significance to my simple words! But be ready. You insure your life enough to provide for your family, but you do nothing to insure your own future peace.

Always remember this: no matter how accurate your orders are regarding your earthly affairs, undoubtedly, someone will change your desire in their own way. Learn to feel that the past is the past, that only the future is full of possibilities for you, and the sooner you give others the opportunity to engage in your earthly affairs, once and for all, the better for you. Learn to let go of your hands. This is the first thing I wanted to bring to your attention.

Do not enter into a new life by turning one eye to heaven and the other to earth. You will not go far ahead in this way. Come on. Turn away from this world immediately.

This may sound to other people like heartless advice, for undoubtedly a wise spirit who looks at the Earth from the higher regions can, through subtle telepathic suggestion, have a good influence on the earthly life of people. But there are countless people who want to exert such influence. The heavens above your heads are literally teeming with souls who are eager to put their hand to earthly affairs. To souls who are not able to "drop", for whom to take part in other people's affairs is equally irresistible again do not consider me heartless. I speak directly, but I love you, the inhabitants of the Earth. If I hurt you, it's for your own good.

Now I come to another very important advice. Forget, if you can, all the sins you have committed in the flesh. You cannot avoid their consequences, but you can avoid strengthening your connection with sin, you can avoid returning to Earth by being hypnotized by the thought of your sinfulness.

Don't go around with sins. It is true that you can exhaust the attraction to sin by analyzing it until your soul feels disgusted, but this is too slow and unpleasant a process. Cutting off memory is much better.

Now I want to make a very difficult point to express because it is completely new to most of you. This idea is as follows: the power of creative imagination is expressed more strongly in people clothed in earthly bodies than in people-spirits who threw these bodies. This does not mean that the majority can use this force, no, the majority cannot; but I want to point out to you that they can use it. A dense body is a kind of resistive foundation, a powerful lever through which the will can design everything that is conceived by the imagination. I think this is the real reason why the Masters retain their physical bodies. A disciplined mind clothed in the subtle matter of our world is stronger than an undisciplined mind clothed in physical matter; but a Teacher remaining in the flesh can literally command legions of angels.

This is a kind of preface to the truth that what you are on Earth painting your future life in the afterlife is what it will be; the obstacle is only the lack of willpower; if that power is sufficient, all created by the imagination is easy, since the subtle matter of this plane has the property of taking whatever form you want to give it.

If you want to move forward after death, you will move forward; if you want to learn, you will learn; if you want to return to earth to complete a certain task, you will come back and complete it.

Karma is an iron law, that is true; but you are the creators of your karma.

But most importantly, don’t wait, because waiting is the same request: unconsciousness and annihilation. You cannot destroy the unit of power you represent, but you can put it to sleep by self-suggestion for a long time. Get out of life with a firm determination to hold your consciousness, and you will hold it.

When the time comes for you to enter into that realm of rest which Ancient Wisdom calls Devachan, you will surely enter it; but it will be later, not immediately after your departure.

When you have reached this state, you will have experienced in a dream all your former earthly life and will have fulfilled all its experiences, all its experiences; but by this time you will have completely got rid of the desire to take part in the life of your earthly friends.

As long as you are on Earth, never invoke the spirits of dead people. They may be busy elsewhere, and you may be strong enough to distract them from their business and draw them — against their will — to their own needs.

I can’t help but thank you for writing for me, for never calling me, allowing me when I feel comfortable, and letting me speak without interrupting my thoughts with questions and comments.

You must remember that when I first came to you, you didn't even know I had already left Earth. I found you in a passive mood and wrote through you a letter signed by a sign whose meaning you did not know, but which I knew would be immediately recognized by one of your closest friends. This was a very successful undertaking, for it inspired you to trust the authenticity of my messages. I'll just add one word before I leave you.

If you were to persistently call me during these days of my rest, you could forcibly interrupt an extremely valuable and interesting experience. And so my final word, my blessing after the sermon, will be this: Don't be selfishly insistent even with the so-called dead.

If your need is great, the souls who love you will feel it and come to your aid. This is often confirmed on Earth, among those friends whose mental perception is already developed.

Letter 48 

Spring Time of Peace

Having told you on our last date that you must “die,” as they say on Earth, I feel the need to assure you today that you can never die, that you are as immortal as the angels, as immortal as God Himself.

No, it's not a contradiction.

I’ve talked about immortality before, it’s always been my favorite subject, but since I’ve recognized the Beautiful Being, immortality has become a triumphant phenomenon for me.

The Beautiful Being lives in eternity, just as we believe we live in time. Would you like to write down another song of the Beautiful Being?

“When you see Me in green trees and on green lawns, know that you have drawn near to Me.

When you hear My voice in silence, know that I am speaking to you.

Immortals love to talk to each other through mortals, and it is a great joy for them to awaken the joy that slumbers in the souls of the children of the Earth.

When joy is awakened, the soul is awakened.

You are looking for God in one person or another, and sometimes you find Him in it.

But you seek Me in your own soul; and the deeper the search, the more beautiful the vision.

Yes, I am in nature, I am in you, too, when you seek Me there.

For nature is dual, and you carry one half of it in you.

All things are one and dual, even I, and that is why you can find Me.

Can you understand the charm of freedom, the ability to freely sweep around the sky and the Earth and through the souls of people!

I'm lighter than a dandelion gun and longer-lasting than the greatest star.

Eternal is intangible, and only intangible is impermanent.

The road leading to the magical castle of dreams is not long; the most distant is the one closer than the next door to you, but only the dreamer finds it.

When work is easy, pay is assured; when days are full of heavy strain, the reward is postponed for the future.

Be glad, and I will reward you.

I would write My name on the petals of your heart, but angels alone can read such letters.

He who bears My unknown name on the petals of his heart is received among the angels as a flower pleasing to them, and his fragrance reaches to heaven.

Know, O child of the earth, that the heart has pollen, and it fertilizes all the flowers of your faith.

There is faith in the soul, the child of the earth, and it bears in itself the seeds of all things.

The seasons come and the seasons go, but the spring time always remains.

I can only find in you what was lost in the Spring Season.

Letter 49 

Archives of Soul

I have already spoken of my decision to visit other planets when I have finished writing these letters through you; but I do not want to be silent that I see in these journeys through the universe much less spiritual value than those other journeys I have made and will continue to make through the unexplored recesses of my own self.

Time and space travel are of great importance to man: he recognizes other countries and other peoples, sees the difference between himself and others and comprehends the cause of this difference; and yet calm reflection leads to inner growth even more quickly. If a person with a revealed spirituality can choose, then it is best for him to be alone in a deserted place and search in his own soul for those secrets that are stored in its depth, than to travel without such a check, even to the very limits of the earth.

Get to know your own soul. Find out why you are doing this or that. Sit quietly whenever you doubt, and let the truth rise from your own depths. Always check your motives. Don't say, "I have to do this for a reason, that's why I'm doing it." That argument is self-deception.

If you do something good, ask yourself why. Perhaps you will find even in the most good deed a hidden selfish motive. If you find it, don’t deny it to yourself. Admit it to yourself, although there is no need to announce it publicly. This intimate understanding will increase your empathy and your understanding when discussing other people’s motives.

Always strive for an ideal, but don’t think every emotion is perfect if it isn’t. Always be honest with yourself. Unless you have the courage to tell yourself the truth, you will not succeed in exploring your own soul.

There is time for reflection in the intervals between earthly lives, but the habit of reflection must be established while you are still in the flesh. The habits we have acquired in the flesh continue even after we have freed ourselves from them. That is why it is so important to keep yourself as free from any physical habits as possible.

I have made an amazing discovery in the archives of my own soul. I found there a memory of my past, so distant that it is difficult to even imagine. Looking at the ways in which the causes set in motion in one life caused their effects in another, I gained more valuable knowledge than all those that my upcoming journey to other planets can give me.

All things exist in the soul without exception; all knowledge is there. Understand this idea if you can. The infallible part of ourselves is hidden, and only we can bring it into the light of God. That is why I advise disembodied people to turn away from entertainment and from the bright mirages of earthly life. Only in the silence of solitude can the soul betray its secrets.

But this does not mean that I am indifferent to earthly love; on the contrary, I love more deeply than ever those whom I have loved on Earth; but I have realized that if I can love them with wise love instead of unwise love, it will be better for them and for me.

And yet the earthly call is sometimes very strong, and my heart gives an answer on this side of the veil that divides us.

Letter 50 

Formula for Teaching

My friend, I'm going to leave you for a while, maybe even a long time.

I feel that my next task in relation to the Earth is over. And I want to ease my load even more and rise on the waves of the ether high and high and forget in delight of new experiences that I will once again have to make a hard way through the narrow gate of birth.

I am going with the Beautiful Being on a long journey of wonderful discoveries. My dear comrade has already made this journey and can show me the way to many miracles. There is something sad about this farewell. Remember the last time you saw me in my old body? None of us thought on that day that we would meet again in a foreign country and under conditions so unusual that one half of the people would deny the possibility of meeting in this way at all, and the other half would not believe that we had actually met.

But you, don't you feel me more real now, this evening than ever before? When we were together in the past days, did you know more about what I intend to say next minute than you do now? By straining your brain as much as you like, you still won't tell me what I'm going to talk to you about. For you, at least, it will serve as proof that I am as real as I was then.

I have already said the main thing that I wanted to convey to people. And I would like you to publish these letters, excluding only personal appeals.

Yeah, maybe we won't see you for a long time. But don't be sad. When I leave, maybe someone else will come.

Do not lock your doors too tightly, but guard them carefully and do not let anyone in without a proper password. You can't be fooled: I've given you enough instructions.

I find it hard to write today because I feel sad leaving the Earth. Still, I am excited about the upcoming trip. Think about it! I'll see the most distant planets and meet the inhabitants of the distant stars!

It is said that Jupiter has creatures that look amazing, and I will see them. Will they be more beautiful than our own Beautiful Being, who loves the little Earth and tries to stay close to it because it has so much struggle?

Oh, that joy of fighting! This is the main note of immortality, the main note of power. This will be my last message to the people. Tell them to enjoy all kinds of struggles, to admire the endless possibilities of combinations and creativity, to live in each moment, while preparing for the distant future, and not to exaggerate the meaning of temporary falls and disappointments.

When they pass into this world of ours and see their lives in perspective, they will see that most of their anxieties were negligible and that all the rays of light and all the shadows were necessary for the completeness of the picture.

And I had light and shadows, but I have no regrets. The teacher rejoices in difficulties, as a strong swimmer enjoys the resistance of water.

If only I could show you what power comes when you meet a struggle not only with courage, but with joy! You've seen how a healthy boy enjoys wrestling. His blood moves faster, his nerves strain; but only he who maintains self-control can be ahead.

Life is a battle. We put on material to defeat it, or it will defeat us.

Nothing in the universe is stronger than human will if it is directed by a concentrated force. Whatever your strengths, strain them as much as possible in the life struggle.

And remember that your opponents are not other people, but conditions. If you fight people, they will fight you; but if you fight circumstances, they will succumb to you, resisting just enough to keep your muscles in healthy tension.

And don’t forget the Law of Rhythm, it is the foundation of everything. Count on the rhythm. He has never lied and will never lie. Watch your own high tide and swim with it; when the inevitable tide comes, either rest or reflect. You cannot escape the rhythm. You will overcome it by acting in harmony with it.

You can also go back and find youth, for both time has its tide and ebb; and there are many jets on the high-rising life tide.

I feel like I haven't told you much. But we'll meet again.

Letters of the Living Dead about the war, 1915

Letter 1 

Return of "X."

5 March 1915 

On a distant star, I heard the command: “Go back to Earth and know the secrets of love and hate.”

I didn't know I'd meet him when I got back to Earth, but I obeyed orders.

On the way to Earth, an army of angry creatures blocked my path. "What do you want here?" they shouted. "Everything belongs to us here. We will not tolerate a stranger.”

I called the Master and he stood beside me. Even He was darkened when He saw the force that blocked the way.

"It began," said the Master. "It took so long to prepare, and so suddenly it began."

Anger is cosmic power, and hate is cosmic power, and love is cosmic power, and fear is cosmic power. Did you think love was just a beautiful feeling? Did you think hate was just an annoyance? I have seen the sources of anger and hatred, love and fear. And now I want to write again for the people of your world in the hope that my experience can help them understand what forces are working within and behind the human races.

This war is more than just a war of men, and even more than a war of angels. Its roots are in necessity.

A new race is born, and races, like men, are born in the agony and blood of their predecessors. But just as Eve has brought a curse upon herself by listening to the speeches of the envious serpent of evil, so the world brings a curse upon itself as humanity begins to listen to the envious and vicious whispers of the dark forces living in and around our world.

I have seen these forces firsthand, I have had to face them and fight them. I became strong because I had to fight.

I returned to this world five weeks before the war began on Earth, but in the spaces above the Earth, war was already declared. People on Earth have long been accumulating strength for this slaughter, and at this time creatures over the Earth were also preparing and arming. In the eyes of the demons that met me on the way (and they were demons), the celebration glowed.

The seeds of anger were sown in the heart of Austria and nurtured by those who felt that the harvest was near.

You understand, of course, that good and evil coexist in the human ego. The forces of good and evil complement each other. They have their own form, they have their own egos. And their focus on their work could shame even the greatest geniuses among people.

But they too, consciously or unconsciously, serve that Cosmic Will whose designs we call the Will of God.

I have learned a great deal since I entertained you with my stories of the newly-reposed, who peacefully rested in a quiet environment and who passed into the astral world naturally, as into the next room. But recently, millions of souls have begun to enter them — shocked, torn, skewed, crippled by their own hatred and the hatred of those who yearned for their death.

Those who have died in the last eight months, even with their own death, can only be regretted. They all had to go through the area of suffering - those who could go through it at all, because many remained below and now circle in the same whirlpool with those who were killed in the war.

If I did not have the great purpose and consciousness of the greatness of my mission, which is to reveal the secrets of the Other World to people right now, I would never torment your feelings with retellings of everything that I have seen and done after I returned from a journey among the stars.

May you be comforted (if you need comfort) by my assurance that the race is now going through a ritual of initiation. Those who have served with unselfish enthusiasm and have given their lives to their service will one day reincarnate again to reap the fruits of their service on earth. But not all of the dead were enthusiastic. Many people hate for the sake of hate. These are the losers who have not passed the test.

Empathize with them if you want, but it’s best not to think about them at all. They became the voluntary victims of demons, the very ones who blocked my path when I, obeying orders, returned to Earth to learn the secrets of love and hatred.

Love! Yes, this war has given rise to more love than the entire preceding two thousand years of the Christian era. Since the human race has finally awakened, and to keep it from falling asleep again, I am once more trying to break through the wall that separates you from me.

Letter 2 

Guard of the threshold

6 March 1915 

One of the demons seemed to me superior to the others. And he didn’t look like the others, even more self-centered.

When we turned against each other, I started a conversation with him, partly to satisfy my curiosity, partly to lull his vigilance.

- Who are you? - I asked him. - You seem to be the main among their kind.

He stood up proudly.

“I am the boss,” he replied, “here and on Earth.

- And on Earth too? - I was surprised.

"Yes, on Earth too," was the answer. "Because I am the deep essence of a man who is great among people, and this man obeys my will just as everyone else obeys his will.

Having said this, he gave me the name of a man who surprised me, but I will not repeat it here.

"If you are the evil genius of a man who is still alive," I asked then, "how can you act on your own here now, as if you were a separate being?" Why aren't you with him?

“You don’t know everything,” he told me.

"I don't know much," I agreed, "so explain it to me if you can; I want to know.

“Well, then,” he solemnly declared, “I was able to free myself from the earthly form that had fettered me when he recognized me as his mentor and began to worship me as his genius.

Did he let you go? he asked.

He freed me by recognizing me as his leader. He knows even less than you do, and so he calls me by a name I despise. But as long as I'm king, I don't care. Or almost indifferent, he recovered, but you do not understand it, it is too difficult for you!

"But I'm not as simple as you think," I objected, "and I've met people like you before.

Like me, maybe, but not like me. I am the king over spirits.

“I could make out your crown,” I said. “I have seen crowns like it more than once before.”

During this conversation the Master stood silently by his side, but now I turned to him with a mute question.

He took me aside a little bit and said,

When a person exalts himself too much, he thereby frees the demon sitting in him. Usually it seems to such a person that he has subdued the demon and sends him with instructions through the Invisible World; but in fact the demon commands him, and the desires of a person become nothing more than a reflection of the orders of the demon.

“And I had to see this hellish spectacle for myself to learn this lesson!” I exclaimed.

"What you had to learn in one way or another, whether by yourself or with my help, you can now learn from your own experience," said the Master. "Look, you have already seen with your own eyes the evil genius of the great ruler.

He is very strong, I admit.

“And his strength will continue to grow for a while,” said the Master, “and then he will go to Gehenna.

- And when will that happen?

“After the war ends here, peace will reign on Earth again. But first the war must end here, and then peace will return to Earth.

What kind of war will it be? he asked.

"The greatest war of all time," replied the Master, "is the greatest that has ever occurred here and on Earth.

- When does it start?

As you can see, it has already begun. And if you weren't so far away, you would have known about it a long time ago.

“I was really too far away,” I agreed, “the angel showed me many stars, and I learned a lot.

“The angel wanted to keep you away from the world so that you could gain strength and rest properly, and now he could not only study, but also work.

- What should I do? - I asked again.

“Many things,” the answer followed, “but first you must make your way through the Astral World to Earth to help your European friends who are in danger.

I'll just say it's a lot easier to cross the Hellespont than it is to get through the devils, but I did it. A year ago, I might not have succeeded, because the forces of good were then much weaker than they are now. Good and evil, like the sea, have their own tides and ebbs. It was a time for evil.

One of my friends, who was in danger, I was able to save, while the other was, as I was convinced, out of danger.

But back to the sea of hate. Overcoming it, I was completely exhausted, but then the Beautiful Being appeared, who had served me as a guide for so long in the recent past, and whispered something in my ear. It was trying to boost my ambition.

“You can become a chronicler of this great battle,” said the Thing, “of course, if you can get to Earth.

Don't be confused by the word "honesty." Ambition is different, and if this word means a sincere desire to personally participate in the noble work of service, it is not so important whether we call it ambition, or otherwise, the main thing is that love stands behind it.

Letter 3 

Notification

10 March 1915 

I want you to know this right now, at the very beginning of our work: a month ago, the Forces of Good prevailed over the Forces of Evil, so that the end of the war is already predetermined here. The forces set in motion will exhaust themselves and the world will return to Earth.

Letter 4 

Path to Understanding

13 March 1915 

Before I begin to describe the new horrors, I would like to inform you that out of all these nightmares, beauty will eventually arise, something the world has not known for the entire cycle of its existence.

It will not appear immediately, as much more will have to be done; but for those who want to go to it, the path is already open.

This statement will seem ridiculous to mankind, which has not yet been reborn spiritually, especially now, during the war, when each of the belligerents loudly declares his right, calling curses on the heads of his opponents. But, as is the case in all conflicts, both sides are wrong, although one is still less wrong than the other. And the side that wins — and the less wrong side wins — will have to understand and forgive its opponent before continuing on to its great future.

Although international organizations are now suffering a temporary fiasco, I still foresee that they have a great future ahead of them. Now they are simply in a state of shock, all these pacifists, socialists and others, striving to achieve the ideal of the Universal Brotherhood.

Even now, despite the state of conflict, try to extend your understanding and your love to the people you consider your enemy. And don’t try to reach an understanding just by repeating that he is carrying evil with him. It's not understanding yet. There is evil in every person. Try to understand this people, presenting yourself for a while as a part of it. Put yourself in the place of these people: imagine that you are alone — even through your own fault — against the whole world.

(You have strayed a bit from the truth, thinking that you would never find yourself in a position where the whole world would have to turn against you in self-defense. Are you sure about that?)

By trying to penetrate the consciousness of this “hostile” people, you are already putting yourself in a similar position. And I advise you to do this from time to time, so that you can become the center, the beginning, the first tiny part of that international understanding and forgiveness, which must become, if not universal, then at least widespread, so that the eternally proclaimed, but never properly understood Universal Brotherhood can at least begin to manifest itself in this not at all fraternal world.

If all these masses of warring people, who for a long time sincerely believed that they were following this ideal of brotherhood, try now to make peace with each other, if they learn to respect other people's ideals, no matter how different they may be from their own, then already now a force can appear that can bring the end of the war and reduce the number of people who are destined to die because of opposition to their ideals of national pride and patriotism.

A return from hatred to love and from criticism to the understanding that will follow the official declaration of peace will allow all conflicting spiritual communities (if they want to) to act in harmony with each other. Even if the members of these communities cannot decide to do so at once because of their narrow-minded pride and inability to forget all the sharpnesses that they exchanged in the past; if they find themselves too cowardly to take back their former words and publicly recognize each other as brothers, then at least in their hearts they will begin to think differently. And maybe over time they will have more courage, and some determined leader will declare to his flock that those people with whom they once cooperated in all trust and love may be trying to follow the same ideals, but only in their own way.

I don’t think that further coverage of this topic will contribute to a better understanding of it, so all these comments can be interpreted simply as a prelude, an easy introduction to the difficult story that I am going to tell you.

Letter 5 

The Astral Monsters

15 March 1915 

Did you know that I was with you when you sailed across the North Sea two weeks before the declaration of war? You were on your way to England, obeying an overwhelming impulse that forced you to leave the European continent to be with people of your blood. And I was there for you.

But when you were safe, surrounded by your friends, I left. I returned to the epicenter where the war was about to break out, to the country where, despite all the assurances to the contrary, an egg was hatched, which was laid much further south of that country by an irresponsible bird.

Did I say irresponsible? But only a madman can not be responsible for his actions. It would be more correct to say “lost”, because crazy are far from lost souls. The hand that killed the Archduke of Austria (and not only her) was just fulfilling the will of the forces opposing progress. This person can also be regretted, because the Law of Cause and Effect will inevitably compensate him for what he did, because there is no personal acceptance in this court and there is no opportunity to appeal to higher authorities.

I went back to Germany. In this story, I'll have to call things by their names. And if I offend anyone’s feelings, know that I had no such intention in my thoughts. But facts are stubborn, and no plausible pretext can change them.

I went back to Germany. I was invisibly present at the military councils. I have heard orders given, because I can hear quite clearly what is said in the world of people, if I strain my astral hearing. My astral body is a well-adjusted, though very fine mechanism, responding to the slightest effort of my will.

But do not hastily conclude that all astral bodies are as perfect as mine. Do not forget that I am a disciple of the Great Teacher, and that his purposes are not His purposes, but the Law of Evolution to which He serves.

I saw again the monster I wrote to you about in my second letter. Those who say that the German emperor hesitated for a long time before pressing the spring that opens the gates of hell are right. The God of War was proud to be regarded as the God of Peace. Although the responsibility that had fallen on his shoulders frightened him, it also pleased him, because it further elevated an ego that already thought far too highly of itself.

Be sorry for him, but be very forgiving. Will is free. If he has submitted his will to an evil genius, he has done so voluntarily. But that night his eyes were clouded with tears, and he prayed to the power he called God. God’s name was not only on his lips, but also in his heart. God’s Word is understood differently.

In this conclave of evil spirits were those who were not associated with any individual person. Among them were huge elemental creatures. When Lytton wrote in one of his occult novels about a giant foot that stepped through a gap in the magic circle drawn by a black magician in a place where the foot of man had not yet stepped, he meant a phenomenon occurring in nature.

Nature! You, with your limited horizons, do not even realize the true meaning of this term. All your sciences have not yet been able to master even the alphabet of Nature. Learn this alphabet. Begin to understand her language. Study chemistry, biology, electricity, discover the secrets of the vibration of matter at all those levels that are able to cover your consciousness. They have a knowledge of the future. Man is just beginning to understand the secrets of nature.

Every manifestation of hatred you see in your material world is only a faint echo of the hatred that was unleashed on Earth last year when the appointed hour struck — the hour when the orbits of several planetary bodies joined together and thereby gave greater freedom to beings, usually much more constrained in their actions.

A giant foot! I've seen the huge creature that owns it. His element was the air, but with him were also earthly beings, and even monsters from deep layers of matter, where the light of the sun never penetrates.

Can you describe one of these creatures? Now you can no longer be afraid of it, because it is placed back in its lair in the bowels of the planet. Rough, bluish, bag-like body with a thick, long tail, bristle-covered process, arms and legs, similar to the continuation of the same bag, and a huge head half ingrown into the folds of an ugly neck. But eyes! There was not even a hint of any living substance. They were wide and round, and they sparkled the malice that had accumulated for thousands of years and now all gathered in these pale eyes. You think evil should have black eyes, but it's even scarier when they're pale. Unimagined suffering and hatred for everything that is above it was read in the eyes of this being living in the depths of matter. From the very bottom of the astral level, it spit with its poisonous saliva, trying to get to the surface of the Earth. A huge monster with a shapeless and toothless mouth. I dare not tell you what is the food for this paste.

Again, don’t be afraid of him. It will no longer be able to reach the surface of the Earth. His life is coming to an end. But the controversy of astral sickness, ejected from the formless mouth of the monster, continues to multiply, despite all the efforts of those who know how to cope with such things.

Air creatures never look so disgusting, no matter how evil they are. In addition, very few of them are really evil (compared to the number of those who are friendly or indifferent to a person).

However, the most vengeful of the fire creatures can still manifest themselves, still continuing to make sporadic efforts, although in the invisible realms the great battle has already been won.

Try not to do anything yet, for in addition to military danger, Europe is still threatened by another. Wait and pray. After all, prayer is a spiritual force that reaches the highest limits of the Astral World, and therefore always has far-reaching results.

Letter 6 

Archduke

17 March 1915 

Have you ever thought about the post-mortem experiences of a man whose murder predetermined the beginning of this war? Of course not; but I thought about it: I looked for it and found it.

He was sought by others — the souls of the dead and the astral souls of those who fell asleep on Earth.

Indeed, his departure was not calm either in the flesh or in the spirit.

Even if we do not take into account the shock caused by violent death, the very threat of an assassination, which for a long time hung over him like a black cloud, already predetermined the gloomy and restless band that awaited him after death. This is another illustration of the law that sooner or later, what we fear most happens to us.

At first, he was in the dark in a state of half-dream, similar to a vague nightmare; then his consciousness gradually began to clear up, and with the clarification began to return pain and emotional anguish. Finally, there came a terrible moment when he remembered that he had lost his body, and began to look for it.

The spectacle of his own funeral impressed him much more than most other souls, for the enlightenment that had begun after his death had already made him realize that the change he had undergone meant more than personal death.

The forces of evil that orchestrated his death no longer attacked him. What else could they get from him? It has served their purpose enough.

If there were someone else nearby whose murder would cause as much confusion, suspicion, and misunderstanding, perhaps that person would suffer instead. But whose other murder could exceed his own by these standards? What is the reason that this unenviable lot fell on him? What was Tom’s fault? His ties to the German emperor, his family’s ties to those he personally did not like, the current heir’s relationship with Russia — all of this, and many other sources of error, doubt, and delusion, made him an ideal target for this confusion.

And his soul had to experience this confusion, to which was added also disappointment and bitterness due to the fact that he had to leave this world so unexpectedly. A significant role was played by concern for their children, who found themselves in a very difficult situation, given their family environment.

Imagine that every man, every woman and even every child, on learning of this event, immediately began thinking—with indignation, love, pity, doubt or curiosity—about the same soul; almost every person in almost every country in the world! That was more than enough to destroy his astral body completely.

Usually, when a ruler dies, he is accompanied by thinking about him with love or, conversely, with dislike, but rarely the death of the ruler is doubtful. His race continues on its way. "The king is dead, long live the king!"

For some time, this heir to the great throne was separated even from his friend, whom he loved. And he had no one to lean on. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts - thoughts of varying intensity fell on him from all sides, exhausted and tormented him.

Even prayers to alleviate the suffering of his soul in Purgatory did not produce the result that prayer usually has. They were just drowning in a huge stream of thoughts rushing towards him. Yes, I said, "to meet him," because he had to stay for a long time in the path of this hurricane of thoughts.

Even the many helpers I mentioned when I wrote for your world last time could do little to help him, since they themselves had to repel the attacks of evil beings who started the war in the Astral World.

As a rule, the death of one person can not make a great impression on the whole world. Those who loved him mourn; those who did not love and received some benefit from his death rejoice. This man went into the other world, carrying in his disembodied hand the torch of war.

After some time he began to look for his friend, the ruler of Germany, and found him, but he could not see him, although he felt his presence in his room. He was a little scared. “Who could it be?” he thought. Maybe it's his own angel. So isn't he here to remind him that the hour of his "great destiny" is near? He was ashamed of his doubts as weakness; and the determination of his strength, his evil self, eventually prevailed over weakness, and preparations for war continued.

The Archduke’s soul was too embarrassed to influence the course of events in any way. He was a strong man and could become strong again, but just when he could take advantage of his invisible influence, he did nothing; he kept trying to become visible, and at least once he succeeded.

Yes, I spoke to him, tried to give him advice; but I had other urgent matters then, and I left him in the care of one priest belonging to his own church. It was a kind and strong soul, like a rock towering over a raging sea.

I mention my meeting with the Archduke only for the sake of one lady who will read these lines someday. I don’t think I can fully comfort her, but she will be happy to learn about a calm and courageous priest, and I can finally fulfill the promise I made, because there seems to be no other way to fulfill it.

Letter 7 

"The Chosen People"

24 March 1915 

The nations began to declare war on each other. I and twenty other souls spent several hours in the Potsdam Palace, trying to weaken the wave of militant spirit that was coming to the emperor from the side of the German nation. We said that Germany does not want war!

It seemed that the “der Tag” was already close and that the war was still triumphant.

There is no need to speak now of Germany's assurance that England will not be able to enter this war. If England had not entered the war, the matter would have been decided long before I began to dictate these lines to you. The German Navy would have fought the French and destroyed it.

(It would be great if you stopped being scared every time I said something you didn’t like. I say what I know, and you just write what I tell you.

I and twenty others have concentrated my will on Potsdam and Friedrichstrasse. Not because we didn’t know what the outcome would be. We knew ― This war was made by the stars. But just as a soldier does his duty, even if he knows he cannot stand it, so we continued to do our part in resisting the devils of war.

The greatest of the Masters was not with us then; where He was I do not know. Maybe he had reasons we just couldn’t understand. Maybe He had to restrain even more terrible forces that sought to Earth from distant stars.

No, it's not a fantasy, though it's just an assumption. There is good and evil in the stars. And if it were not for the restraining influence of those who watched everything from here on out, many foreigners in Germany would have been just torn to pieces at the time.

What do you know about military madness, about the madness of hatred? If you were familiar with this feeling now, in your present incarnation, you would never be able to write under my dictation, especially since almost all those whom you love and respect are on the same side of this still ongoing war. You can imagine hatred by the effort of the mind, or you can stage it; but you do not feel it, although you suffer because of its manifestations.

The worst thing about the German heart is really looking very unsightly, although I urge you not to hate them. Everyone has their own negative traits, but the German is the biggest bully on the planet. The ferocious Eastern races still have some restraint, developed in them by centuries-old culture. The German is restrained only by the German Law; he recognizes only the restraining force of this German Law.

He has no sense of justice or injustice in general, although he tends to feel very subtly what is right and what is wrong with his fellow man, his relatives and fellow citizens. But all those who find themselves outside his own racial group fall out of his code of honor, however well-bred this individual German may be.

I am speaking now of a race, not of those few who, through their long stay abroad, have absorbed some of the ideas of universal brotherhood and have succeeded in developing a sense of the interconnectedness of all peoples.

And here's what I'll tell you: a German can love as sincerely as he can hate, but he can love only his own - something that would be an extension of himself, his second self, himself, but only in a slightly different form. A German can love his foreign wife if he "Germanizes" her. A German can love his foreign friend if he does not stand in his way to what he wants to own.

I am not talking here about the momentary outbursts of emotion to which these emotional people are exposed. Nor do I speak of their outward goodness, the result of an excess of feelings.

And yet I tell you: love these people, however unpleasant they may seem at first; love them so that they depart from their racial egoism and open their souls to everything not Germanic. The world can never break the shell into which the Germans have trapped themselves if they throw stones at them. Even after losing this war, they will not become more pleasant people because they will be weaker. Try to love them not through pity, but through understanding.

It will be decades before the arrogant, self-loving German will see that beyond his shell there are things even better than those he has created for himself within it. He only respects strength. The force must hold him back. But from his forced adoration of superior power he can gradually pass to the recognition of kindness, which does not use force for coercion, when it is enough for itself.

Since the beginning of the war I have visited many German homes, I have entered them myself, becoming for a time German men and women, and I have learned to understand and love them. I even began to admire them, because their devotion to everything German is boundless. Direct this power to the realization of the idea of a true brotherhood of all people, and this people will become truly great. Is that possible? Nothing is impossible for the human soul, and this people is very human.

The main problem is the viciousness of their education system. They claim to be the chosen people. When this war convinces them that they are not the chosen people, the very force of disappointment can overturn the pillar of egocentrism erected in the center of the German soul. However, the world will not allow this pillar with a crash to fall down, but will try to soften the fall slightly, namely, slightly, so that mercy is not mistaken for fatigue from war.

Mother Earth has a restless and naughty child. He should be punished, but he should not be deprived of his place at the family table.

I have told you all this to test your resilience, for in the next letter I am going to tell you something that will require you to be even more courageous and merciful, another name for which is love.

Letter 8 

Ghosts of Congo

27 March 1915 

I have been to Poland, I have been to Serbia; but now I want to write about Belgium and about Karma — the karma of race, the karma of old and new.

Behind the entire German invasion are not only the devils of the outside world, whose time has come, who encourage the Germans to kill, rob, destroy, rape and burn; together with the German army, a crowd of underdeveloped earthly spirits, previously suffering in the Congo, moves. Karma is Karma!

The world knows something about what happened in Belgium, what the Germans did there. I've seen cold-blooded men, women, and even little children. I witnessed the soul of a murdered man trying to drag away a soldier who raped his wife. I saw my mother’s soul, believing that she was still on Earth, wringing her hands in despair, a mother who was already watching from this world, as her little daughter was being bullied by her blinded cattle. And one old man who came here pursued the soldier for several days, until he finally got on the Belgian bayonet; and when the German soul separated from the body, the old man, not satisfied with this revenge, again quarreled with the German soul, and they tore each other apart. The German did not even have time to understand that he had died, and believed that he continued to fight the enemy on Earth.

There are many things in the Congo that we call the word voodoo. Those who practice voodoo do not sleep for long. But they are active in the invisible world, preparing their evil deeds and plotting. They gather around the spilled blood and absorb the life force from it, which is then used to sow evil and death where their will is directed.

Did you think that a person’s will weakens when they turn off their brain? It really weakens in the sense that freedom of choice is diminished; but if the choice is already made, the will reaches great strength when the physical basis of the brain is completely subordinated to it.

But now Belgium has already experienced its heavy karma and is now standing, as a completely renewed soul, before the face of time. Now another race has picked up the load it dropped from its shoulders. Will she be able to get rid of him sooner or later? Germany has built a net of her own for unfavorable reasons, and now the net has entangled her flesh tightly to torment her for generations. "Temptations must come; but woe to him through whom they come."

The Karma of the nations is known to the Masters and Adepts.

Karma of England! Have you ever thought about the karma of England? It certainly made many mistakes, like all other ancient nations, but still remains an instrument of the World Will. It, more than all other ancient races, serves the cause of uniting the human races. Did you think that the British Empire was just a random combination of atoms? Did you think the British Empire was an accident?

And this time the British Empire will probably have an important role to play. Belgium may need your help. And I am not just referring to the presence of the British army in Belgium.

It is known that the Masters of the World restrain the bad karma of mankind. And I, too, am trying to do my modest part in containing Germany’s bad karma.

In Belgium, she disgraced the human race. All that is said about the atrocities of the Germans in Belgium is true, except for one thing. As far as I know — and those who know much more than I do tell me — German soldiers did not cut off the hands of living Belgian children. But they did kill and rape women, mock pregnant women and bully young mothers, and kill their babies. They burned people alive and buried the wounded alive in the ground.

I'm saying the Germans did all these things. I do not know whether I should say that all this was done by evil forces, evil beings, superhuman or once-evil forces, who used the bodies of German soldiers as a tool for fulfilling their will, from which they threw out their true souls for a time?

Take it as you wish, because both explanations are correct. Not all those who plundered and ravaged Belgium were possessed by the forces of evil, unless, of course, one considers the very malice an obsession.

Help to contain the bad karma that Germany has created for itself in Belgium.

“You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who wrong you and persecute you; that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

Letter 9 

The Invisible Guard

29 March 1915 

In the part of Belgium devastated by the invasion — and most of Belgium is devastated — one small house remained as peaceful and undisturbed as before the war, surrounded by ruined walls, black with smoke and grey from the flames of explosions.

There were two middle-aged women. When the war came to their doorstep, they chose to stay. Of course, they were very scared, but still did not run away. They saw the neighboring houses burning, heard the shells bursting around; and yet, entrusting themselves to the protection of the thin walls of their house, they waited and prayed. They prayed to the four gods, God the Father, God the Son, and two others, their father and mother, who had gone into the other world a few years ago, their Belgian father and their German mother!

Their faith was so strong that they had no doubt that they would survive, and they survived. It may seem incredible, but their house remained intact among the ruins.

Love is a force that can save. The father and mother of these two older women loved each other dearly. And racial differences were not an obstacle to their love. This German woman and this Belgian man taught them to think that Germany was their mother and Belgium their father.

Their bones rest nearby in the churchyard of a village, and their souls have closely followed the progress of the German armies. They protected their children, whom they loved very much.

Sounds incredible, doesn't it? But I know it's a fact. I've met their father and mother, and I'll meet them again. These are people of rare faith and rare love, because they received such a rare award.

Saving a small house is much easier than moving mountains, but it is said that a faith the size of a mustard seed can move a mountain from its place.

These two souls have not yet left the realm of the Earth; they have decided to wait for their children. And when the war came, they stood like watchmen on the threshold of their house. The souls of those who died peacefully do not like the explosions of shells, but these two did not run away. If fear drove them from their post, this little house might look the same as its neighbors.

Am I too trusting? Remember when I told you years ago that you weren’t trusting enough? I see you remember.

The two men, a Belgian father and a German mother, were also gullible in the conventional sense of the word, and their children too. If nations believed in the power of love as they do, there would be no war, for there would be no armies to wage this war.

No, I am not calling for the disbanding of all armies, I am only calling for love and faith. The more faith and love there is, the fewer armies there will be, and wars will eventually disappear altogether.

I asked the Belgian father what he thought of the war, and he looked at his German wife; I asked the German mother what she thought of the war, and she looked at her Belgian husband. And neither of them said a word not to offend the feelings of the other.

Have you thought about how I would feel if my people were involved in this war? Now that the eyes of my memory have opened and I have seen my past lives and have learned that I have lived among many nations, fought in many armies, lay on the knees of many mothers from all over the world, my spirit has completely changed.

I have joined the great White Brotherhood, whose members regard all men as their brothers and all women as their sisters. It will be hard for you to see the world through my eyes. I just watch and wait, like the parents of those two Belgian old maids, and still the house of my faith stands intact, despite the raging fire of war.

In the great White Brotherhood there are representatives of different races, including those who are now waging war. Don't you think that they started to look at each other in a hard way because the world went crazy? Nothing like that happened. But each of them began to act where he could bring the greatest benefit. Everyone tried to soften the blow that fell to his brother’s brothers, and everyone tried to soften the hearts of his own brothers by blood. But as long as this war was destined to be fought by the stars, the Masters of Peace could not prevent it when its hour struck.

Do you know what it means to be a member of the Great White Brotherhood? It means working for the good of the human race, for the good of the planet as a whole.

And here's what I want to tell you. You've heard of the Black Brotherhood. But that's the wrong definition. Brotherhood cannot be black.

There is no Black Brotherhood. There are many black teachers, because teaching, like dressing, can be both white and black. In this war, the black forces that awaken cruelty in people pursued one common goal, which in itself limited their ability to do evil for a long time after their labors yielded the desired results.

You know what I'm talking about? By itself, the unification of the dark forces weakens the individual abilities of each of its members, since the main force of evil is in his individualism.

If two people work for love, they gain the power of four people, but if two people combine their efforts for evil, I would say that only one and a half people remain with them. And what is one and a half people against four? If you love power, use it for good purposes and multiply it.

Not unity, but the multiplicity of elementary evil forces, each of which tries to pour out its malice on the world, made this madness possible.

Hatred is a destructive force. Those who are imbued with this feeling, after the war, will destroy themselves. Those who have kept love in themselves will become even stronger after the war. France will be especially strong, because there is much more love in it than hatred. There is so much love in it that even enemies cannot hate it. And the point here is not only that it is not inherent in the brute force that distinguishes its powerful enemy.

Love your enemies. This is the surest way to defeat them.

Letter 10 

A day like a thousand years

29 March 1915 

As I write about the war, I cannot help but address those who lost loved ones during this war. You who mourn the untimely passing away, have you not read that one day will be like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

Let’s start with reincarnation, which is also called rhythm, and the course of which is immortality. Immortality implies the absence of a beginning and the impossibility of an end. The Spirit has always been and always will be. In the life of the spirit, one day may last as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

Birth is the morning of a new day, death is its evening. And the time between lives is the period of sleep when dreams come to us. You may well say the opposite: that life is a dream, and death is an awakening to reality. But the rhythm is not in doubt.

Immersion in sleep is the passage through the Astral World, similar to the path of the soul after death. You, who write these lines for me, and some other people are able to go down this path, being fully conscious. One day, all people will learn to consciously walk through it and then be able to restore their past memory.

You who mourn the dead, remember that our life is but one day for an immortal spirit. After all, you often had to part with those you love for one day, and this did not upset you at all. Your loved ones just leave the house, as they are waiting for other things, but you have no doubt that the next day you will meet them again. So why don’t you feel that in the next day of the soul, or in the next life (for Eternity it doesn’t matter), you can again greet those you love?

Friends will not necessarily meet in every life, especially if they are not very close. As in normal life, you meet each of your friends, usually no more than once a week, and in a longer life of the soul you do not have to meet with all of your friends every day. You can break up on Monday, but agree that you will definitely meet on Friday. Four days or four lives is not the same for eternity.

But with some people, you part only for a few hours - from morning to sunset, and in the evening you meet again in an intimate home environment. So those who have left you in the midst of the day of life may yet return to you at sunset; just as you may say that you will meet them at the end of this day of your soul, at the end of this life, they will be with you in the twilight of astral life and in the beautiful dream in Heaven that awaits you after it. Don't be sad. Love is patient and eventually takes its toll.

With some of your friends you may meet after two, four, or even seven lifetimes; but with those with whom you are really close, with those whom you love, who are really dear to you, you will meet again at sunset, or at least tomorrow - the next day of your soul, which will begin again on Earth.

How do you prepare for this meeting? Shouldn’t you be living all day in the joyful expectation that with the evening twilight your Love will return to you again? And as the sunset approaches, will you not put on the white robes of faith, your evening robes, and sit at the window waiting for your Love? Love will come. Can't you hear the sound of Her footsteps on the walkway outside the house, expecting to meet Her? Do you not hear the sound of the door opening? Come forward with a smile to your love. One day will be like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

I spoke to the soul of an English officer who had been killed while dragging his soldiers into an attack. His death was quick and painless. A shot in the heart, and he woke up after a short loss of consciousness, as it seemed to him, still at the head of the attack. But before him there was no longer an enemy, there was nothing but serene plains rising above the battlefield, for his spiritual upliftment was so strong — and he died cherishing in his heart the thought of his Love — that he immediately began to rise higher and higher into those spheres to which only Love can elevate a person.

Seeing no one in front of him, he stopped, looked around and saw me.

“My brother,” I told him, “your war is behind you.”

He knew right away. Those who have already lived for several weeks in Death's tents will immediately recognize her as she lifts her curtain.

- What about the attack? - he asked. - We won?

“Yes,” I replied, “the strength of your spirit helped you win.

“Then it’s all right,” came the reply.

“Take a little rest,” I said, “take a rest and talk to me.

- Have we ever met before? - He asked. - Your face seems familiar.

“My face is familiar to many of those who are fighting there now,” I said.

When you left, from there?

- Three years ago.

Then you can teach me a lot.

- Yeah, I think so. What would you like to know?

“I want to know if I can somehow calm the one for whom my death will be a huge grief?

Where is she now? he asked.

He told me where she lived.

- Come on, I said. - I'll go with you.

In England, in a tiny room with the same tiny crib, we saw a beautiful woman. In the bed lay a baby of four or five years. We could even distinguish between their voices: the mother and the child were talking to each other.

- When will Dad come back? - The boy asked.

“I don’t know,” my mother replied.

Dad's coming, isn't he, Mom? You know he's coming, right?

I pray he comes back soon.

That’s what my mother said to her son. The eyes of children at the time of transition to the twilight world, the world separating wakefulness from sleep, sometimes become surprisingly perceptive.

"Dad, Dad's back!" the little boy shouted joyfully and extended his arms to meet his father.

Her mother understood, and her face turned pale. But she was helped to cope with grief by the idea that her beloved came home and that their son sees him. I guess he'll stay with her until she can reunite with him. This delay will not slow down the progressive growth of his soul. Love is the fulfillment of the law. In eternity there is room for love and separation. In love, a thousand years pass as one day.

Letter 11 

Many languages

30 March 1915 

Learn languages. In this war, my actions are greatly hampered by my poor knowledge of the German language.

I can communicate with those who have been here for a long time simply with the help of thoughts, but those who have only recently come here continue to speak the language they spoke on Earth, and often this language is some local dialect. This is one of the reasons why my activity has been most successful mainly in the English army.

I can read the minds of the Germans and the French, but they don’t always understand me. The parents of those two Belgian women have been here for a long time, and that’s why we communicated with each other mentally.

Learn languages. When you have to live and act in this world, their knowledge may be even more useful to you than on Earth, for distances here are overcome with the speed of thought, and a person is able to transfer from one place to another in a blink of an eye.

Letter 12 

Beautiful creature

1 April 1915 

The angel we call the Beautiful Being, the one who accompanied me on my journey among the planets, wants to say a few words about Love and Hate. I think they can be called the expression of the mortal and immortal essence of man in the first days of the war.

Love and hate

“He whom I loved declared war on me, and the nations of the earth rose against each other. The green fields were stained with blood, and the voices of crickets in lush fields were not heard - they drowned in cries of pain and rage as people hurled their hatred at each other. And my heart became sadder than the winter sky over London. There seemed to be no more joy left on Earth, for love was dying and the world was dead and people were dying everywhere. "ME, ME, TEKEL, UPARSIN" was inscribed on the walls of the temple of man.

And I said to my heart, "Where did we go in the midst of the day of our life? Why are we waiting for sunset? After all, love is gone, and the whole world is gone, so aren’t we also gone then?”

And then, looking into the emptiness of my own faith, I heard a voice coming from the center of everything, and that voice said to me, “Take the pen and write, for to the one who has already lost everything, the treasures of the True Essence of man are revealed.

I am the True Being that you have forgotten when you were trying to find love in the outside world. I am the True Being that the nations forgot about when they set out to destroy each other. I am the Oneness, and my home is in all these hearts now filled with love and hate. And whenever they hurt one another, they hurt Me; when they doubt one another, they doubt Me; but when they love one another, they love Me. And there is no other way to understand Me except through love and hatred, through faith and doubt. Love and hate are two poles of the same magnet, and doubt and faith are my twin children.

He who has never doubted does not know what faith is; and he who has never hated cannot know what love is.

If there is no joy in my heart, I fill it with myself. Though on earth My people destroy one another, in heaven they still live in harmony. Freed from bodily blindness, they see each other in the true light.

Two soldiers went to war, and a bullet pierced the heart of the other. Their hatred was as intense as their love. But suddenly they were both in the darkness of death, their hands joined together and their hatred turned into its polar opposite, and they dissolved in love.

Two friends found themselves in hostile camps in this war, and with each wound they became closer to each other - the soul of each suffered, feeling the pain of the other, and neither in life nor in death could they escape from each other.

If you give up someone you loved, don't dare to hate him. Even if the mind is merciless, the soul is compassionate; even if the mind is weakened by doubt, the soul can be strong by its faith.

And even when the mind is inactive, the soul of the mind continues to be on guard, wiping tears from our eyes with its invisible hand.

If in a dream you cry, know that it is your soul crying, mourning for the tears that your enemies shed through your fault. When you wake up in the morning and your eyes are wet with tears, know that you are giving up your duty of love.

Be kind to those who love you, for love is like a helpless child: if you drive her out of your heart, she will wander orphanly alone.

Be kind to those who hate you, for their abandoned child wanders somewhere alone. When you sleep, send love to someone who hurts you day in and day out. And if you do not leave your hatred before going to bed, you will wake up in the morning with your eyes wet with tears.

I am the link. I am the True Being, whose home is in every heart. I hear everything, I stay in the dark. I am too big to be proud. For the sake of my fellow men, I know no peace.

How you have tried to make yourself hate, I am told the sadness of your hearts. But you couldn’t make yourself hate because your soul never sleeps.

I am the link, and my lamp never goes out.”

Letter 13 

The Body of Humanity

I have already said that when we stood in Potsdam Palace and Wilhelmstrasse, the greatest of the Masters was not with us.

You do not know the name by which we call him, and you do not need to know him. He has already left so far behind all the personal limitations of life, of the life you lead, that he is now able to observe it from the heights of the Planetary Logos. He can look at the restless and warring with each other earth creatures as you look through the microscope life of the simplest microorganisms. Amoebas, abscesses, fat cells — they all appear to Him as part of a huge Whole, and no matter how they fight each other, it still does not force Him to become a supporter of some at the expense of others.

And no assurance, endless statements and pompous prayers of the German emperor, still convinced that God is on his side just because it is his side, can make the Master even smile. Absurdity or tragedy - He does not care, unless they accelerate or delay the growth of the organism of Humanity.

If your consciousness can gain a true understanding of the One and the many, and not just perceive them as one of the philosophical theories, then you can realize that the Unity covers the whole set, even if it will be not only your friends, but also your enemies.

And here’s what you have to remember: to proclaim is to create. Proclaim and thereby create a brotherhood. But do not proclaim it too persistently, otherwise you will very quickly reach the climax of the permissible rhythm and, according to the Law of counteraction, you will get something opposite.

The greatest of the Masters did not tell us, as it seemed to us, anything new when the formidable pre-war clouds began to thicken on the horizon.

We, whose knowledge is limited, have tried to take on the role of doctors seeking to bring down the heat burning the cells of the Big Man — Humanity. We can say that we prescribed mental treatment to him in order to speed up the healing process.

The astral forces we were struggling with were carried in the air like disease-causing microbes. From the point of view of the great Master, they were nothing more than infusoria, which you can only see through a microscope.

And if you want to understand Him and help Him in His work, set your vision in harmony with Eternity and with time. But do not consider your own work insignificant because it has a limited character: it is only an illusion that from the point of view of the higher it seems insignificant.

How else can a person become a Teacher himself, but not thanks to this work, on which the health of the entire planetary organism depends? The ideal health of the body is possible only under the condition of the perfect operation of each of its cells.

Now let me tell you what caused this war. It is time for humanity to embrace the idea of brotherhood in order to prepare for the emergence of a new Race that is not far off. But instead, the sense of alienation has become more and more intense, although the material discoveries and innovations of the last century have already made brotherhood quite attainable in the material world.

In this internecine war, the rhythm of alienation has reached its climax. Without this war, the achievement of brotherhood among men would have been delayed for a long time because of man's unwillingness to achieve emotional harmony with the Law, the effect of which had already been demonstrated to him in the physical world.

In other words, the body began to grow faster than the soul, and the soul had to suffer with the body; the soul had to be torn apart so that it could heal itself with its own power - the power of love.

I have said that you should not be too active in bringing the rhythm of the brotherhood to its climax. This warning is true for all rhythmic waves. The Germans wanted to be the ruling race on Earth. But they claimed their superiority so actively that they got something completely opposite to what they wanted. Claim it, but wisely.

They could well become leaders of a new spirit, the spirit of Unity. But they failed in this task and missed the opportunity given to them. The Germans living in the United States could become a link between the United States and Germany. But look at what they have become!

Teachers therefore did not allow Germany to acquire its own large colonies, that its excess population could in this case be scattered around the Earth and mixed with other races. German blood had to be mixed. Its increased activity in the material sphere could in this case have an impact on the whole world.

But instead, Germany began to revel in its own greatness. It hastened the reaching of a climax of rhythm that could otherwise carry it steadily forward. It was her karmic failure.

Races are like the organs of the human body. If a race refuses to act in harmony with and for the body of Humanity and thus for itself, it becomes ill.

But even now, if Germany turns her face to Higher Unity and worships the One System rather than her little racial god, she will be able to regain her lost position by going through a period of suffering and initiation. Will she succeed?

We'll wait and see. Help, like the Masters, to restrain the bad karma of this race.

Letter 14 

The Internal Enemy

3 April 1915 

You can do much more than just write down everything I tell you about brotherhood. Without sparing yourself, you must help the world to be aware of this idea, pointing the true way to both individuals and masses of people.

Universal Brotherhood! How beautiful those words sound! Thousands of mouths repeated them for the sake of their musicality, while their true meaning was never revealed to their mind or heart.

The Universal Brotherhood is not simply a fraternal relationship among all units of the Many. Universal Brotherhood is also their unity, conscious and real, One Being. The Universal Brotherhood is the return of the Many to Oneness and the feeling of joy from this return.

You often repeat the ancient Hindu word, spell, mantra, AUM, repeat like parrots; but if you understood the meaning of the word AUM, I would not have to preach to you now the idea of brotherhood, and by the word "you" I mean all the men and women who speak of Universal Brotherhood.

A-U-M is the One, Multiple and existing unity between them: the Essential, the Non-essential and the Denial of Separation. AUM is a seed, a plant and its aroma.

Why do you think you came into this world?

You have certainly heard of Mulaprakriti, you Theosophists. Mulaprakriti is the root of nature. You have heard of the three Gunas or qualities of Mulaprakriti — sattva, rajas, tamas. Sattva is light, being, peace; rajas is action, passion, aspiration; tamas is darkness, inertia, denial.

Many of you have heard of Christ, Lucifer, Ahriman, the same sattva, rajas, and tamas, but under different names.

You Kabbalists have heard of the Wrath, the Ruach, the Nephesh — the pursuit, the individual mind, the materiality.

You have all heard of Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, the Guardian, the Creator, the Destroyer. Yes, this must be the true order, for Vishnu preserves in every kalpa, and Brahma recreates.

Krishna (Vishnu) says in the Bhagavad-gita, "I am the real Being who dwells in the hearts of all beings."

He is the One and at the same time the Many, for He abides in the many, and the many abide in Him. Krsna cannot be realized except as the True Being who resides in the heart of every being. It is impossible to understand Christ without seeing Him in the hearts of all beings.

Yes, you can fight each other and call it hate or war; that is separation.

Separation is necessary at a certain stage of evolution so that the ego can realize its independence; but the time has come for the race to return back to its Source, to the Oneness, to the Atma that is present in every human being.

I've learned a lot since I broke up with you two years ago. On Earth, I was far from speaking incessantly of the Universal Brotherhood. I wanted to achieve an “unique personality.” Well, I've got it. During my two-year journey among the planets, and not only the planets, I found the power I was looking for; but I also found something else — LOVE, the greatest power in the world.

Brotherhood is LOVE, that is why I preach it. Individuality can also be achieved through hate, but it will not be the same “unique individuality”.

Don’t be afraid to lose your own self. As long as you are able to love someone else besides yourself, the loss of individuality is not in danger. To love something else is to affirm your own individuality.

To love only one’s own separate self means to lose one’s individuality, for it can manifest itself only in relation to other independent personalities. When you are alone in the universe, you can be either nothing or ALL, but you cannot become ALL except through oneness with all, and that union is LOVE.

Revolt as you wish, but by this very rebellion against the others, you already recognize their equality with you, acknowledge their existence, and behind this coexistence is the Oneness, Krsna, the “True Being in the hearts of all beings.”

You may be shocked by what I tell you, but this war, from our point of view, looks like a silly childishness.

War could have been noble many, many years ago, when humanity was just getting on its feet and it needed to feel its individuality, but over time the war becomes not only unnecessary, but even stupid.

I don’t joke about serious things. I know much better than you how serious this war is, because I can observe it on both planes.

The war between the forces of good and evil cannot be called stupid. In the heart of man this war will continue for a very long time, aeon after aeon; but the day has come when man has declared war on the evil that nests in himself, leaving other people to fight against the evil that lies in them. The sword of Mars, the god of war, will not begin to rust until Mars, imprisoned in a man, ceases to fight the forces of darkness hiding in the same man.

I have seen the incarnations of the prisoner in a man of evil, see his objective forms, and I can assure you that this enemy deserves to draw his sword against him. In each of you there is an enemy worthy of you calling him to a fight.

But every person also has a True Being, a divine nature, Christ, Krsna, which is in the heart of every being.

I want to tell you something I saw with my own eyes.

In one battle in France, two soldiers stabbed each other with bayonets. In each of them sat the devil with his soul. They were not ordinary people. I've seen these two devils, these two "guardians of the threshold," these two "elementals of desire," call them whatever you want. Do you think that they immediately attacked each other and continued fighting? Nothing like that. Each of them has attacked his own soul. They were not interested in each other at all: they could not give anything to each other and could not take anything from each other - these devils, "threshold guards", elementals.

You know what I'm talking about? Your enemy is hiding inside you.

The one you fight in the outside world is your brother. Love him with brotherly love, and your devil will begin to weaken, and your angel, on the contrary, will become stronger.

Your angel is a derivative of Atma, Christ, Krsna, who dwells in you. It is the same Atma, the same Christ and the same Krishna as in your brother.

All devils are individual. All angels, by contrast, are similar, though some may be stronger and more experienced than others.

Seek Christ within yourselves so that he may manifest with a wave of great joy in each person.

That's what I'd like to tell the world this evening on the eve of Easter.

Letter 15 

Heard in Brussels

No, don't think I started writing essays. I'm writing letters. So let me be as inconsistent in my presentation as I please. Moreover, at the end of my work, you can make sure that the building is still built according to plan and every detail is in its place.

Having philosophized in the previous letter, I want to tell you one story.

When the German army passed through the conquered Brussels (and this continued, I remember quite clearly, for three days - an endless gray-green stream of people, on whose countless helmets the light of the sun and the lanterns alternately reflected), I stood once for an hour on one balcony, trying to read the thoughts of people who passed by me.

As I have explained to you before, I can read Germans’ thoughts without difficulty; it is only when I try to explain something to them that I often encounter difficulties.

The flow of people and the flow of thoughts, and every person in it is a wave, and every thought is a wave!

Here are a few thoughts that caught my attention:

“What a beautiful city this Brussels!”

"How his feet are tingling. “It’s a scary shoe!”

"This tree is like growing in my house."

"Mom's probably making coffee right now."

"A cute girl is one who carries bread in a basket!"

"Gretchen's probably going to be talking to Hans more now that I'm not home."

"That gate on the left is the one on the postcard Marie sent me last year."

"How his feet are tingling. What an uncomfortable pair of boots!”

“This is Brussels! I always wanted to be here.”

“How my head hurts!”

«Deutschland uber Alles! Deutschland uber Alles!»

"I wonder if the lieutenant paid his tailor."

"How hot it is!"

"Is my father doing something now?"

“Let’s have a beer!”

“It’s good that we don’t have to destroy this Brussels!”

"And yet, what's all this war for?"

"Homeland! Homeland!"

"I wonder what's going to be for dinner tonight?"

"I wish I knew where we were going."

"It's not as good as Unter den Linden."

"When we get to Paris, we'll have to look at Venus de Milo."

“How my head hurts!”

“My baby has teeth!”

"I'd rather have dinner!"

And so on without end, and the gray-green river all flowed through the streets of Brussels.

And they were the people who would start killing, robbing, burning and raping a little later, and then killing, robbing and burning again! And many of them have been doing it for a long time — these tired people with their empty, not at all militant thoughts — banal soldier thoughts — about the house, about food, about their sick legs, about Marie postcards sent last year, or about coffee, which mom cooks!

What power turned them into devils? What law made them animals, even making them forget about their fatigue? The roar of the battle pipe? Or some other devil who stood behind the devil who blew that pipe? Was it the evil spirit of the nation, or just the spirit of war?

All of this was present, together.

Perhaps when they first began their march they thought of glory and hatred, of life, death and honor; but their march dragged on, and their thoughts became as primitive as those of old men tired of life.

But what's all this for? What force pushed them forward? Some of them killed defenseless inhabitants and helpless children, dishonored nuns and innocent girls, in battle chased old men and women in front of them, using them as a shield from enemy bullets.

What awakened the devil in them? Your friend was right when he said that the war tube is just the tool that is able to wake up the demon sleeping in the human chest. He also says that, along with the sounds of a battle trumpet, demonic forces can penetrate our world from the outside and then inhabit humans. And he's right about that, too.

He says it brings an element of fire to the soul. Absolutely right! Fire is an element of destruction, which purifies by destruction all that it cannot resist. The fire in the soul, the fire in the nerves, the fire spewed by the barrel of a rifle, and the death that fire brings to everything that comes in its way!

For many days I had to listen to the deafening noise with which Germany is trying to instill hell in the hearts of its soldiers. Yesterday, I had him ringing in my ears all day.

Why are you shuddering? Have you not yet become accustomed to the idea that I can travel everywhere, instantly flying from European hell to New York purgatory? Yes, the New York Germans are now in purgatory, for they understand that their cause is doomed. Purgatory is for cleaning. Let us hope that in their hearts it will fulfill its purpose. I don't think it's cruel, on the contrary, it's a blessing. I love the Germans, just like any other race. Just like you, at the bottom of your heart.

Yes, I was the one who urged you to go to the German doctor, and I must say that I managed to do it without much difficulty. I just wanted to show you how kind a German must be. And there are many such people among this suffering nation in hell.

You have to understand that this is hell entering into a person, not a person descending into hell. Have you ever heard that man is a microcosm of Macrocosm? Each of those tired grey-green soldiers I saw marching through Brussels was big enough to contain both hell and heaven and the spirit world. Each of them often felt Heaven in himself, when he listened to the tunes of his music teachers. But when the trumpet began to sound and hatred and the desire to kill were aroused in them, then hell settled in them.

Many times I have tried to keep German soldiers from doing shameful things with their hands too thin.

Once in Namur I managed to keep a young man from acting, who could deprive him of self-respect for the rest of his days, and he lived after this incident only twenty-one days. He was a good guy, but the devil woke up in him, like everyone else. He had a very high sensitivity, so I managed to make him feel the restraining power of my hands. He thought it was the hands of his late grandfather, who had died a year earlier. What did he do? He spared his victim.

(Well, try to find Namur on the map, since you so want! It should be in its place, where it always is. I care little about your knowledge of the geography of Belgium, but the fact that you have returned to the world of your own thoughts makes me interrupt the thread of my story).

Letter 16 

The Sixth Race

8 April 1915 

Have you ever thought about what the United States expects after the war? The United States is destined to be the cradle of a new race. That’s why you were meant to be born here — you, with whose help I am writing this book. That is why I have decided to ask you to help me in my work in the name of the triumph of the Universal Brotherhood.

No, you don't have to stay in the United States all the time. It will be even better if you continue to mix with other races in their places of permanent residence.

The Theosophical Society could not have arisen in any other country. Spiritualism could not have appeared in any other country. In the United States, they are always ready to accept everything new, welcome everything unknown and love things for their novelty alone.

Of course, without abuse here could not do and did not do. Almost every fraudster can find followers in the United States.

The United States, but without this hospitable attitude to everything new, this country could not become the cradle of the New Race.

This Race will not be composed of young, but on the contrary, of the oldest and most experienced souls, enriched by the experience of past lives. The simplicity and childlike immediacy of Americans is a consequence of spiritual maturity. The race as such is now going through a period of its infancy, but its constituent souls are as ancient as time itself.

After the necessary rest period, many or even most of the souls whose earthly life was interrupted by this war will then be embodied in the United States. Oh, in some seventy-five or a hundred years, this country will take on a completely amazing appearance!

But you will not be able to get there if you do not find the source of unfading youth or do not try to quickly return, refusing to rest in heaven.

The inspired Ponce de Leon sought this source in the New World. If it does exist, it will be there, but Australia and Russia will create their own strong Race in the future. No, I'm not going to tell you about the Seventh Race. It will come in due time, but now I would like to tell you about the Sixth Race, among whose pioneers I include you.

Don't throw that piece out of my book, because one of your enemies once accused you of being egocentric. Our enemies always try to find in us their own qualities, then to hate us for them. Give yourself a gift that your enemy does not have, and he or she will love you for it. The rider will not be jealous of the musician because of the fact that the musician. But a musician can envy another musician, and the egoist, seeing another egoist, imbued with hatred for him. If the Germans were a weak nation, they would not be able to hate the English so much for being even stronger.

When the Sixth Race is fully formed, all truly developed men and women will be able to see the Astral World, hear unspoken words, and read the minds of others. Of course, this new Race will consist of people at all stages of development. Universal equality of development is just a beautiful dream, you hear, socialists? Are there no superior beings over you, your leaders? The less developed souls destined to incarnate in the Sixth Race are those who have earned the right to accelerate development in the system of that Race. How did they deserve this right? His willingness to grow and change spiritually.

Go to the mountains and see how everything grows. Read a page from the book of Nature.

You are interested in the future of England. You mean Old England. Did she not give you your present civilization? Of course, other races participated in this, but her language speaks for itself.

As I have pointed out before, England served as an instrument in the hands of the Great Ones, who sought to establish a brotherhood of races. She carried this torch all over the world. It bound the continents together and created the chain that should bind all people together in the future. Treat her with respect because she deserves it.

Respect all nations as communities of souls, the souls of your brothers, but remember that those nations that act in accordance with the Law deserve more respect, not against it. Those who expected to see Germany as the cradle of the New Race should no longer make noise in front of the door leading to the room of a woman in labor. They had already scared off the angel who had come to her.

In Europe, there are four cruel races who are unable to rock the cradle with a divine baby. They wouldn't even bother to take out the pin that stuck into his back until he was completely exhausted from the scream. I won't call these races.

The Sixth Race is a sensitive child, and it can be taught much more by love than by a mustro. The Sixth Race will teach itself discipline when it realizes that it needs it. Her teacher will be curiosity, and her amusements will be the peaceful sciences and art. Her lullaby will be a hymn to the brotherhood. No, it has no place in the German cradle, but German Americans can help pump it. They know how to sing wonderful lullaby, these Germans, when they forget about their adult seriousness and return to childhood fantasies, to myth-making fantasies.

We would like to see more French in the United States, because France can give the New Race more than any other nation — France is an inspired prophet and, above all, France is a critic. Americans have a not too critical, not too analytical and not too sophisticated mindset. America needs France, its men and women. You’ve probably heard the old saying: “Every person has two homelands — his own and France.” I may not be exactly quoting, but the idea is clear.

Do you doubt that a person born in the shadow of the glory and charm of France may wish to move to the New World? But many will do just that, and even more will follow them, both across the ocean and through reincarnation. You came here the same way, although you can hardly guess it.

Restore your memory of past births — you pioneers of the Sixth Race! You can do that. It is part of your race heritage.

America, the melting crucible of peoples! You weren't born to build an empire. When the time comes, give the Philippine Islands to a nation that can be trusted. Your empire is your own body, your race is made up of dozens of races, you are the heir to many fathers, you are the mother of one new race!

Strengthen your army and navy when you're so nervous. Put lightning rods on your homes and alarms on windows and doors. Feel safe. And then dream of brotherhood if you believe in it.

But sit down at the fire-place where the coals are made, which the Dutch have made from the ground, and see how the smoke is drawn into the pipe made of bricks made by the Irishman; take a newspaper printed in the English language and read it in the light of a lamp made by a German; look at your fire-place, woven by a Turk or an Armenian.

Letter 17 

An American on Guard

8 April 1915 

I would like to tell you more about France and what it can do for America, the homeland of the Future Race.

I've already talked about her love, which is so great that even her enemies can't hate her. I praised her critical talent, her ability to analyze things and compare them with each other. But now I'd like to talk about her courtesy and charm.

You told yourself that good manners are just an imitation of good-nature. To imitate is to strive. If a race has refined manners, it has a refined heart, which brute races have yet to perfect.

Invite French teachers to your schools - you Americans. A French teacher or a French mother teaches her children not to do certain things simply because they are ugly (you can still say that they are not aesthetically pleasing or unseemly). By imitating kindness in this way, one day you may begin to feel it — you, American children.

When setting the standard for good manners, you should not be afraid to sometimes forget about generally accepted ethical standards. You have all absorbed the puritanical ethics with your mother’s milk, but there is nothing wrong with breaking these commandments, deciding to work on your charm for a change.

In France, you won’t find a face that never had a smile. But when I crossed France this afternoon, heading towards you, I saw a completely different picture. However, the faces of the French were still brave, because it is not beautiful to organize a parade of sad faces. Perhaps a parade of despondency could be called the abundance of mourning clothes on the French, but black color is a tribute to all the dead French.

Taste! There's a race that owns them. As you can see, when I advise America to learn from France, I mean, of course, the positive qualities of this nation. None of us are without sins.

The taste of the French who now live in the United States! Maybe they publish magazines in English, in which they brand their enemies? Or are they trying to get their lobby in Washington and in the New York Press Committee? If so, I haven’t heard anything about it, although we know a lot here — we want to know everything that is happening on Earth. Even if they are worried about their wounded country, they will never irrigate the gates of a freshly ironed American shirt with tears. If they hate their enemy, they will hate him with calm, well-mannered hatred. If the French win the war, they do not boast of victory; and if they are defeated, they do not call their enemies rattlesnakes or anything else. All because it would be ugly. This might not be a violation of generally accepted ethical standards, but it would be clearly bad taste.

Americans, on the other hand, like to brag. I said this when I was an American myself, before I was cut off from the Earth and became a citizen of the invisible and universal world; and ever since, my association with angels, Adepts, and Masters has not forced me to change my mind on this matter. Angels, Masters, and Adepts never brag, but devils do.

When I advise America to take over from France all that it has succeeded in, I am not trying to downplay the importance of other races. Every nation has something to learn from everyone else. For example, the Chinese and Japanese are superior to their neighbors in the degree of development of some positive qualities. So do Americans.

This war revealed the dominant features of all the warring peoples, and the rest of the features too. Did you think that “Turks in a turban” (or rather, though not quite in Shakespearean way, the Turks in a fesc) can be so trusting? The treacherous races are always gullible, just as the cruel races are always sentimental, in all that concerns themselves. Free America should be wary of too many laws. England, too well aware of her virtue, will one day be led into temptation. Germany, which is “above all else,” will be defeated by the whole world. Impulsive Italy now has to think so much that for any other country such thoughtfulness we would even consider dangerous. And “neutral America” has now become so biased that its right hand threatens the left and both together — the body.

Don't be angry with President Wilson. He solves the problems of the current war as if in the yard 500 BC, but the view from afar, as a rule, creates the most correct impression. The professor was always stronger than the politician. He's very unhappy now. Why not? Oh, it's a public matter, and I'm writing for the general public! I know so many secrets that I have to be careful like a family doctor.

But there's one "American standing guard tonight." Who is it? Old Abraham Lincoln, who gave up Heaven for the country he lived and died for.

No, I'm not gonna tell you anything else about him. There is something holy in the soul that refuses to rest. It will not go far from Earth until America goes through the next great test. When's that gonna happen? As the Beautiful Being would say, "No, my child, you are too curious."

I would like to know more about Abraham Lincoln. A few years ago, I wanted to know about it myself, but I did not ask so many questions. It's not pretty, as French nanny would say.

Letter 18 

Master of Compassion

10 April 1915 

In my last book, I reminded you that your friends who have passed into the Astral World did not know everything and that although their vision has become more perfect and less darkened matter, yet they cannot make such long-word prophecies as professional fortune-tellers, or at least they are wise enough not to try to make them. Now I would like to dwell on this issue in more detail, only the topic of my story will be much higher than the usual inhabitants of the astral level.

To begin with, there is no absolute unity among us regarding all the details of the end of this war. We have two particularly zealous debaters who, although they seek the same outcome — the achievement of peace, do not agree on everything with each other on the best ways to achieve it.

One of our Brothers, still spending most of his time in the physical body, would very much like to reduce the force of the blow which must be inflicted on one of the nations in this war. We all would like it, too, but he also came up with a plan, the implementation of which, in his opinion, will really lead to a significant weakening of this blow. He knows that he is quite capable of implementing this plan, but he is wise enough not to spur events. He does not impose his program on anyone. He is only trying to inspire those in whose power to begin the implementation of the peace program on the model proposed by him. We do not even try to change the flow of his human-loving thoughts, for he is the only one among us (and by “us,” I mean the Brothers who have reached a certain level of development); so he is the only one among us who shows more sympathy for one race than for all the others. He’s not as old as some of us, but he’s still one of the greatest.

He's free to do what he likes, but I'm not sure. On the one hand, he is wiser than I, but on the other hand, my judgment is not influenced by a sympathetic attitude towards my own country, which, moreover, does not participate in the war directly, so that I can be even more impartial judge than he.

Do not think that I suspect my brother of weakness. Love is not weakness.

Not so long ago, this Brother wrote down a prediction by the hand of his disciple, and it is likely to come true. But none of us will even lift a finger to make it come true. After all, if this is really the best way, then everyone will support it.

Even the Master does not know everything, although to the blind eye of a less developed man he appears to be all-knowing. But the Master is too wise to try to impose his individual will on the world. The black magician tries to achieve the fulfillment of his desires by imposing his will on others, and he often succeeds, but he does not always take into account the response. The good teacher always remembers her. He acts in accordance with the law.

Now in America there is a school of magic (because what she does is a form of magic). Teachers of this school teach their followers to achieve the desired result, to realize the material desires of their hearts in the material world. And they succeed — the strongest of them — if their desires do not go against the great stream of desires that carries the race forward. But, as a rule, these material desires are not fully consistent with the karma of the person expressing them, and, as a result, the existing balance of good and bad karma is so exhausted on the one hand that for the next life a person has only a great number of bad karma, weak karma, which was never properly distributed at a time when a person was amusing himself with his new toy - the magical power that he used to turn his prosh.

The best way to get what you want is to desire what is in accord with the precepts of the Great Law. That is what teachers do. And I do not deny the greatness of my Brother, of whom I have spoken before. His desires, like those of each of us, are in accord with the will of the Great Law; and even if his love of his own country inspired him to create a plan of action which seemed to him to be consistent with the Great Law, there is still no doubt that he would not carry out this plan (even if he could), without first being convinced that he would not violate this Law in any way.

For a person who has not yet attained the perfection of the Master, there is always a danger that his conclusions will prove to be contrary to the Law of Karma. If a poor person wants to get rich and this desire is strong enough, he can get rich, but at the same time he can miss many other things that his soul needs much more than wealth.

One of the greatest dangers facing America in the future is the danger of black magic. Among the hundreds of men and women who are fond of New Thought, Christian Science, ceremonial magic, and certain philosophical teachings, even if they pursue (in words) the highest goals, it is difficult to find at least one whose interest would be really pure and unselfish.

There is great power in America. Uncharted hills and mountains are full of fresh, new energies that a person can use. And the Astral World over America, that layer of astral matter which lies just beyond the physical continent, just as the aura of man frames his body, this astral layer over America is full of forces, elemental and astral, which can be consciously used by those who know how to handle them, and which unconsciously use those whose personal desires are so strong that they can set in motion more or less impersonal forces. And this astral world is already set in motion by the force of desire or will.

The great danger lies in the path of those who use these forces for evil, and the line separating selfish desires from evil is very thin.

In this race, many of those whose magical activities associated with dark forces were interrupted in the ancient days of Atlantis are seeking to be reborn. What they say about Atlantis is true. And many of those souls are coming back: some here, some elsewhere. But their main stream is moving in the direction of the New World. So it is you, as well as all those who know that magic aimed at achieving selfish goals, is Black magic, you have to warn all who are too keen on the idea of the possibility of building their own happiness at the expense of others.

And warning them is necessary. And I myself would like to tell those who seek occult knowledge with the sole purpose of attaining the fulfilment of their selfish desires that if they stand in the way of the Law which instills in the new Race unselfishness, they will perish again as they perished in the time of Atlantis. I do not mean to say that their souls will perish, only their earthly lives will be cut off before the deadline, and the results of their harmful activities will be nullified.

I hope you will not be too shocked if I tell you that in Europe, both before and during the war, there were “artificial elementals” created during the time of Atlantis. These beings — and they have power and pseudo-individuality — were used in this war by those now reincarnated who created them many centuries ago. Thanks to the force of attraction, they are again in the power of their creators.

One of these creatures was destroyed in July last year, and I participated in its destruction.

During the birth of the New Race, the will is unusually activated. So use your will in accordance with the Law, not in spite of it.

Do you realize — you who put your desires above everything — that each of you is just a drop in the stream of souls? A drop, which, being separated from the stream, can be burned by the sun and turned into steam, after which it will have to wander for a long time in this state before it can return to the stream.

But don't consider my Brother who wants to soften the blow aimed at his country. I also want a better future for my country, which is why I’m writing about the New Race coming to America. But if I had learned, either from my Brothers or from my inner insight, that it is best for the new Race to be born in another country, I would have begun to work with equal diligence to achieve this goal. So is my brother. We who work for the fulfillment of the Law place the good of the human race above all our personal attachments. All races are one race - human, and we all work together as one.

Letter 19 

A stranger dressed in pink

11 April 1915 

One day an angel came to me, whom we call the Beautiful Being, leading another angel by the hand. A long friendship with this extraordinary Being has taught me never to be surprised by anything He does. I take all his quirks for manifestations of consciousness unlike my own and more perfect, because a lot of what I have learned over the past three years, I owe it to His slightly eccentric, but very tender friendship.

As I said in my previous letter, this Beautiful Being (who we call Angel for lack of a better term) has never had to live on Earth in a physical shell. This Being belongs to a different stage of evolution than man, and therefore His views on human life are of exceptional value.

When he came to me, he smiled and let go of the hand of another like himself, but even less so than himself, like a man.

Here, in the heavenly realms, one can sometimes hear very unconventional judgments, but the Beautiful Being who has observed the lives of men sometimes amuses me with delightful copying of mortal customs.

"Clothed in pink," said the Beautiful Being to his fellow Angel, "let me introduce you to my friend "X.", a judge who has recently arrived from planet Earth. Of course, he will not refuse to become your guide through the territory where history is now happening. Ask him what you want and he will answer you if he can. He still does not know the language of your distant star, but he can communicate with you mentally, because your grossest shell is the body of thought.

I said I was very happy to meet him and asked if he wanted to see the battlefield.

“I don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘battlefield,’” he replied, “but I wouldn’t mind looking at it.

“When you see it, you will understand even less,” the Beautiful Being smiled.

And that was the day when the opposing forces in France and Belgium became unusually active at the beginning of the spring campaign, and I took two of my friends to the place from where they could watch the battle.

"What do these creatures down there send each other all the time?" asked the Stranger in pink.

“These objects we call shells,” I replied.

- The guns? - asked the surprised stranger.

The beautiful creature answered for me.

Guns are specially designed houses in which our brothers from the great abyss live and have fun.

The expression of surprise on the face of the Stranger became even more obvious.

A friend of mine forgets that you do not know the language of the earth, in which a single word, a conventional symbol of an idea, can mean two ideas, even very different from each other.

“What are these objects that those beings below send back and forth?” the Stranger repeated.

I have to translate his speech into normal English to make it understandable. His question was, “What are the objects that beings send each other?”

Through long association with the Angels, both having and not having astral bodies, I learned to understand such speech, and I answered, trying to translate the usual cumbersome word forms into a simpler language of ideas:

“The objects that the beings beneath us throw at each other are shells with contents that have an amazing ability to destroy the shapes of other objects, scattering their parts in all directions.

- Is that how they play? - asked the Stranger in pink.

“No,” I replied, “they are fighting.

- Fighting?

All the horror associated in my mind with the concept of "war", my thought conveyed to our guest Angel, and his pink veil turned pale in pain.

“You know, if you weren’t here, my friends, I’d rather leave here.

“This feeling,” I replied, “is a sympathetic reflection of my own emotions, which caused me to think about the war.

- What's a war?

A terrible passion, which is indulged by two opposing communities of souls. Through this passion, they suppress their natural pity and begin to destroy each other’s bodies in large quantities.

The stranger's veil became almost white.

Does God allow all this horror to happen?

He allows it on planet Earth.

In this case, the word "God" cannot be taken as an accurate representation of the idea that the Angel implied in his question, but apparently I will have to be content with it. The true meaning of this idea is not conveyed by any word to any earthly language. It implies a combination of Love, Time and Purpose, elevated to an excellent degree, and a better designation for it than "God," I cannot pick up.

“A strange star — the Earth!” said the Angel.

"It is a part of the wisdom of the race, inherited from distant ancestors, who, for the first time trying to adapt their heavenly consciousness to the harsh conditions of this star, on which they were placed in order to learn, said to each other: "Strange world."

- So the conditions of this planet force them to create this horror before us?

- Not at all.

- Then why are they doing it?

They are driven by the power of habit.

Was it ever necessary?

“In very distant times,” I said, “people were more isolated from each other than they are now, because very few people were embodied on Earth, and the shining Archangel responsible for their training taught them to develop courage and resourcefulness and emphasize their “I”, arranging martial arts with each other.

"But here, beneath us, are millions of beings!" cried the Angel. "And I see their bodies fall by the thousands!"

“They call it a great victory,” I said, “and one of their commanders gives those who kill a large enough number of people small iron crosses.

- Iron crosses? Why iron?

“Iron is the metal of Mars,” I said, “and Mars is their god of war.

Why the cross?

It is a symbol of their Christ.

Is he the one who died here to teach people to love each other?

The same one, I confirmed.

I am ready to agree with the distant ancestors of these people, from whom they inherited the expression “strange world”.

Can we come closer? - Yes.

The stranger hesitated and then said with a patient smile, looking at the Beautiful Being:

My friend wants me to know something about this star. I want to go downstairs.

We went down and found ourselves about a hundred feet above the strip that separated the opponents.

- Look! - cried the Stranger. - Souls fly away from their bodies! Is this the purpose of this venture - to free souls from shackles?

“Not quite,” I replied, “they would each prefer to see their opponent in chains, but since it is almost impossible to do this, they choose the opposite.

The stranger looked even more surprised.

“My friend,” explained the Beautiful Being, “is one of those areas where the Law of Opposites does not work.

“You never took me there with you during our travels!” I exclaimed.

Of course not, because you are too attached to the Law of Opposites.

It was our old joke — mine and the Beautiful Being.

“Look!” the Stranger interrupted me. “One soul is coming towards us.

I went forward to greet the newcomer. He was a German officer.

“Welcome,” I said, but he didn’t seem to understand me. The face of his astral body was skewed. Obviously, he had to accept a painful death.

Sometimes it seems to me that the Beautiful Being knows all the languages of the earth, and though His nature is so pure that only a few on Earth are able to understand Him, when the soul leaves the body, it begins to understand the speech of the Beautiful Being, if, of course, there is something in its nature that is able to catch the higher vibrations that make the life of this Angel so saturated and amazing.

"Welcome," said the Beautiful Being in the language of her homeland.

- Where am I? - asked the surprised soul.

"In the world that is above the Earth," replied the Beautiful Being.

- So...

This means that your name will be included in the lists of victims.

- Then it happened!

- Yeah.

But I was always afraid of death.

As you can see, there is no need to be afraid of her.

Where is Kaiser?

- At his headquarters.

- Can I report to him?

- If you want.

And we went further east, slowly, because the newly liberated soul did not yet know that distance really meant nothing.

We saw the commander-in-chief sitting at a table looking at a map. His face was emaciated and drooping.

"Here," I said to the Stranger, "is the man whom the whole world outside his country considers guilty of this great war.

The stranger (and with him the soul) approached the commander-in-chief to read his thoughts. I pass them on as I have heard them — scattered and tragic in their importance: “Our troops are dying! God, punish England! I am God's chosen one! I can't be wrong! My generals are confused. I'll drop the rank... (here he called the name of the newly arrived soul who was with us). He is to blame for this defeat. I ordered him to capture the enemy's positions. Instead, he lost ours. I can't be wrong! I am God’s chosen one!”

The beautiful Being turned to the soul, which used to be a general.

Do you want to report to the Kaiser?

He turned to us, there was sadness in his eyes.

“I won’t bother the Kaiser,” he said.

There was silence between us. A little later.

The beautiful Being turned again to the general, pity was written on his face.

Can I do something for you?

— Could you take me to my mother — she died of grief in the first days of the war, when my brother died. I am very tired. I want to see my old mother.

In the eyes of the stranger in pink glowed surprise.

“There is even love on this strange star!” he said.

Letter 20 

Over the battlefields

12 April 1915 

Imagine a battlefield: an outstretched, broken double line of men, horses, guns, and other attributes of war.

In former days on Earth I studied the theory and practice of war, but in this war all my knowledge was almost useless. And the reason here is not only that the conditions of warfare themselves have changed, but also that I used to imagine myself standing on one side or the other of the imaginary battlefield; but now I am in reality simultaneously on both sides, in a word everywhere. I read the thoughts of the commanders of both sides, I sit in the trenches with the soldiers, sometimes half buried in mud and water, I ride in the fields with the cavalry, advance along with the artillery, accompany the souls of the dead, with them I pass through the hell of perplexity, which almost always covers them after they are ruthlessly thrown out of their bodies.

Verily, "War is hell!" And do not build up for yourselves any heroic illusions - you who live in peace and reason about that which you do not know.

Even when the shots go off, the horrors don't end. A dark and quiet rainy night is filled with suffering and restless souls. Often some soul wanders back and forth in search of its comrade, with whom it was bred by the bonds of a fighting brotherhood - that beautiful flower that blooms on the ugly stalk of war. Often they relive the fury and horror of the latest attack; they re-inject an imaginary bayonet into the body of an imaginary enemy; or, when they come together, as is usually the case, they fight recklessly with their whole mass against some obstacle in their way, each time feeling the force opposing them.

The general I wrote about in my previous letter was a man of spiritual development, so he was very soon able to free himself from the clutches of matter; he was one of those patriots for whom his own country is a god and its emperor is a hero to be followed with inspiration. But most of those who die on the battlefields are simple soldiers who fight at the will of the masses behind them. These tend to immediately fall into darkness and then wander for a time in darkness and perplexity.

But some, on the contrary, are in full consciousness almost from the moment of their death. And often attack enemy soldiers when they sleep. Dreams on the battlefields are terrible in their similarity with reality.

And sometimes, again, because of the general confusion, souls are completely lost and tend to stay closer to each other (even if they are the souls of former enemies) to get rid of the feeling of oppressive longing, which brings them the darkness that divides the "invisible" worlds. Fear makes them forget who their former friends are and who their former enemies are. Here is another pale flower blooming on the ugly stalk of war!

Astral forms of not too developed people often look frighteningly disfigured here, their consciousness barely warms, and they can feel nothing but pain. It is not surprising that the dreams of selflessly loving people are full of horror in these dark, looming over the world of the night, for in many countries there are many people who, although not at war, but devote the hours of their night rest to selfless work to save souls who are so desperately in need of help. There's one person you know who is carrying an almost superhuman burden on his shoulders right now, but he's not telling anyone about it.

There is no need to tell you how many such nights you have spent yourself in the last many months, and if we have asked you to stop this work, it is only in order that you may have more strength to record these messages with me now. The embodied soul cannot work without rest day and night. This would be equivalent to burning an astral candle at both ends.

When you return to those countries that are now ravaged by war, many of your friends will tell you that they experienced during these terrible months about the same thing that you had to go through. In critical moments, you have to seek help from those who are able to help us, and now their help is needed almost constantly.

Try to understand that the souls remaining in the lower layers of the astral world, really are not far from the surface of the physical planet.

And those who hover over the battlefields in which their fate has befallen them continue to feel inspiration or horror when they hear the voice of battle trumpets. They still hear bullets and feel the destructive force of tears. Every day, these earth-bound unfortunates are retraced by wartime experiences, and every night they await with horror the dawning of the day when the sounds of war will re-emerge. They can't go anywhere. They are not free just because their bodies are buried here, just a few feet underground, or they are not buried at all, which is even worse.

I advise you, at least for a few years, to refrain from visiting the places where the fighting was going on. You can go to Switzerland or the south of France, but try not to stay long in Northern France or Belgium, or in any other places that were somehow stricken by the war.

The world of thought over England is now disturbed, but the layer of astral matter immediately adjacent to the earth is not filled with the terrible emanations of death. Astral forms tend to be there from more dangerous areas, but to get there, they must first break away from the place where they have undergone the most severe torment.

It is much easier to defend oneself against sad thought-forms than against mad astral beings and “boiling” astral matter arising over the battlefields.

Remember, even the Battle of Waterloo was not the right place to spend the night. After a while, you can visit the places of recent fights for a short time just to gain practical experience, but do not do it right now. Today, the most suitable place for a long stay in Europe is the mountains of Switzerland.

It is desirable that you spend more time there.

Remember when you told me that you often saw images of American Indians in the mountains and valleys of your state? They were the ones who many years ago wandered under the rays of the sun through these mountains and valleys and who still remain captive to the rarefied matter adjacent to this territory. The baby’s eyes are usually very clean. And over the battlefields in Europe, a penetrating look for many years will notice the images of those who can not break away from this place. I'm not talking about the Akashic records. War is hell, and this hell does not end with the signing of a peace treaty.

This is one of the reasons why we would like you and others who believe in brotherhood to convey the spirit of this ideal to the nations at war today. You have no idea of a quiet faith as a great and true idea. A person who truly loves his neighbors can influence not only a narrow circle of friends. The whole atmosphere around him is permeated with brotherly love, and receptive souls feel it.

Do something with this feeling in your soul a boat trip up the Rhine.

Letter 21 

The Soul in Purgatory

14 April 1915 

Do I dare tell you about the purgatory into which the fury of battle sends so many souls who, until very recently, walked the Earth as people, went from home to work each day, loved their wives and children, and exchanged banalities during breaks from work, entirely unaware that each passing hour brought them closer to the Great Event? Yes, I dare.

We will follow one soul, which I myself followed. I can reconstruct her story from memory, because every act of hers is forever sealed in my mind. No, I don't need brain cells to remember anything. You won’t need them either when you’re free from the shackles of your brain.

He was a single man, an English regimental officer. Outwardly, he was the same as everyone else, but his consciousness was different. He lived in his own inner world because he read a lot and thought a lot. He was not, as they say, a very good man. Not all Englishmen are good even now, when England is at war; I say this to those of you who are furious at the slightest criticism of your native island, and even to you, the one who is writing for me now!

This man was not very good, because there was little love in his heart. It is not that he was incapable of loving, but he was incapable of awakening love in others and therefore felt a spiritual hunger. Sometimes he felt a sense of insurmountable longing, and then he became irritated and began to drink or abuse his servant, or both. And at times, when the whole world and he himself became especially disgusted, he went into a "gang".

But the war began.

He immediately felt that the noise and bustle of military preparations could be a natural outlet for his irritation. And he gladly went to war.

In London, he knew a German and did not like him very much. The German was too talkative, and his loud and sharp voice irritated the sensitive hearing of the sophisticated officer. While drawing his soldiers into the battle, he just remembered this German. He thought that he finally had the opportunity to fight this particular German, face to face, and this thought brought him satisfaction.

Hatred became almost sensual pleasure for him. The German managed to seduce one vulgar woman, which the officer himself passionately desired. He hated himself for this passion and hated the German for ruining everything. We always hate those who prevent us from calmly hating ourselves.

The officer was killed by a German bullet in the first days of the war. Where? It doesn't matter where! If I tell you, someone might recognize this person, and I would not want to betray those who, even if unwittingly, share their secrets with me. Even when I listen at the closed door of life, I don’t try to tell others too much about what I’ve heard. I try to be reasonable.

I will call this man my friend because he and I have become so close that I now have the right to do so.

On the eve of the battle in which my friend found his death, I was with him, trying to soften the cruelty that had gripped his heart. This feeling is rare among the soldiers of the northern front where he was, for for them war is something of a noble sport (or at least it was for them in September last year).

But my friend was an exception, which is why I decided to tell you about him. And my comments about its exclusivity in this case are necessary in order not to scare the reader too much. I don’t want my readers to think that their friends had to go through something like this. Know that anyone who leans over this page, that my friend is not your friend, he is a completely different person. What your friends went through wasn't so terrible. After all, they were better than him because you loved them, and that person was much worse because almost no one loved him. He was hit by a rifle bullet. Everything around him plunged into darkness, and for a while he lost consciousness.

He was struck by the sound of a shell exploding.

"The battle has begun," he thought, "a bloody servant! He had to wake me up at dawn.”

There were soldiers of his regiment around him, but they seemed to be higher than they were, and he saw them dimly, as in a fog. He wiped his eyes.

"Damn it! Who did they put in my place?”

He thought so because he saw that some junior officer was in charge instead.

He looked around in disbelief. Can someone finally tell him what’s going on? He went to where the senior officer usually was; the officer was, as always, on the spot.

"What's wrong with me?" he thought. "Maybe I'm crazy?"

He gave honor to the officer, but he did not pay any attention to him.

“Am I sleeping?” he suggested.

He approached the soldier who was loading the gun and touched his hand. But the soldier did not react to this either. Then he grabbed the soldier by the hand. Still, without paying attention to him, the soldier raised his gun and fired.

Then my friend came to the two soldiers who were talking to each other and heard one of them say, "Poor man ...! Got shot in the heart! He was a beech, but not a bad officer. I'm sorry for him."

The "poor guy" they were talking about was himself. "He got a bullet in his heart - a good officer - a beech - dead!"

He got it. Sometimes, understanding comes even later. He was "dead."

"Well, that's good!" he thought instinctively.

Another shell exploded behind his back.

And then he saw a face that immediately attracted his attention. It was a malicious, brazen face, which, however, immediately ransacked in the face of his enemy — the very German from England, whom he hated so much.

"How? Is that you?” he asked.

The ghost did not respond, but changed form again. This time, there was a woman in front of him, for the passion for which my friend hated himself.

“You too?” he wondered.

The ghost changed his appearance. Now he became like a servant, whom he often cursed in his time and who left him a year ago.

“So you have died too?” he asked, but the face had already returned to its original shape. It was now once again simply a brazen, malicious face, resembling no particular person.

"Who are you, after all?" demanded my friend; but he never received an answer.

And then he was interested in the ghost's eye - his left eye. It suddenly began to increase and grow until it reached the size of a target, like those hanging in a dash. In the center of the eye, surrounded by an eye protein, an unusual, blue-green iris appeared. And the black pupil — huge as a saucer — did not look at him with inexpressible, concentrated anger.

"What are you doing?" my friend asked again, but still didn't hear the answer.

Then the vision vanished, replaced by a crowd of repulsive human and half-human shadows. Another shell burst nearby, and the shadows began to dance. They seized my friend and whirled him in their circle, faster and faster, until he felt ill. Suddenly they stopped, and each became that hated German from England. Another crowd of crazed beings then joined them. They too changed form, and before my friend stood a dozen doubles of the woman he hated himself for desiring. The women and the doubles of his enemy paired off, took each other’s hands and began to kiss. Disgusted, my friend decided to leave, and succeeded. He found himself flying through the valley directly above the heads of the German soldiers. He heard the language he hated.

“What a devil!” he thought, and immediately before him there was a real devil with a tail, horns and hooves.

- You didn't think of me before, did you? - The evil spirit smirked.

My friend was confused and frightened by his appearance, because the devil, despite all his unsightly accessories, was very much like himself.

Do you want to change your appearance? he asked.

- Oh, no! I change slowly. I only change with you.

- What are you talking about?

Only you can change me.

- Then change! - said my friend. But the demon remained the same as it was.

- Change! - repeated my friend. But the figure before him remained the same.

I see you've cheated on me, I can't change you!

I told you I was changing slowly.

- What do you mean?

I only change with you at the same time.

- So I haven't changed at all?

- And I'm making sure you don't change.

And so, accompanied by his devil, my friend had to pass through places I shall refrain from describing: long before me, Goethe did so admirably in his “Walpurgis Night”. Reckless and desperate, he followed his guide until he was exhausted. Days and weeks dragged on like one endless nightmare.

“Can I never get rid of you?” he asked his companion.

- You can.

- But how?

Getting free of yourself.

It’s easier said than done.

Yes, it is easy to say, difficult to do.

Often they found themselves on the battlefields - right on the line of attack or in the thick of soldiers. My friend's only entertainment was to occasionally inhale the aroma of coffee and fried meat. He tried to drink brandy from the cans, when the soldiers brought them to their lips, they did not see him and therefore did not drive. My friend was increasingly tormented by hunger and despair. No matter who he met, his companions always took the form of the man he hated and the woman he lusted for. And he saw their evil ways. Sometimes the ghost of a woman addressed him with affectionate words. He cursed her, but he still poured to her hand. Whenever he tried to kiss her, the ghost disappeared.

Sometimes during large battles, a fighting fervor woke up in him. He attacked the enemy soldiers as if he wanted to avenge all his suffering. He tried to wrest a rifle from their hands, and when the soul of any of them was separated from the body, he tried to bring her out of the darkness and from the state of sleep in which she fell, but he never succeeded. He couldn't do anything. Its very existence was vain, bitter and joyless.

One day I approached him and touched his forehead with my hand.

“You’re not like everyone else,” he said indifferently, “where are you from?”

“I came from far away,” I replied, “do you want to come with me?”

“Anywhere, just away from here,” he agreed.

Would you like to be alone?

- Oh, no. It's even worse for one.

“The worst is over,” I consoled him.

- What do you mean?

This time, the source of your low desires has already been exhausted. You're tired and disgusted with the life you've been leading since you got rid of your body.

- What a strange expression - "released"! Only now do I feel that I really want to be free.

“And I will help you escape from another dungeon in which you are imprisoned, I will help to tear off another shell from yourself that does not let you go free.

- What do you want it for?

“So you don’t waste your energy trying to get rid of this shell on your own,” I said, “and now you probably want to sleep?”

- Yeah, I wouldn't mind taking a break.

He was asleep, and I was trying to speed up his release, and when he woke up, this time in a different, freer world, I was still with him.

- What would you like to see? - I asked.

"Something beautiful," he replied. "Something beautiful and clean."

- Maybe the dance of the elves? - I asked with a smile.

- Elf dance? Do such things really exist?

“There are countless forms of life and consciousness in the universe,” I explained, “and since your experience makes you believe in devils, then you can no doubt believe in elves.

As soon as I could say this, they immediately approached us: flexible, transparent forms, dancing cheerfully in the flowered expanses of the Champs-Elysees. They circled and swayed around us — these beings, pure as the very air on which they fluttered, light as the very happiness they radiated, eternal as hope, and even more beautiful than the dreams of mortal men.

The shadow of sadness finally flew off my friend’s face, he too became infected with this fun and became as easy as air, and clean. He joined their dance and with them circled around me.

I confess to you in the rush of revelation that I, too, danced with the Elves. The companion and friend of the Beautiful Being also plunged into the sea of universal life and sailed along it under the sails of carelessness. He who knows too much about the sorrow of this world must sometimes lighten his load by giving himself up completely to the feeling of joy.

When the Elves again withdrew to their inviolable refuge, I noticed that some form was approaching us.

What would you like to see now? he asked.

"Can I see one person who still lives in England?" he asked somewhat embarrassedly. And yet in his request I caught the unshakable confidence that is inherent in souls who have learned to trust their own desires — this happens when higher wisdom begins to penetrate into them, thanks to the purification of desire.

“I think so,” I replied.

The form that came up to us was unfamiliar to me, but my friend immediately recognized and greeted her. Next to my friend stood a woman in whom one could immediately recognize a nature energetic and active and at the same time pure, for without this pure radiation in those areas where we were then, no communication at all was possible.

“Let’s sit down,” I suggested, “that’ll make us feel more comfortable.

The two of them next to me seemed happy with each other's presence. They were sitting side by side “brotherly, hand by hand”; and although I knew that one of them was just a semblance of a living woman, at that moment she seemed to me absolutely real, for all the good motives of the heart are reality, and in those areas in which I brought my friend, all the motives can only be good. You can’t meet the enemy here, and the woman he loved loved loved him too, otherwise she wouldn’t be here.

Soon I left them alone, and returned to my labors in the field, for there were others who needed my help; but my friend had not yet been threatened.

A little while later, I will come to his aid again so that he can achieve an even greater degree of freedom. We are interested in the fate of those whom we once helped, and we continue to help them further.

You are surprised that I decided to help this person, especially since, judging by the initial lines of this letter, he was an unattractive person.

Let me tell you a little secret: it is because of his unattractiveness that I chose him. No one ever really loved him, so he needed help more than others. Those who are loved already receive help through this love.

"Do you catch my thought, daughter of the Earth?" as the Beautiful Being would say.

I am now living to help humanity survive the horrors of war. Serve this goal by loving those who are least worthy of your love. This way you will be able to know the path followed by the Masters of Compassion.

Letter 22 

Approaching Peace

16 April 1915 

Did it not upset you, did it not discourage you, that I have told you of the futility of the struggle in the intermediate world which separates slavery in the world of dense matter from the freedom of the purer spheres? Don’t worry, this is just a necessary transition. It does not last long: a few days, a few years - what does it matter for the boundless flow of eternity? You've been through it many times, too. Everyone goes through it on their way to a freer life, although not for everyone it stretches as long and painfully as for my friend. Yes, it is a nightmare, but a nightmare cannot last forever. Think of the joy and freedom that await you. They are worth paying the carrier for.

True, I did not tell you about the most terrible things that can be found on my way to this transition period, I did not tell you about the most terrible things that I have seen during my travels on the battlefields. There is no particular need for these unwritten chapters, for the purpose of the book I am now dictating to you is to teach people brotherhood instead of division and peace instead of war.

Do you want to know how you can shorten the duration of this war and accelerate the advent of peace? Then listen!

You, personally, can bring peace! Does this idea seem incredible to you? But when I say “you,” I mean others — all those who are tired of war and her mother’s hatred.

Has anyone ever harmed you in your life’s battle?

Think about those whose interests have clashed with yours, those who have hurt you or hated you. Remember them one by one, and not all at once, and try to understand each separately. Try to look at yourself through their eyes, to feel what they feel in relation to you in your heart. And if they still hate you, then try and hate yourself for solidarity with them at first. But, trying to remain in their positions, you will notice that your bad thoughts towards yourself will gradually begin to change and your own image from hostile will begin to turn into friendly.

What I advise you now cannot be black magic, for the purpose of this action is selfless. By doing so, you are only taking the first step towards alleviating the hostility that exists in this world. But I caution you against using this method to get someone you love selfishly or with passion, because it will result in an extremely undesirable state of disharmony.

When you thus understand and forgive all your personal enemies, then proceed to the souls of the warring nations. Try to understand them, putting yourself in their place, and thus soften their hearts. And although this task is much easier to cope with than the first, the result can be incomparable with the effort spent. And also, great or small, but you always remain part of the One.

And this fact leads me to the idea of a racial spirit, a racial being, for each race has its own Guardian, a complex being with individuality and self-awareness, which, however, you are unlikely to be able to understand.

Have you noticed how you are affected by moving from one country to another? Do not your feelings and your consciousness begin to change at the very border? Do you remember the shock that you had once experienced when you first set foot on the land of a country then still foreign to you?

It seems to racial spirits that among their kind they are quite normal in size, just as you — people — are not inclined to consider yourself unimaginable giants among their friends and acquaintances. Size is a relative concept. I have compared race to the organs of the human body. But speaking of them now as independent beings, I do not contradict myself at all. Do you have any reason to believe that the organs of your body cannot be endowed with their own, more or less independent consciousness? Your cells live in your organs, your organs live in your body, you live in your own race, and your race lives in the body of humanity. In turn, the Earth as a separate creature enters the community of planetary spirits of the Solar system, and the Solar system, along with many others like it, into an even greater community of the Cosmos.

One small blood clot formed in the brain can seriously complicate the work of your entire cosmos.

Thus you see that there is nothing incredible in my assertion that you can hasten, even to an infinitesimal degree, the process of reconciling racial spirits by forgiving and reconciling with your personal enemies, especially if they belong to races on the other side of this war.

Small doesn’t mean small, and important doesn’t mean great, although you’re used to thinking differently. Yes, you, personally, and each of you are capable of speeding up the advent of peace.

Letter 23 

The Mystery of Desire

16 April 1915 

I have already written to you about the hunger and thirst experienced in the astral world by people who have lost their bodies; and I have also written to you about the evil astral beings who have unleashed this war to quench their malice. These creatures are also hungry, and war gives them the necessary food. Do you know what sustains your life? They can live for a long time thanks to the blood and emanations of the bloodbath. I have seen the myriads of these creatures rushing over the battlefields and greedily sucking the blood pouring from the bodies of the wounded and killed.

Unburied bodies can also satisfy their hunger. Vampires escaped from Hungary and other countries to eat at the expense of the living. The terrible fatigue of the war opened for them the door that hides the vital forces they crave.

"Blood is a special liquid," as Goethe said. An evil creature can prolong its life for another term if it drinks enough blood.

If you stop eating the carcasses of dead animals, you will stop feeding certain evil creatures trapped inside you. The disciples of the great Masters abstain from animal food not simply because of their sentimentality. You yourself say that meat food fuels passion. And what is passion but hunger, which can be satisfied only by absorbing something external, different from oneself? Until you give up the habit of eating meat, you will not be able to completely free yourself from the influence of creatures living at the expense of blood and other components of meat. Eat pure food, and little by little you will achieve purity of thought and purity of desire.

I am not asking you to give up all desires at once today, because desire is a driving force, and even your desire for the ideal is also desire. But do not desire the blood and flesh of dead animals anymore, and all other desires that do not further advance your evolution will disappear on their own.

A lot of nonsense is said about desire. You want to develop spiritually, you want to do what the Masters do; you don’t want to be just a lamb that the Masters use in their work without their knowledge. And here too, desires. If you consider it “desirable” to shorten your path to attaining conscious unity with the Whole, then you are most likely willing to attain that unity; you are not willing to simply swim to the goal, obeying the flow.

I’m not talking about ambition or ambition. Occult development doesn’t have to be ambitious. Moreover, if you are too ambitious in your quest for occult development, then there is a danger for you to turn into a black magician. But quite calmly, you can “want” even oneness with God.

Every action at this level is derived from a desire of some kind, and therefore it is said that desire and will are one and the same. Maybe it is. It is also said that desire is something temporary, while will is a kind of superior motivating force; but if I myself sought to oppose one another, I would say that will, in its most noble hypostases, is the same desire, but the desire for higher things.

Music can be majestic, and it can be just dance, but all this is music. The power of the wind can inflate the flames that consume your home in a fire, or it can inflate the sails of a ship that carries you towards the dream of your heart. But it is still the same wind. You may even dream about starting to dream of the sublime. You can force yourself to desire only what is consistent with the Law, not what is contrary to it. Isn't that the same desire?

When I advise you not to feed the elemental forces lurking in you with blood sacrifices in the future, I do not urge you to kill desire. On the contrary, you should wish to cleanse your body of the flesh of dead animals before you, of your own free will, stop eating it. The evil that lurks in you, the hungry, greedy, selfish nature, sucks out the blood that runs through your lips, like those evil creatures that rush over the battlefields and drink the blood that flows from the wounds of the fallen. If you no longer need these creatures, stop feeding them blood.

Stop eating meat, you will not kill your emotional nature, you just clean it. The whole world of the soul is a world of emotions, and pure elemental beings are always very emotional, although they do not drink blood.

Yes, the mind is higher than emotions, it is wider than emotions. You can have a mind without emotion, or you can have emotions, however developed, but without a mind like animals. But man is both. Only through his inner regulator, the nature of his soul’s desire, can he live and act in the soul world as a developing being. When you reach the highest Heavens, you will live in the world of thought, having in yourself exactly as much of the nature of desire as you managed to clear, assimilate and remember. You will be able to move much more mental dynamics to the higher spheres if you do not rob yourself of the desire to eat bloody food along the way. Let the demons who feast on the battlefield do it.

In the reign of the brotherhood, whose advance I try to bring closer, the Race will eat only pure food. Even now, there is a tendency to exclude animal corpses from the diet.

The desires of the New Race must be purified, and then its emotions will become strong and sublime. The emotions of a man are much stronger than that of a lion. God has a cosmic scale.

Letter 24 

Weights of justice

17 April 1915 

So that no one would think that I, in the interest of brotherhood, consciously or unconsciously try not to judge too severely my own associates, my brothers, for their unjust actions, in this letter I want to talk about justice.

As a judge and in court, I was able to develop some practical skills in balancing leniency and harshness. Justice is the god I have always held high in my personal pantheon, and therefore, in passing judgment, I have never allowed myself, because of my weakness or sensitivity, to trample on the rightness of virtue and indulge in the wrongness of wickedness. I made mild sentences when I felt that the best could be derived from them; I made harsh sentences when I believed that it would enable me to curb evil in the most reliable way.

About the Universal Brotherhood, as well as about most other ideals of mankind, a lot of nonsense was told and written. But Universal Brotherhood is not a universal indulgence of evil — it is a universal acceptance of the ideal of good. And you will never create a brotherhood truly worthy of this high name, if you do not raise, but on the contrary, lower the bar of justice.

Justice is balance, justice is balance, justice is sustainability. It is for the sake of bringing humanity into a more sustainable state that I urge people to focus on love, forgetting about hatred.

While in Europe for a long time, in the immediate vicinity of the Western Front, I helped thousands of souls escape the astral nightmare into which they had fallen as a result of the sudden and premature loss of their bodies, but I never tried to upset the balance between cause and effect by helping the soul to attain a degree of freedom for which it was not yet ready. I have often left people to suffer, though I could shorten the period of their suffering; I have left many souls to continue in a slow battle with their low desires in the Astral World, for I knew that if they were to be far removed from the tree of pain before they could ripen, they would still have to endure the same or even more violent battle in some next life, and they would be opposed by the same desires in the same places, even if they were to do so now.

In one of the fighting armies there was a very cruel officer who was hated by his own soldiers. He came to us and many of his subordinates also, and I did not even try to protect him from their reproaches, because he needed to understand that injustice deserves to be blamed. On Earth, soldiers were silenced by army discipline, but here the officer had to realize how badly he treated them. No other way could explain it. If I were to give him instructions, he would simply advise me to do my own thing. But the Law of Justice does not read the instructions, it demonstrates. The gloomy, agonizing shadows of those who were with him for a long time demonstrated to him his own injustice. He is still surrounded by them. I never even tried to help him. Though he might be able to help him, such a clear opposition on my part to the Law of Justice would only result in him being in his own selfish sky with so much injustice in his soul that in the next earthly life this weight would simply crush him. The feeling of resentment that had accumulated in his soldiers was very great, and although I could soften it (for their own sake, not for his sake), I still did not do so, allowing the feeling to drain naturally.

If no one else needed my help and deserved it more than they did, then I might have given them more time, but I wouldn’t have had much success anyway. I did exactly what I would have done on Earth, if I had gotten my hands on it, and I'm sure I did what was right.

When I see a soul suffering from the unjust judgments of others, I seek to restore justice, as I would on Earth, but I am not here to violate the Law of Cause and Effect. When I can help, I can help, but it will be much more beneficial to me if I prevent the occurrence of undesirable causes than to avert their quite legitimate consequences.

When I persuade people to help the Masters contain the bad karma of Germany, I am not guided by sentiments. I think I'm a fair judge. The people of Germany, deceived by their leaders, blindly set foot on a path whose essence they could not imagine. Collectively, they are certainly responsible to other races, but individually each is much less to blame for being deceived, and they did not know that their country's aggression is wrong and of satanic origin.

And yet the Masters, who are able to see your world from above and as if from the outside, hope that the law-abiding German people will not always cause hatred among the rest of the world because the arrogant party of war forced him to attack his neighbors. No, I do not at all deny that the German nation has its own unpleasant features, as, indeed, any other people, but of all the races involved in this gigantic slaughter, the German race is much less aware of the reasons that led it to start this war. The authorities' domesticated press and lese majeste policies prevented the Germans from learning what might have made them less docile tools in the hands of their leaders.

The karma of those whose unreasonable and overconfident policies have unleashed this war is individual karma, and it can only be eliminated by individual suffering when the time comes for these people to suffer the so-called punishment; but the karma of the bulk of the German people is racial karma. The Germans allowed themselves to be led to their own defeat. Just imagine how deeply the light of glasnost and democracy should penetrate all corners and corners of German society after this war - and this is exactly what should happen by virtue of the Law of Counteraction alone. Those who have been deceived and hurt by this will demand that this can never happen again. In the next 20 years, the life of the German government will be as open as the life of the United States government. There will also be so-called "junk-rakers" with lanterns on their hats.

In obedience to the same Law of Counteraction, England would awaken from her slumber, which overwhelmed the shelves of her stores with foreign goods, because she was too inert to produce her own.

And yet the same law will force the French to seek to cleanse their political machine of corruption. In France, something has already happened that she still prefers not to spread.

The great shock caused by this war will make each people look at themselves in a new way, better understand their own motives, notice where they do not yet meet the standards strongly dictated by the New Time.

Look at the changes that are taking place in Russia, and then it will be Austria’s turn.

Because of the great injustices of this war, justice will rush forward with giant steps. Again, the law of opposites. This law can explain a lot of things.

When I write about brotherhood, for the reign of which I very much hope in the world, I do not mean at all some unreal Utopia, which is about to burst into the world to the sounds of fanfare. I am not repeating the prophecy that God’s kingdom is near. The human race is not yet ready for the coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth and will not be ready for a long time, but if even one person out of every ten can understand that brotherhood is the ideal to strive for, he can become a leaven for the remaining nine tenths and thereby make the bread eaten by human society much more pleasant than it is now. But bread can not immediately turn into apple pie. And it is hardly possible to put such hopes directly on the next race, but if you keep the memory of this prophecy for a sufficiently large number of deaths and births, you will see what sweet bread will eventually come out of the planetary furnace, when another one will appear under the rays of the sun - the Seventh Race.

Letter 25 

In the name of love

17 April 1915 

My last letters were so serious and philosophical that I will allow myself a little romance.

Have you ever thought about the hard life of the war sisters of mercy and where they take so much strength for their day and night work? Love is the source of the almost superhuman endurance of many women who seem to be their ward angels of light and healing.

One nurse (let’s call her Mary, because she belongs to the same type of women as the Virgin Mary) had to go up to Heaven hundreds of times with the souls of those she cared for. So will this love not protect her here on Earth throughout her life and pass with her to the heavenly world? You can be sure, it will all be like this.

Mary is neither a scientist nor a poet. And if your paths ever cross, you're unlikely to think of inviting her to a reception, but Mary will look great in the company of angels, and even the gods would not be surprised to see her in their company.

She was an ordinary nurse before she went to war, and before the white fire of love touched her personal self and burned it on the altar as a sacrifice for the good of her country.

She was a pretty nurse and in her leisure hours once wore fashionable hats and adored dresses with braid and ruffles, for love of beauty and exquisite taste often dwell in a heart capable of heroism.

When the war broke out, Mary was engaged to a soldier. He went to the front, and Mary followed him too; and for long, long days they knew nothing of each other.

Every wound that was brought to her, Mary was cared for as if it were her lost heart friend, and many lives were saved by her tender care and the atmosphere of hope that came from her, like the aroma emitted by a rose flower.

“If he gets hurt,” she said to herself, “some girl will take care of him just as I take care of these people.”

Mary did not worry that some other girl will be lucky to care for her beloved and that in his heart at the same time a flower of love and gratitude to the other, and not to her, may bloom. Mary had almost no time to think about herself: her thoughts were completely absorbed by others.

Perhaps because she did not feel jealous and did not consider the beloved his property, when he really hurt, he was in the hospital where so selflessly worked his bride. Of course, Mary was entrusted to care for him - it could not be otherwise, and he was very badly wounded. And during the operation, when his life was hanging in the balance, Mary stood by and assisted. She did not faint or cry even when doctors cut off his mutilated hand, the very hand she had dreamed of relying on for the rest of her earthly life. Mary at that moment thought about his mother and was pleased that this woman is now far away and can not see what she had to see herself. And the hours of her rest she used to write his mother’s letter was an encouraging letter that she tried to drive away the fear that crept into her own heart.

Tom (I shall call him Tom, though in fact his name is different) never believed in any life other than earthly, and Mary, seeing him being left by forces, prayed all day and almost all night for something to happen that would allow him to believe in Heaven and in angels. In war, anything happens; so Tom had to lie on the battlefield for a long time after a shell exploded nearby mutilated his right hand, resulting in an infection in the wound before the operation, when doctors did everything possible to save his life for England and for his bride Mary.

Tom knew he could leave this world soon. Mary did not hide the possibility of such a terrible outcome from him, although she still continued to hide it from his mother. She did so because she hoped that in the coming days or hours, perhaps the last that he would spend under the sun of the upper world, some miracle would surely occur - a miracle of thought or love - and open his eyes to what she herself called Truth.

Every day I would look briefly into that spacious white room where Tom lay, but even if he saw me, I could hardly console him, because I can only talk to those whose hearing is prepared for the perception of unusual sounds.

I sympathized with Mary. With my first book, I managed to convince many souls of the reality of immortality, and now I really wanted to convince one more thing - for Mary's sake - because I knew that if Tom passed away, being firmly convinced that death meant his complete disappearance, she could indeed destroy him for a long time.

In order to find a way out of this difficult situation, I turned to the Beautiful Being for advice. The knowledge of this Angel in comparison with mine is like the light of an electric arc in comparison with the light of a sebaceous candle.

We went with him to the hospital, where Mary, sitting next to Tom, told him about the future life, about God, about Christ and the angels. Her care was entrusted to other wounded, but the other sisters agreed to take over part of her work, so that she would have more time for Tom, because the whole world loves lovers, especially in the terrible times of war.

"Don't think I don't want to believe it," he told Mary, "I just can't. If I could see with my own eyes an angel or someone who is already dead, then it would be different. But is that possible?"

The beautiful Being came closer, smiled and shook his air cover in front of the dying man’s eyes, but he did not notice anything.

Then the Beautiful Being lit up the space around him and sang as only angels can sing, but this time Tom saw nothing and heard nothing.

"It looks like you're going to have to 'materialize,'" the Beautiful Being said to me with a capricious smile. "These eyes are clouded with matter and can't see anything more subtle.

I was not very attracted to this proposal, but my unpredictable Friend continued to develop his thought further.

- There's a mortal on the bed. He is one of those who are called mediums by nature, because their subtle bodies are not so firmly connected with the physical and they can be easily separated and used for some time. Try to materialize with his help, let Tom see something that he can take for an angel.

"But I am not an angel," I objected, "and in the eyes of a dying atheist I can hardly pass for him.

"Try and see," said the Beautiful Being, pointing to the man lying on the next bed, in which He recognized the medium.

I looked at this “medium”, and the story of his entire life was immediately revealed to me. He was a rather coarse man, an innkeeper; a certain well-known epithet would have fitted him perfectly, although I shall refrain from mentioning it.

“Enter this man’s etheric body?!” I said in disgust. “I will not even go near him!”

“Oh, how fastidious we are!” said the Beautiful Being. “If I didn’t know you so well, I would think you were a Pharisee.

“Call me what you will,” I replied, “but with this body I will not produce any phenomena.

The beautiful creature laughed.

"But it's so simple," It said, as if to itself, "so simple and so convincing.

The angel came to the sleeping innkeeper (I refrain from sharper epithets addressed to him), and soon a translucent substance began to rise above him. In my earthly habit, I wiped my eyes because I couldn’t believe it was happening. The pure and exalted Angel was clothed in the unhealthy radiations of the sleeping medium, and barely the pendulum of the wall clock managed to swing two dozen times as the transformation was completed, and the fully materialized, able-to-speak Angel approached Tom's bed.

Seeing him, Tom even climbed up on the bed in surprise and shock.

- Who are you? - he asked in a hoarse voice.

"I am an angel," said the Beautiful Being, and it was true. "I have come to prove to you that miracles do happen, and to tell you that I will meet you on the other side of life after you leave your body."

Mary saw and heard him. With great enthusiasm and surprise, she knelt down, because she had never seen an angel before, although her faith was so strong that she could move mountains.

"So it's true!" exclaimed Tom. "I'm not going to die with my body. And you... you're so beautiful!

The beautiful Being has indeed made such a successful transformation that it has been able to preserve even in a foreign body all its glory and that amazing beauty of form that gives so much charm to the angels of the invisible world.

"All my doubts have disappeared," said Tom, "I believe and I will die happy.

“I’ll definitely come to meet you when you leave this body, I won’t forget,” my friend smiled. I'm leaving you in Mary's care, because she's also kind of an angel.

Then the borrowed form slowly turned to the body of the sleeping innkeeper, and the next moment my Friend stood beside me again in his own purest nature, only on his shoulders and feet were left dark spots like dirt.

“Nothing, in the fresh air they will soon disappear,” smiled the Beautiful Being. “But wasn’t it worth it to convince the soul of its own immortality?”

We went out into the open, but the scene I just experienced was still in front of me. And now, having met with something that I thought unworthy of me, I will always remember how the purest Being I have ever known was clothed in the hideous shell of a rude innkeeper, who left dirty stains on His beautiful shoulders and shining feet, as He plunged into the defilement of this world for the first time in the name of Love.

Letter 26 

Teacher of Mind

17 April 1915 

Tonight, 17 April 1915, a Great Spiritual Being has passed over the forefront of one of the warring nations, whose body is Mind, and who acts solely through Mind.

The hour has come when some of those who fought bravely for their miserable country will be able to learn that their cause is hopelessly lost. Perhaps that very evening only a few will understand, but their knowledge will spread further, and with its spread there will come a change in spirit. It is very sad when you have to fight for a hopeless cause. This requires a special devotion, a rare devotion.

So what were the consequences of this visit of the Heavenly Being, you wonder? Be patient, you'll find out soon. I don't often allow myself to prophesy. I'm just setting out the possible outcomes of the reasons I know. And you can do the same if you don’t let your personal addictions triumph over your mind. In order to clearly understand the consequences arising from any particular reason, the mind must not be burdened with desire, it must be impartial, like a computer. It is thanks to this divine algebra that Teachers can look into the future.

When the question addressed to your Higher Being is answered in the form of symbols and images, know that the information for the answer is received by the inner person thanks to this transcendental mathematics. He knows reasons you don’t know about, and from these reasons he can predict the consequences almost as accurately as astronomers predict eclipses. I said almost because when dealing with human beings, even the greatest Masters must take into account one unpredictable factor, the free will of man. The direction of its action can also be predicted, but only to predict - and nothing more. An unexpected burst of free and unpredictable will — and now completely new causes are being put into action, and calculations can begin again.

But in the study of the unpredictable element of the will there is a special charm. Perhaps this is why some people find cats to be much more adorable than dogs. A cat is a wayward, unpredictable animal, and so are many people.

The Great Being, who passed over the front line last night, has been watching the course of events on Earth for quite some time. He was one of those who serve the Planetary Spirit of the Earth, spreading certain ideas among humanity when it comes to their role in history. I cannot tell you much about the life of this Being, for I know very little about Him. It is so much more perfect than I am, that any ideas I have about it must inevitably be extremely limited. He may have been a human being before, but I’m not even sure about that.

I was told that it was He who first inspired a small but very courageous group of Americans with the belief that slavery in America should be abolished, that it was He who inspired Columbus to the idea that, having gone to the West, he could find the land, although he could not make his ward realize such a great fact that there, on the other side of the Western Ocean, lay a huge independent continent, whose waters separated this ocean from that of the east. I was also told that it was this Being who helped humanity acquire knowledge about electricity.

Can you imagine the life of such a creature? Can you expand your consciousness so that it comes into contact with His consciousness?

I frankly admit that this is difficult even for me, despite the fact that I have already been able to recall so many of my vast past and to calculate so many possible consequences arising from the causes that I myself created in the distant past, those consequences that will shape my future earthly lives.

Try to imagine an independent, active Being, deprived, however, of a physical and even astral body; A being composed of thought (i.e., the lower substance of which is thought); A being who influences the chosen doer of His will by coming into direct contact with His open mind. What personal desires can such a Being have? What kind of ambition can it have? This very base and limited concept - "ambition" - sounds ridiculous when it comes to the motives that guide the actions of this Being.

We address Him by name here, but I am not allowed to give it to you. This name has tremendous mantric power, and if you repeat it often, it can raise your consciousness and your own vibrations to such a height that you can no longer practically continue to live in your physical body and, therefore, will not be able to do the work that is for you and the privilege and duty at this stage of your evolution.

The disciples of the great Masters may pass under the guidance of this Being through a certain initiation, but those who pass through it forever renounce ordinary human life. They penetrate into the essence of the causes, which makes them so dynamic, their personalities and their thoughts so powerful that for the sake of the world itself they should not touch it too closely, because the life of all things is subject to the Law of cyclicity, and excessive acceleration of human evolution would be dangerous for humanity itself. It can only run at a certain speed. Exceed this speed, and you will surely get some kind of disaster.

I know exactly what level my development should reach before I can pass the initiation that this Being is leading. And when I reach that level, I will not be able to come and write with your help, unless, of course, you improve your own consciousness by a proportional amount, because otherwise I would have to accelerate the natural rate of your spiritual growth, which would be unsafe for you.

Since I've been here, I've learned a lot about these Beings responsible for the higher evolution of humanity. At present, even the most educated people would not be able to imagine the level of their development.

These Beings are always alone and should be alone, although each of them knows about the existence of their own kind - their colleagues at work. Imagine that you yourself have to spend centuries, millennia and even tens of thousands of years alone, but all this time thinking hard, mentally tracing the whole course of evolution - the evolution that you have long passed for yourself, tracing it with the help of reason alone, because you have also left your emotional nature far behind; and you do all this not for your own good, but only because this activity is more consistent with the great law of another Being.

In some schools, students are trained to obey, not to control their actions to please the Master, but so that the student can take his first steps on the path of obedience to the Cosmic Will. He will have to go this way for a very long time before he is entrusted with the work done by the Being who passed this night along the front line of one of the fighting armies, radiating the light of his thought and instilling clarity of his purpose to those few whose receptivity was sufficiently developed to feel His presence.

Don’t complain about being tired — you taking only the first, easiest steps on the Path that will one day lead you to the Masters! This Path is really hard; as one inspired writer said, it always leads uphill, but there are steps on this ascent, at which the traveler can stop for a short time to rest and enjoy the panorama of the path traveled. It seems that I myself have now reached such a stage, and although I am still constantly working, my work gives me joy.

The terrible battle that some of us have had to fight with elemental entities is now over. Fortunately, the worst of the disasters that threatened humanity was successfully prevented. So the current work is not at all difficult in comparison with the hardships of that war. If only the world knew what it owes to the Masters, whom most people regard as mere fiction! But these Masters do not work for recognition or gratitude.

Follow in their footsteps, for this is the only way that can lead people away from the terrible calamities that recently threatened to engulf their world. (I am not just referring here to the possible victory of the Germans.)

Great expediency dictated the need to keep secret from the bulk of mankind the determining evolutionary laws that govern the life of the planet. The human mind must first rise above the narrow circle of everyday problems to accommodate such Knowledge. 

You all use words that you don't really understand. You speak of guardian angels, of hell and purgatory, of atonement and the sacrament of communion. Communion! I could tell you about communion, during which the Body is really eaten and the Blood of the Lord is drunk, but I will not do it, because you will tell the whole world about it, and if you do, the forces of evil existing in the world will destroy you.

But I'm getting too close to the things I shouldn't be talking about, so for now I'll say good night, really quiet, and I'll go back to my work, following that bright Being that walked through the battlefields this evening.

Letter 27 

Invisible enemies

18 April 1915 

You may be wondering why those elemental entities that, as I said, unleashed this great war, at this time became so aggressive? Why did they attack humanity with such frantic force? I think there will be nothing wrong if you learn something about the causes of this aggressiveness, especially since you have already seen quite a lot of its consequences.

The thesis that mankind has made more material progress in the last century than in the previous two thousand years has already managed to turn into a regular newspaper platitude. But this growth was not accompanied by a corresponding moral improvement, and therefore the evil elemental entities, who fear for their power in their own kingdoms, managed to achieve such significant success in their attacks on the human race.

But man has moved forward with giant steps not only in the material sphere, some of his discoveries and inventions affect invisible worlds. The doors of the human mind now open into the uncharted spaces of the etheric world in which these entities live. Man has already begun to subdue the elemental elements, which means that he can subdue the elemental entities. One American has come so close to one of the great and dangerous mysteries that those who fear too rapid a progress of mankind have had to lower the impenetrable veil before the eyes of his inquisitive mind.

Occult societies spread throughout the world. In the old days these societies were really secret, and no man could join their knowledge without first passing through the tests that confirmed his moral readiness for further learning and mastering new secrets. But the doors leading into the invisible are now besieging an army of optimistic intellectuals who have not passed through these tests. Curiosity encourages them to strive for what only aristocrats of the spirit were previously dedicated to. Democracy has penetrated even into occult palaces, and sacred secrets have been publicly revealed by those whose personal ambitions know no bounds. The inhabitants of the Invisible World were themselves the victims of the invasion.

Now these inhabitants will submit to the Great Soul, which, as they know, is more powerful than themselves. They run to Her call like obedient children, and then unquestioningly follow all Her orders. But the invisible entities are jealously guarding their freedom and obeying only those whose superiority does not cause them doubts. Many, many indeed! most of those who now seek to open the doors of the invisible world are unable to control them, for only those who have already established control over these forces within themselves can rule over the invisible forces in the external world.

In my previous letter I spoke of the danger of black magic hanging over America, but this danger exists everywhere. What is Black Magic? In short, it can be defined as the use of those same forces of the Invisible World for their own selfish purposes. Only after a person has risen above himself will invisible forces serve him unquestioningly and for a long time.

Look in any newspaper, and you will see ads of various men and women who promise (for money!) to do what is achievable only with the help of these invisible entities. How blasphemous! What arrogance! And if the authors of these ads could really make their promises come true, it would be worse than typhus. Such announcements awaken in the hearts of ignorant people all the curiosity that has hitherto slumbered in them, all their ambition and all their irrepressible selfishness. These untrained amateurs try to do things that the Adept would not allow himself even in thought, for their actions are mainly aimed at subjugating the free will of other people. They seek to influence the judgments and desires of others, guided by the only narrow and subjective interests of those who pay them. And for this they set in motion invisible forces. Will you allow your child to play with lit matches in a powder warehouse? However, something similar is happening in recent years throughout the Western world.

It is no wonder that the invisible beings have rebelled. They would have followed the Master obediently, but they opposed the intervention of the fool.

They are not afraid of fools. On the contrary, they are only afraid of great scientists. Man has made such progress in science that he now simply needs to clear his motives, for otherwise he will be destroyed.

Here is another reason why I am so active in preaching the idea of brotherhood, trying to save people from their own stupidity. If the feeling of brotherhood becomes universal, these experiments with unknown forces will not be so dangerous. Then the bulk of humanity will acquire the abilities of the White Teacher, whose motives are always unselfish.

The great scientists have come closest to pure activity, when reason and reason alone act solely for reason; in the same way the Great Being of whom I have recently written to you, that Great Initiate, who serves the world by influencing, in strict accordance with the Law of Evolution, the thoughts of certain men chosen as instruments of evolutionary development.

How little people know about the invisible world around them!

More recently, I followed you to a lecture hall in New York City, where it was filled with invisible beings even more than men and women in physical bodies. As you well know, this was the reason for the anxiety that then engulfed you. The purpose of this meeting was to organize the structural core of the Society for the Study of Anomalous Phenomena, namely, the Invisible World, necromancy, and ritual magic. Madness out of madness! I heard one of the men present there express confidence that the newly formed Society would not, like the Society for Psychical Research, be separated from the outside world, but on the contrary, that Society would invite anyone interested in studying the invisible, including reporters. Occult press attaché!

Let me describe here a few of the listeners who were there, who remained invisible to all but one person. Over the congregation hung in impatient anticipation of a tall, thin, hungry creature with a chimerical face and the belly of a hungry leech. It was almost tenderly listening to one of the speakers.

The other one, which is shabby and half-sleepy, has already managed to feed itself since it appeared in the hall.

Another one - frightened and exhausted - tried to find a way out, but could not get out of the aura of the desire of one of the participants of this bizarre gathering.

And one more thing - strong and evil - rushed from place to place in search of new victims. It will certainly be present at the meetings of this Society. It will try to maintain its viability because it knows what a great opportunity it is.

Society. I'd rather keep quiet about what that opportunity is.

Why should you visit such places?

Letter 28 

The Greatness of War

20 April 1915 

I have already written to you about the beauty of peace; now I want to write about the beauty of war, for war too has its splendour. Everything that raises a person to the highest pitch of enthusiasm is beautiful; for what is beauty but the radiance of Light, a flash of the life that is the Sun within a person?

I am sorry that this war has begun. I have seen suffering, anguish, agony, and through my compassion I have experienced them myself. Of course, all this left its mark on me. But if I had stayed safe in one of the neutral stars, I would never have learned anything about the greatness of war.

Man has become too submissive, but has never acquired the virtues associated with submission; and this war thus fulfills the will of the gods, again throwing man into the wilderness, into the primeval realm, where the very roots of life are found and from where the life-giving power that will blossom in the future in the form of faith is as powerful as the world has ever seen.

Suffering and joy are eternally opposite and eternally equal. For a while man may be in a neutral state of the well-fed half-consciousness; but when both extremes come to him, joy and suffering, he can no longer be in the half-consciousness, he lives and watches, and glory shines over him.

Could teachers have prevented this war? They could have held her back; but her causes were hidden in the hearts of men, in the invisible forces within themselves and in the outside world, and further delaying the imminent explosion would have meant obstructing planetary targets.

And those who are not killed or dead are now much more alive than they were twelve months ago, and even the so-called "dead" are not dead, but living dead.

We've pushed back the forces of evil, that's true; but the battle that's been going on in our world is just part of the common battle.

If you don't mind, I'll tell you the story of a man I knew back in peacetime. He was a self-satisfied subject, immersed in his satiety in a semi-sleepy state. He spoke about life, ethics and civic duty, without going beyond the usual banalities. But what did he really know about life, ethics, and civic duty?

Let's call him Johnson. He spent several months in the war fighting for England and for the peace of England; and now, when he speaks of life, his speech is filled with meaning, because life for him is now the opposite and at the same time the unalterable companion of death. He loves life, and from him comes the light of the greatness of life.

Johnson had a son, an only child. Every father will know what that means. During a large retreat, one of the leaders of which was Johnson, he suddenly saw his son - wounded, but still alive. Only for a moment did the father turn to his boy... and then return to his unit to keep him without a commander, while giving his son to the mercy of an army intoxicated with the ruthless spirit of conquest.

Johnson will no longer talk about the banalities of life. He learned what death is, and what the torment of the unknown is, a thing even more terrible than death itself.

Letter 29 

Friend "X."

24 April 1915 

Yesterday, a man died, mentally repeating your name before he died.

No, he wasn't your friend, more than that - you never saw him. Last year, while in England, he read the previous book I wrote with your help, and took it very seriously. For several months, he dreamed of meeting you, but, being a modest person, he preferred not to rush events.

And then the war broke out, and he went with the army to Belgium.

After his first fight, he began to reflect day and night on all the facts and prospects outlined in this book. Is there another life that continues the present earthly life? Can a man return, as I claimed, and can he convey to a woman still in the world of the living the message of how he feels now among the “dead”? Have I really seen all that I tell you, and have I really been to the world of prototypes and the heavenly world, where I saw the Savior of mankind with a lamb in his hands, etc., etc.?

This man never doubted the sincerity of the one who wrote this message. This he felt instinctively, and also - thanks to a special Anglo-Saxon spirit of chivalry, which is difficult to understand for representatives of some other races.

He often talked with his fellow soldiers about the future of life. He would often sit quietly and smoke, staring into the void, and when one of the soldiers asked him what he was thinking so intensely, he would say, “I’m thinking about the book I read last summer. I don’t know if all this is true.” And when asked what this book is about, he began to talk about the “Letters of the Living Dead”, citing entire sentences from memory, or simply expounded in his own words some of its stories, explaining the meaning of the various philosophical concepts scattered in it here and there. Sometimes the discussion of the book was delayed for the whole evening.

You have never been to war as a soldier or as a sister of mercy, and yet you have been to war.

By a strange coincidence, this book was published a few months before a huge number of human souls were removed from the history of the world. Have you thought about that? Personally, I never thought about it until Master himself pointed it out to me.

But our friend, who died yesterday, mentally repeating your name, was particularly interested in one question: if he was destined to fall at the hands of the enemy, would he be able to prepare the same "little house in heaven" about which we once wrote for the girl he left in England and who he loved very much; and if he really built this house, where he would live, would she remain faithful to him after his death, and would she remain faithful to him after his death?

This young man had read several works of an American mystic on the theory of mutually complementary souls, and he believed that the girl he had left in England was just such a complementary soul for him - like the one I described in my story about a man who was waiting for his beloved in a house he had prepared in heaven.

But he did not say a word about it to his comrades in the trenches. He told them other stories from the book, all but this one. It is strange that it is about the most desirable object of our thoughts that we do not hurry to tell others, at least, most of us do.

And another episode of the book aroused our friend’s special interest — this is the story of a woman from the invisible world, who made a trip to Egypt with her still living husband. He wondered if he would be able, if he died, to go in a spiritual shell to one small place in North Wales (as he himself called it), where he once visited with his beloved, and which they chose for their future honeymoon.

One evening he even wrote her a long letter asking her to come there this summer in case of his death, saying he would try to meet her there. But then, having pondered, he destroyed the letter, fearing that it would bring his bride sad thoughts.

But when I saw around him that special light which begins to emanate from the spirit hidden within its vehicle, in the event that this carrier is threatened with imminent destruction, I decided to wait nearby, knowing that soon I would have to come to his aid.

And there came a moment when his body fell to the ground, and thin bodies began to separate from him. I waited quite a bit, and then approached to awaken the spirit from the dream in which he had to plunge. I have blown on the forehead of the astral body — for the astral body also has a forehead, you must not be mistaken on this account — so, I have blown on the forehead of the astral body of a man who has done a great honor to our book, thinking in the last seconds of his life about it and about us.

He opened his eyes and saw me.

“Hey, X!” he told me. “I thought you’d meet me here. You're good, you didn't let me down.

“Yes, I’ve always been a great guy!” I replied. “How did you manage to understand so quickly what happened to you?”

- I just saw you.

- How do you know me?

I saw your picture in the magazine.

“Do I still look like that old bra?” I asked, because I was very proud of the fact that I managed to regain my former youth and attractiveness to some extent.

“Yes,” he said, “you look exactly like that picture.

“Strange,” I replied.

And then I realized that my own knowledge of this man’s ideas about me as an old judge, described in the previous book, could make my body transform so that he could recognize me, and this happened without any participation of my will.

"Do you want to sleep a bit?" I asked him, but he didn't even have a hint of sleep in his eyes.

- No, "X." Thank you. I would like to return to England. But you probably have more important things to do than to fulfill my desires and whims.

I laughed.

“Your wishes and whims are as important as my own,” I said.

And we went on the road.

Over the English Channel we saw a transport with troops crossing it.

“I wish all these guys knew what I know,” my friend said. “If they knew what a good comrade I found here, they would fight with double courage.

You priests, do not be alarmed when you have to repeat “earth to earth, dust to dust”, and the departed souls are always escorted with solemn faces! And let not the carefree chatter of my new comrade, the young soldier, surprise or embarrass you. He felt as if he were in the company of an old friend, and he had already realized that death was no more sacred than life, and therefore did not require special solemnity.

We went to visit a girl. As a young man, I have often visited ladies, but I have never been more curious than when I went with a soldier to visit his girlfriend. And the fact that she didn't see us didn't matter. I've had time to get used to it.

When we finally saw her, she combed her hair — beautiful long hair, and on the mantelpiece under the mirror in which she looked, there was a photo of my friend. And the moment her loving look lingered on her, my friend stood between the photo and his beloved. The girl shouted:

"Oh my God, eyes!" they're alive! "and dropped the scallop on the floor.

Then her mind was illuminated by a guess, and she spoke, trying to make her voice sound as solemn as possible:

“My dear, if it is really you, if by the will of fate you really came to me now, then know that I love you and will always love you. We will meet in heaven. Having said this, she fell down on a small chair and burst into tears.

I have left my friend with her; but sometimes I will come back to see how he is doing, and in time I will try to teach him a few lessons on which his future well-being may depend. I don’t want him to be close to the battlefield again. Why would he do that? He served well and earned his reward.

Perhaps I will tell you something about a man who died thinking your name and mine too.

Letter 30 

Rose and Cross

25 April 1915 

More and more I admire and surprise my friend, whom we call the Beautiful Being. Perhaps I will never be able to understand Him, because It thinks completely differently than we do.

Yesterday, the Beautiful Being flew over the battlefields again. I should have written to you earlier, a few hours later, as I appeared, but I decided not to bother you, seeing your fatigue. Don't let it bother you. Sometimes the Masters of Compassion seem to their students to be utterly heartless; but they know what their servants do not know, that the most difficult road leads to the highest mountain, on top of which they will rest.

So, the Beautiful Being flew over the battlefields. Imagine a rose peeking out of a cannon's mouth, a bird gently singing in the epicenter of an earthquake, a pearl in a torrent of landslides, or an angel in hell.

You don't know what "battlefield" means yet. Thousands of people died in hell yesterday. Thunder! thunder! roar! - until the nerves swell with pain and despair engulfs the soul. To part with life among this boiling whirlpool meant, in most cases, to get into another boiling whirlpool, even more noisy and hot than the one left behind.

How can I write to you about the war and spare your feelings? Great Teachers do not seek to spare anyone's feelings. They want you to feel and feel without end until the very force of the sensory wave lifts you up to the Adeptic state. They also want you to think and think endlessly, until the unbearable cold of logic finally crystallizes your true essence. Ice and fire!

If you do not want to know what the soldiers of different nationalities have suffered in order for you to be free, then you are unworthy of this freedom. Do not avoid suffering. Plevels must be separated from the grains so that sprouts can appear from them.

Souls dying for their country in the hell of battle, thus bringing closer the birth of the New Time. By suffering with them, you are creating something new in yourself. Do not look for joy in the hour of sorrowful labor of mankind, unless you find joy in suffering itself. Yes, I know when and through whom this great idea first entered your mind. But in this hour of world pain, it is the mystery of the great souls.

When your suffering is so prolonged that you can no longer suffer, then the poles will change places and the joy of suffering will brighten your soul. And then your own beautiful being will soar over the battlefield on which your lower being will lie killed.

In each of you there is a beautiful creature - that bird that sings tenderly in the middle of the earthquake, that rose that found shelter in a hot cannon barrel, a pearl that is not afraid of a landslide, an angel that illuminates hell.

All the normal feelings of the human heart at this time are exacerbated. No one since the beginning of this war has been able to remain the same — not one in the whole world. The soul of mankind is now in torment. The present incarnation of humanity has turned against itself and is now tearing itself apart. The heart of humanity has become a chasm into which people have fallen so deeply that they have completely ceased to see in the dark. The guards of good and evil had to throw their flaming torches into this abyss, so that in this way, albeit unexpectedly and unceremoniously, they would awaken from hibernation those who were below.

O hearts of the earth, do not fall asleep again! Love and pity one another, for the pain of one is the pain of each, and the Beautiful Being hovers over the battlefield of the suffering race.

Humanity is One, and at the same time humanity is many, and only together can you inherit your Father who is in Heaven.

You know the symbol of the Rose Cross. Only after all your members have been crucified on a merciless tree, only through the pain of your wounded and exhausted nerves will the great scarlet Rose of Love be able to open her fragrant petals on your chest, just in the place where the crossbars converge.

Everything human in you is the pain of the Cross, everything divine in you is the fragrance of the Rose, and you yourself, man and deity, are the Rose Cross.

And if you avoid the painful pain on the cross, which also does not promise you anything at first but yourself, then you will not be able to feel the fragrance of the rose, which also offers you nothing but yourself.

Do not give up the great Initiation, O people of all races! Do not hide behind the walls of fear when the Great Initiation approaches you! 

On the terrible cross of war will bloom the scarlet rose of the new Race. And its scarlet rose can bloom on the cross of the death form of every person.

The rose symbolizes the balance between East and West, between the rising and setting sun, between man and the deity. The cross’s lateral crossbars go to infinity, its foot is buried in the substance of eternity, the top is among angels and gods, and the heart of the rose is everywhere. It is in the heart of every one of those myriad beings who are afraid to touch a merciless tree.

Every day I hear the cries of those who, through their sufferings, are trying to atone for the sins of the whole race. And when they are torn down in the field of battle, the bars of the cross pierce their trembling flesh, and in their hearts the petals of the rose spread.

They are killed by hatred, but they die for love, because love and hatred are opposite to each other and are omnipresent. Their love for their homeland is their call to redemption, to unity with God, who established the law of East and West, Height and Depth, opposite forces - Love and Hate. They sacrificed themselves. They will be resurrected and will live in Hell when their term of stay among the dead expires.

And at the door of the crypt they will appear to Magdalena, the one whose sins have been forgiven for her great love, and she will call on the disciples to share with them the news of great joy.

The soul of the world is the risen Christ, and the disciples rejoice when they learn about it.

So how can I keep from you the great event that time has announced?

The soul of the world was sold for thirty rounds of silver, and the world Judas, with the name of God on his lips, sealed his treacherous kiss, and the Roman soldiers were already sharing clothes. Pontius Pilate washes his hands, not wanting to take responsibility, and his wife weeps in her chambers because she neglected her sleep. The priests of the Sanhedrin shake their heads with satisfaction, but the veil in the Temple of Humanity is already torn from top to bottom.

How can you receive a message if you have not suffered, O listener at the door of Time? And who will believe you if you do not understand the truth of redemption? Until all your members are crucified on the cross, O world suffering at this hour, Rose will not bloom!

Keep calm and remember that God is God. When the senses are calm, the petals begin to open, the joy begins to penetrate into the heart and overflows it, and then each particle of the Cross comes to life and begins to tremble joyfully in the heart of the Rose, and the world is filled with its aroma.

And the Beautiful Being, the ray of the Holy Spirit, roars over Golgotha the battlefield.

Letter 31 

The Serbian Magician

26 April 1915 

From the sacrifice of the Rose Cross to the tormented Serbia, this is not an easy journey, but this is the kind of journey you will have to make this morning with me.

This country proved to be the most susceptible to the disease-causing astral viruses, the very thing that spat out into the higher world the disgusting essence of which I wrote to you in a previous letter. And this increased susceptibility has its causes.

A long time ago in the mountains of Serbia lived an evil sorcerer - a man for whom all his knowledge was solely a means of achieving self-serving intellectual pleasure, which he successfully extracted from them. He was able to rise so high above the level of ordinary human consciousness that banal worldly goods no longer interested him. To him, the whole world was nothing more than a despicable place to be kept away from, and the people living in it were only insects that did not deserve his attention, unless they could serve his selfish purposes.

He considered himself to be something of a deity, and his selfish labors were so diligent that if he turned his knowledge to the benefit of the human race of which he was a part, he could indeed become like God. But selfish and evil beings never seek the divine. And at best, they can only rise one step above a person. A caterpillar can turn into a butterfly, but if it hates sunlight and the air of the higher spheres, then it is better not to grow its wings at all.

Now, this person, this egoist sorcerer, has learned that by using certain magical spells, he can summon elemental entities to himself, and then by using them create astral beings — albeit soulless, but fueled by his own energy.

And then in his life began a strip of real, active service to evil.

He found a place in the mountains which he considered a safe haven, and then magnetized the surroundings of his hut accordingly, turning it into a center of concentration of astral forces. One of the ideas he brought to life for his own protection was his right to sole ownership of the territory.

But the owner of this mountainous area, where the sorcerer settled, decided that the vicinity of his hut was an excellent place for hunting wild animals, which were found in those places, and soon the silence of the sorcerer’s solitary magical research was broken by the thunder of hunting rifles, and the hunters themselves even dared to cross the invisible circle through their unholy bodies.

This suggests that he was not so all-powerful, because if he worked in his hut for the benefit of all mankind, none of the representatives of this humanity could desecrate this place. The refuges of the Masters of Compassion are securely protected from uninvited invasions.

Driven by rage and frustration, he invoked curses on the heads of hunters and on the entire district, and with his black magic created creatures capable of fulfilling his curses. He created them on the surface of the earth, as well as underground and in the air, and each of them was given a special assignment, threatening terrible punishment in case of disobedience. Thus, he used his abilities exactly as the Law, according to which real Teachers work, categorically forbids their use.

He managed to get the hunters out of these places, but the creatures he summoned and created remained there, whether because of his lack of knowledge or lack of responsibility to drive them out or destroy them.

And when he died at a fairly advanced age of one hundred and twenty years, and these beings were freed from the supervision of his will, they still remained there in a semi-animate state, in the lower layers of the Astral World.

A hundred or more years passed, and an unprecedented war broke out over Europe. And when evil spirits came with her from the Unseen World, seeking for themselves prey and pleasures, these old astral monsters also awakened from their slumber and joined them; and the whole district, cursed by the evil sorcerer, was poisoned by the poisonous breath of these beings, whose only raison d'etre is the hatred of one man for men, having disturbed him that time.

I am not going to describe here the process by which he created these entities and imposed his evil spell on the entire district, because he does not intend to give this egotistical world of knowledge, with which he can only multiply the number of his future sufferings. I just want you to understand that Serbia is a really dangerous place. That is why it was chosen as the epicenter from which the spread of the destructive waves of the great war began.

The Serbs are a brave people, and besides, they know nothing about the astral calamity that has fallen on them. They became prey to evil forces, because the latter was easier to reach them through that area marked by an ancient curse.

It is time for the people of the New Race to learn that there are things in the Astral World that should be avoided. If some teachers had not told people so much, this warning might not have been necessary, but alas, the world has already acquired such a clear idea that there is another world within and outside their own world, that their natural curiosity begins to pose a threat to themselves, and therefore it is necessary to warn them not to joke with the invisible, until their selfless devotion to their fellows is so great that they can not yet study the world with such selfless devotion.

The old sorcerer has gone to areas where the egoistic scientists can continue their research without being constrained by the limitations of dense matter, but at the door of the next incarnation he is already waiting for responsibility for everything he did in the mountains of Serbia during his previous earthly incarnation. When he returns to your world again, his new body will be the victim of all the misfortunes that he himself created, trying with all his might to protect himself from other people who, however, had the same rights as himself.

Stay away from Serbia until it clears itself of this plague — you, whose work is not directly related to the destruction of this plague. But it is a different matter for those healers and other scientists who deliberately go there to save the race from the nightmares that threaten it - they have all the honor and all the glory of war and peace, for they freely agreed (their higher entities agreed) to become tools for serving the world.

I have already said that evil elementals are afraid of scientists, and although scientists are fighting this plague using material means, the power of their will and their selfless intentions extends beyond their material actions, affecting the Invisible World as well, filling it with life-giving energy, although their objective mind does not even suspect its existence.

Yes, honor and praise to scientists!

Letter 32 

Judas and Typhon

27 April 1915 

I told you about the crucifixion that the soul of the race is going through right now. Now I want to tell you about Judas, who sold this race for thirty pieces of silver.

The reader of this book, whether you are a Jew, a Christian, a Hindu or a Mohammedan, if you know anything about the process of initiation of the soul, then you should know that the Gospel drama - whether it is a historical fact or a myth, interpret it yourself, as you wish - is a true description of the process of initiation.

And an integral part of this process is the betrayal of Judas. Without it, the cup of bitterness would not be full, and it must always be filled to the brim, whether its soul is the drink of the race, the soul of the individual, or the soul of Christ.

"Father, why have you forsaken me?" were the words of many crippled soldiers on this terrible Calvary, where the whole race was crucified.

All these difficult months — from August until spring — the race carried its heavy cross, and now — in April — it was nailed to this cross and left to die. A crown of thorns will be placed on the bleeding eyebrows, nails will be thrust into the feet and palms, vinegar will be applied instead of water, and now a cry will break from millions of lips: “Either, or, lama savahfani?”

Judas’s betrayal could not be avoided, nor could Typhon’s actions. Without Judas, history would be incomplete. If Typhon had not killed Osiris, he could not have risen up Horus, his son.

But in spite of all this, I do stand here — hiding behind the veil of the invisible, as some detractors might say — and I ask the world to soften Judah's terrible punishment as far as it is in his power. Remember when he himself said on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”?

Nothing in the Sermon on the Mount, nothing in the scriptures of the East, nothing in the annals of the whole world can be compared in greatness and spiritual significance with these eight words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”!

Those who now sin against the race really do not know what they are doing. They are intoxicated with the fury of destruction, they are mad with the consciousness of their own guilt, but they cannot know all that they are doing. Only the initiated souls among the Germans dimly guess what Germany really did.

And yet I tell you, forgive and pity them, for they have a terrible role to play, and their suffering will be immeasurable.

Let it not frighten you that thousands of your blood brothers are dying, and even when you feel that you are dying with them in your spiritual communion, remember that in the end the Good must triumph, because the race is now in the ascendant stage. And her blood is not wasted.

Did not the human race know, by sharing bread with Germany at the last supper, that it was Germany that would betray her? Race knew.

And the subconscious essences of people in that terrible July knew and saw in dreams that a difficult ordeal was approaching. Remember? Even before this drama broke out on the Calvary of the Nations, it had already managed to resonate in many of the most sensitive souls.

That Germany was destined to betray the world was written in advance in her soul; but if the world continued to hate her for this betrayal, a wound would open in the heart of the human race that would hurt for another thousand years. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Recognizing the need for evil in the system of the Cosmos does not mean coming to terms with this evil. To forgive a sinner is not to diminish his sin. Imperfect reason is incapable of understanding the terrible Law of Balance of Power, and therefore the Guardians of Sacred Knowledge have so far been so restrained in their public utterances.

“It is necessary that evil should come into this world, but woe to him through whom evil comes” — thousands of churches have repeated these words, but the second half of this phrase has always been understood much better than the first — “It is necessary that evil should come into this world.”

Being what it is, Germany could not but betray the Race on the eve of this crucifixion. It was written that the race of men should be betrayed, and no other nation but Germany could do so.

Typhon had to kill Osiris, obeying the law of his own being. And now Isis, the great Mother, the Woman of the World, is walled, wandering the earth, searching for parts of her husband's body.

And these parts are scattered for thousands of miles along the entire front line. Isis was indeed a widow.

And since each person is the embodiment of the great Archetype, there is now a person who has become the embodiment of the Traitor. This is Wilhelm of Germany.

The disease, which had long corroded his brain and was one of the reasons for his megalomania, became that vulnerable place, a place not protected by the lights of the magic circle of Europe, through which the forces of evil could penetrate the world. Woe to him through whom evil comes!

And to say now that the world should not hate a nation that Evil has chosen as its abettor, I do not at all call for sentimental weakness when the imminent conclusion of all these events is already evident. But the world, at least for the sake of self-defense, must make sure that Germany can never repeat its betrayal. I leave the specific ways of achieving this goal to the experts, for I am only a humble spirit and I speak to you sitting in my safe haven behind the veil of the invisible.

Letter 33 

Straw Crowns

29 April 1915 

In my attempt to contain the bad karma of Germany, I am not at all trying to violate the Law of Justice, the Law of Cause and Effect. On the contrary.

Your understanding of the Law of Karma should be very superficial, if you have not realized that time is also one of the factors. Many quite solvent firms would go bankrupt overnight if all their depositors suddenly demanded their money back at the same time. Germany’s bad karma is its moral and financial debt. Give her a little time to adjust to a completely new way of thinking.

The other day, I happened to hear you and your friend discuss the hypothesis that the false slogan “Deutschland uber Alles”, which Germany has perceived as being constantly repeated, was able to obscure the real facts, and that the human race may be now going back to the era of reason, when a sufficiently powerful concept, even if false, will be able to change the facts, adapting them to itself.

We'll wait and see.

The idea that Germany and the Germans are above the rest of the world is so deeply rooted in the minds of this race that it will be very difficult to eradicate it from there.

As you yourself have noticed, history is known to another race, which has declared itself to be “chosen” by God and for this presumptuous statement scattered throughout the earth, which has become a homeless people, and is it a single people in general?

Trying to create something by talking about it as already existing is not new in itself. Affirmation and negation are used, and very successfully, by the modern school of thinkers who completely ignore the facts of nature.

Now, by denying and ignoring natural facts, we can either weaken for a certain time and to a certain extent the influence of nature on ourselves, or, on the contrary, having failed in this field, become more toys in the hands of nature than ever before due to the mere consciousness of our own failure.

A healer of Christian science who has failed to cope with the treatment and has honestly admitted it can either continue to insist on his abilities, despite his obvious failure, or completely lose confidence in himself and in the statements of his science, or he can revise both in the light of the facts and engage in a true study of the mysteries of nature and reason.

Germany can choose any of these three ways, after she has become convinced of the truth of the ancient saying of the wisest of men that he who took the sword by the sword will perish.

Have you ever tried to convince a German of something he believes to be wrong? I see they've tried. So, were your arguments able to prove him wrong, too? I'm afraid not.

Now Germany has really transformed itself into a great nation, just constantly postulating its greatness and superiority in all respects. But her mistake is that she tried to prove it in practice. In trying to prove a thesis, you tacitly admit that the statement opposite to yours also has some ground, and if you are unable to confirm your own point of view, you recognize yourself defeated, unless, of course, you are German. The German, even if he is persuaded against his will, continues to stand by his opinion.

If the facts do not support his own views, then these facts are false. But now the facts are true, and Germany is in fact in every respect not superior to all other nations on earth. Of course, it can field more guns and more soldiers than, say, two or three of any other state, it is a fact that we readily admit; but superiority in the number of guns and soldiers is only superiority in guns and soldiers. You wouldn’t call him superior in every way.

Germany has said that truth is power. Well, let him try to prove his power, and then we'll talk about how much power is right.

A few years before I left the Earth, I was stronger than the vast majority of my acquaintances, but if on this basis I decided to knock them all out and take off their watches, then all my strength would be needed for me only to move my six-foot body from corner to corner in the space of the prison cell. I would have taken the watch off, but I couldn’t have kept it to myself anyway, because my individual strength would eventually have been broken by the strength of the society I lived in. The same with Germany.

Most people consider themselves superior to their friends and acquaintances and secretly annoy that their friends and acquaintances do not recognize this. But even though they are confident in their supposed superiority, they usually do not try to assert their superiority by striking into the chin.

And if I myself begin to think of myself as superior to all men and all angels, I will not really surpass them in anything, except that I reveal my stupid self-importance.

Even if a Christian scientist, having broken his leg, will claim that his leg is in perfect order, the existing fact will not change. But the fact that the strength of this statement can help him cope with the trauma, it is impossible not to agree. Often it really works.

Germany’s self-doubt added to her energy and made her material present more grandiose than her material past; but this could not prove her “comprehensive” superiority, except that she could convince the whole world of this by forcing him to recognize his subordinate position. The Germans are not enough authoritative lawyers because they always exaggerate the importance of facts in their favor and challenge the facts against them.

They are so unintelligible to the critical mind of other, more critical races that they, in trying to persuade them, simply insist on their point of view, and thus become initially biased.

But Germany will do one service to peace: it will make it stronger. This is a tragic service that will turn against Germany itself. Many fathers, by their blind cruelty, made their sons even more cruel than themselves. Many people, injuring their friends, in response received a stab in the heart. A friend may become more violent than before, but is it good for him? Perhaps. Experience is useful. A person grows not only through pleasure, but also through pain. And if Germany’s brutality makes the European races stronger, they will all benefit from it — all except Germany. Doctors who give too bitter a medicine are often simply brought down the stairs, without even paying for a visit.

There was once a psychiatrist who said that his daughter did not have to learn to play the piano: it was enough for her to convince herself that she was a pianist, and she really would become one.

So, Germany is now acting as the very daughter who trusted in this doctrine, and as a result turned into a nightmare for all neighbors. She also puts herself in danger, because she can simply be evicted for disturbing public order.

Also, a group of individuals, insisting on something, does not necessarily achieve results proportional to its number.

Remember what I wrote to you about white and black magicians: that two good-doers have the power of four, but two working together in the name of evil gain the power of only one and a half people? What are the Germans working on together? Only good for themselves, just like black magicians.

The German conceit was so deeply ingrained in the German soul that the Germans now sincerely believe that by conquering and enslaving other countries they are doing them a service. No, I'm not exaggerating. I heard the Germans themselves talking about it, and without any hint of a joke.

In madhouses there are many people who think they are kings, but now there is a new patient who declares himself the King of kings. So, even such patients are not as convinced of their kingdom as the Germans are. If facts were determined by conviction alone, these people would indeed be kings. But what is it? For themselves, they are kings, just as convinced that the Germans are “above all” as those kings in straw crowns who sit in mad houses.

It is useless to argue with the king in a straw crown. He has an unquestionable argument in his hands - a crown of straw. Don't you see? And if you don't greet him properly, he just turns away and walks away.

But even a "king" from a madhouse can be cured and his sanity restored - the same as that of other people. That is what I wish for Germany. The same is desired by the Masters in Germany, for Germany occupies a high place in the annals of the Teachers. The king in the straw crown succumbs to the false idea of his own kingdom, but does not lose his soul. He is the immortal son of God. His spirit is as pure as mine or yours. He only fell into a temporary delusion, usually caused by too long reflections on seeming injustices and disrespect. Something similar is happening with Germany.

When the idea of one’s own superiority began to poison the minds of these noble people, they were not yet a great nation. They felt that they were being treated unfairly and did not show due respect. And the only outlet for their wounded egoism was the world of the mind, where persuasion plays a huge role. They turned away from the world and began to weave their straw crowns. They were kings, and anyone who did not notice this was not worthy of the honor of becoming their friend.

However, then, when their insanity became violent, the great doctor War came and isolated them in a relatively cramped space, but the little people they knocked down with their first blow still lie, spread out on the ground, and cannot yet recover. The descendants of these kings will have to compensate for the damage. The law for nations is even stricter than the law for individuals.

Who dares to say that the state has no morality? Can a state be spiritually subordinate to a person? Nothing more than the Planetary Spirit is subordinate to the state. There is a cosmic morality, and everyone who violates it, whether it is a state or a person, sooner or later awaits retribution. Karma is the law.

Letter 34 

Sylvia and Father

29 April 1915 

Yesterday, passing along the front line, where the great French army is standing, restraining its powerful enemy, and everywhere noting the spirit of courage and determination, merging as it were into a continuous endless line of living light, I suddenly noticed a familiar face in the above-ground spheres.

I stopped, very pleased with this meeting, and the sylphide — and I met the sylphide — also stopped, greeting me with a smile.

Remember in my previous book, I told you the story of a Silphide named Marilyn, a man who studied magic and lived on the rue de Vaugirard in Paris?

It was Marilyn who I met then over that bright line pointing the traveler in the astral realms to the place where the soldiers of la belle France fight and die for the same ideal that once inspired Jeanne d'Arc - to expel foreigners from France.

"Where is your friend and teacher?" I asked the silfidu, and she pointed me down to the trench, from whose defenders clearly emanated the radiations of determination to win.

“I’m here not to break up with him,” she said.

Can you talk to him here too?

"I can always talk to him," she replied, "and I've been very helpful to him and to France all along.

- France? - I asked with increasing interest.

- Oh, yeah! When his commander wants to know what is going on in this sector of the front, he often asks my friend about it, and my friend asks me.

“Indeed,” I thought, “the French are a very inspired people, if the officers of their armies are looking for instruction in the invisible kingdom! Didn't Jeanne have similar visions?"

“How do you get the information you need?” I asked, getting closer to Marilyn, who looked much more serious this time than a few years ago when we met in Paris.

“Nothing special,” she replied, “just go down there and look around. I know what to pay attention to — he taught me — and when I bring him news, he hundredfold rewards me with what gives me even more love.

- You? Do you still love him the way you used to?

- Like before?

Yes, as in Paris.

"Time must be too slow for you," said the sylphide, "because of what happened only a few years ago, you say 'as before'."

Does it mean nothing to you for years?

“Nothing for me,” she replied, “I live a long time.

Do you know your friend’s future?

Marilyn’s face was affected by confusion, and she slowly said:

“I usually knew everything that was going to happen to him because I could read his will, and everything happened exactly the way he wanted to, but since we got here, I think he’s lost his willpower.

Have you lost your will? - I was surprised.

“Yes, I lost her; now he is constantly praying to some great Being who loves much more than I do.” He keeps repeating the same prayer: "Thy will be done!" But he has always had his will, and now, as I said, he has lost it.

"But perhaps," I said, "it is the same with will, as was once said of life, that one who loses his will, on the contrary, truly gains it.

“I hope he finds it soon too,” she said, “and he used to give me interesting errands, and I helped him get what his will demanded, and now he’s just doing it, sending me there all the time. I don't like it at all!

- Why not?

Because there's something out there that threatens my friend.

How does that relate to his will?

“You know, even about this he says every day to a great Being who loves me more than he loves me: ‘Thy will be done!’”

“Did you think you could learn this prayer yourself?”

Sometimes I repeat it with him, but I don’t know what it means.

— And you have never heard of God?

I have heard of many gods: Isis and Osiris, Seth, Horus, the son of Osiris.

Or maybe it is one of them he says: “Thy will be done!”?

- No, no! These are not the gods he used to call upon during his magical pursuits. He seems to have found a new god.

“Or did he return to the oldest of all gods?” I suggested.

“Our Father who is in heaven.”

“If you also learn to say to our Father in heaven, ‘Thy will be done,’” I said to her, “this will help you quickly find the soul you dreamed of and waited for when we saw each other last time in Paris.

How can our Father help me?

“He gave souls to people,” I said.

The eyes of the Silphids glittered with some almost humanized glitter.

Could he give me a soul?

They say He can do anything.

I will ask Him to give me a soul.

But to ask Him for a soul, it is not enough to simply repeat the prayer that your friend repeats.

- He's just saying--

- Yeah, I know. Suppose you repeat it after him.

I’ll tell you again if you tell me what that means. I want to do things the way my friend does.

“When we say to our heavenly Father, ‘Thy will be done!’ it means that we give up our own desires, our desire for pleasure, love, or happiness, or anything else, and add up all these desires to His feet, sacrificing for His sake all that we have or hope to have, because we love Him more than we love ourselves.

“It’s a very strange way to achieve your own desires,” she said.

“And this is not done to fulfill their own desires,” I replied.

- Then what for?

Just out of love for Heavenly Father.

I don't know any Heavenly Father. Who's that?

This is the source and purpose of your friend’s existence. This is the One who will one day be your friend again, if he can always say to Him, “Thy will be done!”

The one he will be again?

“Yes, because when he unites his will with the will of the Heavenly Father, the Heavenly Father lives in his heart, and both of them merge together.

So the Heavenly Father is really the True Essence of my friend?

“Even the greatest of philosophers could not have been more precise,” I confirmed.

"Then I also love the Heavenly Father," Marilyn whispered, "and now I will repeat to Him all day long: 'Thy will be done!'

Even if His will separates you from your friend?

How can she separate me from my friend if the Father is his own True Being?

“I wish all the angels understood as well as you,” I said.

But Marilyn had already turned away from me, completely immersed in her thoughts, repeating over and over again with a joyful smile on her face: “Thy will be done! Thy will be done!"

“Indeed,” I said to myself, “while continuing along the bright line, he who worships the Father as the True Essence of his beloved has already found a soul.”

Letter 35 

Behind the dark curtain

1 May 1915 

One night, when the noise of battle was quiet and the full moon was illuminating the trampled earth with its rays, the trenches filled with people, the gentle green grass in spring and the flowers lightly painted, I came face to face with a powerful Being wrapped in a dark mantle. With a slow and majestic gait it moved along the front positions.

Seeing me, the creature stopped. I also stopped, amazed by his grace, his tall stature and the aura of royalty surrounding him. His face was hidden from me.

"Who are you," he asked, "who is wandering here at this hour, as if immersed in thought?

“I am a man who has much to think about,” I replied, “and this hour is most suitable for thinking.

- What are you thinking?

The war is the one under us.

What were you thinking when we met?

“I was thinking about peace,” I said, “and I was asking myself how to stop this carnage.

“A legitimate question,” said the royal Being, “maybe I can help you with something.

- Why don't you drop your veil? - I suggested. - I'm used to seeing the faces of those with whom I talk.

The creature threw away the edge of the mantle that covered his head, and I saw a face whose expression I even find difficult to describe. It reflected strength and malice, and yet - a strange beauty, both sub- and superhuman. It seemed to freeze the eternal pain and eternal struggle, but in the eyes of the fire of will, struck me with its strength.

- Who are you? - I asked.

"What does it matter who I am?" replied the Being. "I am the one who has come to solve the riddle that occupies your thoughts.

“But you don’t look like an angel of peace,” I said, “rather you look like those who are fueling the fire of war even more with their own hands.

That’s why I know how to restore peace. What can a peace-loving creature know about the world? Only the warrior knows the meaning of the word.

"I am ready to listen to whatever you say to me," I replied, "because I see that you know something about the Law.

“I am one of the executors of the Law,” he said, “and I know how peace can be brought back to Earth.

- Will you tell me about it?

“That’s why I came here, and that’s why I met you,” he said.

- How did you find out about me?

I know all the strongest workers and many of the less powerful. You are one of the strong.

“What you are saying is too much an honor for me,” I said, “because I am only a humble soldier in the army of law enforcement.

"The modesty is great," he said, looking me in the eye, as if trying to determine what effect his words had produced.

— Whoever you are, I said, and I suspect you are an unusual being, know that the question of my personal status long ago ceased to be among my primary concerns.

That is why you can serve the interests of peace.

- Then talk, - I asked.

For a while he looked at me with a fiery, questioning look, and then asked:

Are you tired of war, of the labor of war?

I am more tired of my sympathy for those who are suffering.

Do you want them to stop suffering?

"At times," I said to myself rather than to him, "it seems to me that for the sake of putting an end to all the horrors that are going on down there, I would gladly give up my own life.

- Your life? What do you mean, your own life?

I mean the consciousness of my freedom and the freedom of my consciousness.

“Not a bad definition for the life of creatures like you,” my interlocutor noted. — So you are really ready to sacrifice your life for peace?

I would love to, if it can really save the world.

- It's possible.

“Then could you get straight to the point?” I demanded. “I feel that you are going to tell me something important.”

“What could be more important,” he objected, “than sacrificing a life like yours for the sake of peace?”

- Go ahead.

"There is a way," he said, "to free the people down there from further suffering by sacrificing what you call 'freedom consciousness and freedom of consciousness.'

And again, I tell you, keep going.

"It is in my power," he said, coming closer to me and plunging into me with his burning eyes, "to so influence the minds of the people in the fighting armies, in the armies on both sides of the front, that they will refuse to continue the war with each other.

Will they betray their country?

“And they will restore peace,” he corrected me.

What role will be assigned to me in all this?

- A very important role.

- You're talking mysteries again.

“Well, I’ll explain,” he said, “but for you to understand me, I have to tell you who I am first. I am one of those who serve the Good by opposing it, and thereby give it even greater strength and activity.

- That's what I thought. Now you can tell me exactly what you needed me for?

- I wanted to offer you the following. If you really want this carnage to stop — and it has been going on long enough to achieve the goal that I serve, and I am pouring blood on the whole world, causing it such destruction that it cannot be corrected later and in ten years of creative work, to awaken all the hatred and all the evil passions that nest in the heart of man — if you want this carnage to stop, then I have a means that can stop it.

- Yeah, but what do I have to do with it?

"I have been watching you for a long time," he said, "and I see how diligently you follow the principles given to you by your Master.

Why did you ask me when I met you?

Just to start a conversation somehow.

- Yeah, yeah, I said.

“I watched you,” he repeated, “and I realized that with your strength and your knowledge, you could be of great benefit if you changed your sympathies and joined us. Your consciousness of freedom would have increased even more.

But this consciousness of freedom was only my definition of life! I thought that by trying to adapt my own judgment to the limitations of my mind, you would tell me that if I lost my life, I would find it.

A barely noticeable smile slightly distorted the wrinkled face of the creature in front of me.

“You would be a boring helper,” he said, “think again before you turn down my offer.

“You’re offering me a deal,” I replied, “but you never said what it was. I am an old lawyer and I am used to the formalities.

The smile immediately fell off my interlocutor’s face, and he said to me:

If you become one of us, I will stop this war.

- Can you?

- I can.

- How?

- I already told you.

"But the medicine you're offering is worse than the disease itself, even assuming - which I personally doubt - that the patient agrees to swallow it.

So you're not willing to sacrifice yourself even if I prove to you that I can do my part?

— I disagree.

In fact, the fate of the world is of little concern to you.

“You sound like a real German propagandist,” I told him.

“You mean they reason as logically as I do,” he said.

“I was always surprised,” I replied, “at what school they learned such logic so well.

- So you're rejecting my offer?

I don’t know why you’re wasting your time and energy on it.

- In any case, this should not be regretted: the very communication with you is a real pleasure.

I have heard before that the devil is a great flatterer.

The devil is very polite.

We stood there, looking at each other with an appreciative look. He was an interesting subject to study.

“Let’s forget for a while that we have different ideals and different goals,” I told him, “and we’ll just talk like two minds...

“Equal in strength,” he put in.

“Tell me, why did you decide to play on my love of the world and my willingness to sacrifice yourself for it in an effort to win me over?”

What else could I play?

“But I must have some weak spot, some secret sin, using which your sharp mind could try to captivate me.

“Oh, I am too clever to tempt you through your hidden weaknesses, for you are determined to fight them! It is impossible to lead you astray in that way. Only those who have recently set out on this path can easily be brought down by playing on their shortcomings. But we fight greater souls by using their own virtues.”

“Continue,” I asked, “I’m really interested in that.

“On Earth,” he continued, “you can rip off a cat in different ways. Similarly, neutralizing employees who serve the Teacher, which you follow yourself, can also be different. When we cannot lead a worker astray by his evil passions: his hatred, malice, greed, lust, envy, or fear, we sometimes succeed in weakening him by his noble passions: his love, his devotion, or his willingness to sacrifice himself.

"Thank you for your frankness," I said. "Now I just have to say good night to you."

And I continued my journey, saying to myself in a low voice:

“A serpent is more treacherous than all the creatures of the field, and a man needs all his wisdom to resist it.

Letter 36 

Lusitania

7 May 1915 g .

And yet they continue to attack us - the formidable forces of Darkness and Evil, who are striving to unleash their fury on the world and to get saturated with the blood of the dead.

I haven’t been with you for a few days, I haven’t had time. Did you think time meant nothing to me? That's not true yet. If time meant nothing to me, I would not be able to talk to you, as I say now, at a certain period of time. And if I had overcome space, I couldn't fit next to you in your room.

During the six days that you did not see me, I was here, and there, and everywhere in Europe, even in Asia, because the world was attacked from all sides.

A little earlier I told you that we had already driven away the hordes of evil. But they gathered their forces and again rushed to attack, perhaps not as powerful as the first, but more desperate and even more fierce.

This time, the target of their attacks was the United States, and indeed the entire continent of that ancient extinct Race which fed them with blood many centuries ago during its magical rituals, the continent on which, after all these long labors, a New Race must be born.

If I had always remembered the Law of Rhythm, I would have known in advance that a tidal wave of evil would come again and that we would have to fight it again. Even now it can find fresh forces and make another attack, although it will inevitably be even weaker.

Those evil beings we have destroyed are destroyed and will not disturb us for a time, but we have destroyed very little compared to the number of those who still remain and are able to act. Help us with your thoughts.

Many of our friends on Earth have lost confidence or are very tired over the past few days. But you hold on!

What will be your day, such will be your strength, O peace for which we fight, and for which we will eventually win the crown of peace and brotherhood!

As I have said before, the world is now undergoing the torment of the rite of passage. The test of water, the test of air, the test of fire - all this must pass the world before it can take its place among the Initiates in the Star Hierarchy. There is no turning back, and the world has no right to fail. If he does not stand the test, then soon a vacant place will appear in the Zodiac circle. But he'll stand.

I met again the evil creature I wrote to you about at the beginning of this series. Now he rushes in rage, filled with the power that his position gives him. While his hour has not yet struck, he is trying his best to assert himself.

The denouement is near, and if I don’t come to you as often as before, it’s because I can’t leave my post too often.

Never lose courage. Your faith, as before, should be a testimony to the recognition of things still not visible to you.

This second battle with the forces of Darkness will make us even stronger, and their weaker.

I know many things that I cannot tell you, for you are not yet strong enough to perceive these things, but remember one thing - the Law of Rhythm always remains in force, it is the Law of Laws, and after this storm there will be a corresponding calm, after all this agony there will be rest and peace of love. When all hatred is spent, love will come in its place.

Do not hate, but stand firm, just fighting off all attacks against you. Don't waste your energy. You will need them again and again. And if we use you as a material support, starting from which with our etheric feet, we can overcome a much larger space, it is only because you offered yourself to serve the world, and your services were accepted. Remember that.

Now is not the time to talk about reward, but the Law of Justice is always on guard.

Strengthen, as much as possible, the spirit of those who have suffered too much, and we will strengthen you. The angels you saw last night are the guardians of those who serve the Masters. What your day will be, so will your strength.

I will tell you one magic that you can use during a thunderstorm and despair - turn to the Spirit in you and repeat:

"In the name of your paths that lead to good and your steps that all lead to peace."

Only in contact with the mind, with desire and matter does the Spirit struggle and suffer. And in his own house there is always peace and grace. When the storm starts to roar too loudly, try to climb up to this house and enter it, there you will find peace and quiet.

Do not let your body out of control. If you weaken your control over matter, you will no longer be able to serve as a material support, and it is now that those who finally go on to live in the Astral World, at first experience very great difficulties.

Stay calm, confident and balanced. Be not quicksand, but rock.

That's all for now.

This work on the letter allowed me and you to rest. And I'll be back.

Letter 37 

The Hidden Prophecies

8 May 1915 

If it were not easy to frighten you, if you did not come out so quickly from a passive state in which only you can perceive my words, if any, even the easiest shock did not immediately return you to your normal objective consciousness, then I would tell you yesterday about the death of Lusitania, and not confine myself to hints of this catastrophe.

You stop writing as soon as your brain starts working, it’s quite natural, but as you can see, it limits my ability to communicate certain information to you.

We were there when the ship sank. There were several of us, including the one we call the Beautiful Being.

Be courageous. This is the only advice I can give you right now, and I can only advise you to stay in America for the time being. The benefit you could bring in England now outweighs one circumstance that will become clear to you before the middle of August.

If you look into that letter in which I told you about the great Being of Thought, who was walking along the German line of defense and who inspired those who were able to understand Him, the thought of the hopelessness of their cause, you will see that in it I urged you to watch over the consequences. So, these desperate and reckless attacks by the German nation in all directions are the consequences of this event.

15 May — A very important date. No, beyond that, I won't tell you anything else.

The forces of good will win.

Disturbing news from Europe will soon reach you. But whatever happens, stay calm. We have done and are doing everything in our power.

Thank you for what you did for my friend and student. <...> But you can do something else for us. <...>

There are many things you don’t understand, but we do. The path of dedication is thorny for everyone. Love each other, you who follow this path. It makes the road easier.

Letter 38 

Advice to the “secretary”

11 May 1915 

You can do us much more if you do not back down from the grief that this crisis has caused and that is now sweeping the world.

Every day try to rise to the level of the spirit, to rise above the physical world, over the desires of the astral plane, over the lower level of the mind and so on, higher and higher, to the Source of all life and all wisdom.

Make time each day for this exercise. Use the Jewish spell that you used before, and to give it strength, combine it with yoga classes, in which you also have a lot of experience. This combination of the two systems will give you even more power, because it avoids too close identification of the true essence with any particular race or any era, which would inevitably limit your abilities. Occult development and occult faculties belong to all ages and all races. The knowledge of the New Race, which is about to appear, will include all the systems of the past, drawing from each what it surpasses all others.

Don't fall back into the depression I had to pull you out of today. You don’t have to die a thousand times to understand what death is. It seems to me that you have already plunged too deep into the abyss of universal sorrow. Get up in spirit, at least a little.

Your compassion will not become less sincere, even if you do not die of pity every day.

Your real work will begin only after the war, when the world will be able and willing to listen to the doctrine of brotherhood. Don’t burn out too soon, here is my advice and that of my Master, who is passing it on to you through me.

Teachers are also very concerned about this crisis, but they do not lose the presence of the spirit. They know that after the storm should come calm, and do not lose their faith. 

How can you help someone if you are constantly in the state of the terrible depression that has gripped you in recent days? You should not seek help from anyone but us. You know where to find us. And so it is your duty to strengthen the weakening spirit and the weakening faith of those who have not yet received the guarantees that you have received.

This letter is not a rebuke, but a lesson for you. I am not calling on you to return to selfish peace, turning away from all the ills of today and forgetting the fate of the world. I never forget the world. I work day and night. But what good would I do to those war-torn souls who come to us here if every time I met them I started crying? On the contrary, I try to make them stronger by seeing my strength and to be inspired by my hope.

And if I tell you that your real work will begin only after the war, it does not mean that at the moment you should not do anything at all. Nothing like that. There are many things you can do, in both worlds. But if you will die from the wounds you see here, and if you allow yourself to be dragged into the abyss of despair, how will you pull others out of it?

I cannot repeat every time that this war is an initiation for peace. Out of the ashes of the old world will arise a new, enlightened world - the world of FENIX. And I wish you could stand up with him.

Agony cannot last forever. Now it is especially terrible, but this only means that the denouement is already close.

When I told you that the issue has already been resolved, this did not mean that the war on Earth should end in a couple of days. Examine the cause and effect. Consider the various ups and downs that are subject to the Law of Cyclicity. The tidal wave must exhaust its strength by hitting the shore, and only then it begins to slide back into the sea.

Stay calm. Keep the faith as it is kept by those whose task it is to keep the faith in all mankind.

When you say that you will suffer as long as the world suffers, you speak as our disciple should, and we do not accept any other solution. But remember that, in suffering, a person must remain strong. We don’t want you to shy away from experience, but you should master that experience and use it, rather than let it take hold of you and use you.

When I wrote to you recently about America, did I not mention the "American who stands guard tonight," the old Abraham Lincoln, who cast off Heaven to protect and defend the land for which he gave his life? Let the thought of it give you strength and confidence.

And the other countries that you care about also have their own invisible guards. Even the country you do not love has its Guardians, and they make sure that this country does not go so far as not to be able to return to the bosom of human brotherhood. There are also souls who are well aware that their country has already reached the limit, which means finally becoming an outcast among other peoples. Even in America, there are Germans who are aware of this. And if I were to give you the names of some of them, you would be very surprised.

It is good that American Germans can feel the negative attitude of Americans to this recent act of piracy in neutral waters. Let it touch them for life. This is the only way to learn this lesson.

Did you think that in dictating this book to you, which is to be published after the war, I had only inspired my thoughts to you alone? No, I inspire other people with my thoughts too.

A few days after I told you about Abraham Lincoln standing guard, a newspaper published on its pages a drawing depicting President Wilson, behind whom stands the ghost of the great Lincoln. You think it's a coincidence? No, not a coincidence. It was just that I inspired my thoughts and the thoughts of the Masters behind me to other minds besides yours. I am a worker in the astral world. To influence the minds of men is one of my duties, and therefore I often have to move from place to place to be where I am needed; but nowhere have I tried to write as I write with your help. I tried to do it, but without much success. It is rare to find a good "secretary" who can write to the dictation from another world, for he must be able to distinguish the thoughts of the dictator from his own thoughts, objective and subjective, as well as both of these categories of thoughts - from the thoughts of irresponsible beings who love to stick their noses in earthly affairs.

You want to know why I'm not telling you any more stories? I will tell you, but not before my next visit.

Letter 39 

One of the small ones

13 May 1915 

The story I’m going to tell you today is pretty sad, but we’re writing about war.

This happened three days after the death of Lusitania. Leaving the mountains and valleys of war-ravaged France, I set out across the sea to be where I needed to be at the time.

As I approached the crash site, I met the soul of a child who wandered lost looking for someone. It was a girl with sad and frightened eyes, about twelve years old.

“Can I help you with anything?” I asked, holding her hand, so that she would stop her fruitless throws for a while and linger near me.

“I lost my mother,” she said.

- I don't know, - I answered. - Let's look together!

It is very often difficult for a frightened soul to find another soul in the Astral World, whereas a calm soul usually copes with this without much difficulty. Similarly on Earth: when we try to find someone in a hurry, it seems that someone’s invisible hand keeps him away from us.

As I continued my journey with the child, I met many more equally bewildered souls. They were all looking for someone or something.

- Where are we? - asked the baby. - I thought we were going to London.

Don't you know your ship sank?

Did I really drown when I fell into the water?

- Yeah.

I thought I was dreaming because I was dreaming.

“Yes, you were asleep, but the fact that you drowned was not a dream.

- Where am I then?

You are in another world.

- In another world. I thought the other world was in heaven.

Heaven is another world too.

Am I somewhere else now? Isn't it bad here?

“No, you didn’t get to the darkest place,” I said, “and gradually you will find your way to heaven.

Why did I drown? Why did our ship sink? It was such a beautiful ship, I loved playing on deck!

The ship sank because Germany was at war with England.

- What did I do to them? Why was I drowned?

To prove that England is not the only landlady at sea.

- What's this got to do with me?

It has nothing to do with you, my child. You had nothing to do with this. It's just that you're an accidental victim.

Who drowned us?

- Captain of a submarine.

He must be a very bad man.

It’s hard to imagine a good man doing that.

Why can't I find my mother? She drowned, too?

- I don't know that yet.

- So you don't know everything either?

- Of course, I can't know everything.

- But you're an angel?

I am not an angel.

- Who are you?

- Man.

Did you drown too?

I left this world three years ago.

The girl was crying. Do you think that children never cry after death? Dead children often cry. Wouldn't you have cried when you found out you drowned after you woke up and didn't find your mom next to you?

I almost cried with her too, because I also had children, and one of them had died as a small baby.

Why did I have to drown like this?

I guess I was really bad, just didn't know about it?

- No, I don't think you were that bad.

Flying over the stormy sea, we saw the corpse of a woman. He floated face up, illuminated by a pale light. The girl could see him too, but not as well as I did.

Have you ever seen a child weeping over the dead body of its mother?

If such a sight seems sad to you, is it not doubly sad to see the living soul of a child weeping over the body of a mother whose soul has already flown away?

This scene seemed to me one of the most heartbreaking I have ever seen.

“Come on, my little girl,” I said, “your mother is not here.

A little further we saw the body of the child. It also floated face up, flooded with dim light. I knew whose body it was. The girl understood that too.

“It’s not pretty now!” she said.

“Come on, my child,” I repeated, “we need to find your mother.

But it seemed that this floating in the water "object" firmly held it near itself. The body really looked ugly, although the soul standing next to me was beautiful, despite all its sadness.

- What will happen to him now? - she asked in a frightened whisper.

- I don't know.

Do you think he will be buried somewhere?

- If they find him, they'll bury him.

Can you tell them where to look for it?

- Yeah, but if we wait for someone to come here, we could lose your mom altogether.

We have met many women rushing above the water, mothers searching for their children, wives searching for their husbands; some searching for their lost bodies, some wandering aimlessly, overwhelmed by sorrow and perplexity.

“How sad to die,” said the girl.

"It's not always sad to die," I objected, "sometimes death is beautiful.

Where is the man who drowned us?

- You want to see him?

- I want him to see me.

“He will see you in his sleep for the rest of his life,” I said, “whether he lives to old age or dies tomorrow.”

We saw a woman in front. She walked towards us, breaking her disembodied hands.

- Where's my girl? Where's my girl? she repeated again and again.

"Mommy, I'm here!" cried the little girl, and both of them joined their arms.

- I found you! I found you! - Mom and daughter repeated again and again, not letting each other out of their arms.

Wanting to alleviate their sadness about everything that happened, I did not immediately part with them.

“Come with me,” I told them, as soon as they regained the ability to listen to me.

- To where?

- We'd better get out of here.

“I want to go home,” the girl said.

“We don’t have a home now,” said the mother, “we are in another world.

Did you know what happened? - I asked.

- Yeah, I know, I know!

“Would you join me?” I repeated.

“Are you an angel?” the mother asked, repeating her daughter’s question exactly.

I told her who I was and what I was doing here.

— Does that mean there is nothing more that can be done to help us? — the woman asked.

That’s why I came here to help you.

- But where are we going now?

— Anywhere, as long as I do not stay here.

During our conversation, another woman came up to us, too, looking for her lost child; and then another child — not her — came up looking for his mother.

I have to tell you, I had no idea how to deal with all these confused and frightened souls. Where could I take them so they could rest and be comforted?

The entire astral region around the Earth is filled with sorrow and crying. Only the strongest and most determined souls are able to rise above all this darkness and horror at once. And where did these newly arrived souls come from? You already know that here in this world, we follow our thoughts and desires, including our fears and our grief.

I took my mother and daughter to another part of the world and left them there with the rest in the care of two more experienced souls who voluntarily assumed the sad duty of helping the newcomers. But just as we cannot teach a young child differential calculus, so we cannot immediately transfer to the higher, more peaceful realms of those in whose hearts there is no peace.

(I must first ask Master how far I will be allowed to go in my account of the terrible conditions that surround us.)

Even the restoration of peace on earth cannot immediately cleanse the Astral World of the plagues caused to it by war. You think that you are suffering (and I know better than anyone how much you have to suffer), but you can always escape your suffering into the material world - you can walk in the sunlight through the green mountains, and sometimes you can rise to the heights of the spirit, rising above astral and material contradictions. But these millions of sufferers cannot return to the physical world, and few are able to rise to the level of the spirit. Therefore, only the greatest of the Masters of Wisdom can deal with the problem of their immediate future, for in such cases only their great wisdom can find the right solution.

Do not lose courage - you, for whom another day of equally strong excitement is not far off. Do not lose courage, for although you may not be aware of it, I myself, in which you seek support, also rely heavily on you. This is a secret that I may or may not reveal to you in time. You are the steady support from which I can draw when I need material strength. And I will not overload this support for anything.

If you can’t handle this tension without someone’s support, you can talk to my son, but use this remedy only as a last resort. You have to learn to stand alone.

While working on our previous book, you did not have to experience such a strong tension, but we did not need you so much, the need for your strength was not so urgent. Besides, you couldn't do all the things you're doing now, and I couldn't do much of what I can do now.

Again, I say to you, do not lose courage.

Those wounds and painful faces that you see at night, those sad calls for help that you are trying to answer, can give you some idea of what we have to see and in what conditions we have to act - daily, hourly, hourly.

I have had to use the substance of your own etheric body to construct an optical device by which I can now see the world under the sun — your world. But this service you've done me won't do you any harm in the end. And besides, haven't you dedicated yourself to serving humanity? For you have men here and here, and the "eyes" that I have made for myself from your substance now allow me to do for them things that otherwise would be beyond my power.

Consider this a plus for your positive karma.

Letter 40 

Height and depth

14 May 1915 

Do not lose faith in the future of the world. Have you studied the Law of Rhythm? Or do you not know that height is always equal to depth and that when the process is at its lowest point, it is preparing for another ascent at this time?

In these days of the twentieth century, life flows quickly. A thousand years ago, it would have taken a decade to get through all the horrors you have experienced in the last ten months. The recovery will probably be just as quick. Do not lose faith in the future of the world. Even some Germans disapprove of the Lusitania attacks! Not all is well in this empire, even from the point of view of the empire itself. Stay calm and wait for results.

Letter 41 

Conclave of Teachers

14 May 1915 

One day the races of men will return to the love they have forgotten. One day, the Germans and the English, the Italians and Austrians, the French and the Turks will all sit together at the festive table of Life and proclaim toasts for health, not for each other's death.

And that day will come sooner than we can imagine, judging by the present hatred and bitterness.

War is replaced by peace, hatred by love, just as the sun begins to shine again after a storm.

Love and hate! To know one thing, you should see another. Of course I don't need to tell you that! What did you know about love before you became the object of someone’s hatred?

Love and hate are twins born of emotion.

Someday people will look for their enemies no longer outside, but inside themselves will one day fight only against the evil that is contained in themselves, and then they will no longer have to kill their brothers. Someday, love will regain its dominant position in the world, and hatred will return to its backyard.

I have already told you about the evil entities that started this war. But there are also good beings who are eager to stop this fratricidal slaughter.

Tonight, in the realms above the world, there is an unusual silence. What is it: calm before the storm or, conversely, after the storm? Everything is subject to the law of rhythm. Stay calm and wait with faith in God.

Sometimes a storm makes the air fresher. And the current thunder and lightning will also give the air a new freshness. Yes, the world had become too stuffy, and its atmosphere had to be cleaned up.

Don't scream, don't cry, and don't laugh. Stay calm and believe in God.

What do I mean when I talk about God? Look deeper into your heart and you will see that I am I.

When the world experienced the time of his childhood, a person believed in the Force that is outside of himself. Now, at the time of maturity, a person believes in a Force that resides both outside and inside him. This is God, I am I!

Strive for the heights of the Spirit and prepare yourself for the Service of the World. The Spirit is crucified on the cross of the material world. Christ is clothed with matter in order to ennoble and exalt it. Love is clothed in the clothes of hate so that love and hate can merge together.

What do I mean? Don’t you know that love and hate are One, that they are eternal opposites that complement each other?

When hatred rests, love comes into its own; when love rests, hatred comes into its own. But this night, love and hate came together. Try to understand the meaning of my words, if you can. Look in the magic mirror and find the desired picture.

Unity of love and hate! This is the neutral point at which these two opposites go hand in hand.

Those who serve the world, the conclave of the Masters, gather for advice this night. What time do you ask? Try to sleep, and the hour will be known to you. If you are quiet enough, you can even listen at the open door. Otherwise, you won’t hear anything.

Do you think I'm saying weird things tonight? Tonight all things look strange, if by strange is meant unusual.

Try to remain quiet and remember that God lives in people’s hearts, but in some He is still asleep. God within you will remain asleep until you yourself awaken Him.

“This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.”

Love your enemies, even when they persecute you, for there is also a God in those who persecute and hate, but he sleeps.

By hating your enemy, you can never understand him. You can never understand the Masters until hatred and love merge into you.

After the declaration of peace, your love will once again rush towards your current enemies. So why, in anticipation of this event, can not love them now, this night? Your enemy needs love most of all just when he least demonstrates it. Do not break the silence and know that the world now stands at the very foot of the throne of the Spirit.

Hatred will not help you. Hatred cannot be used consciously for one’s own good. Remember the words of God: “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Now, go to bed and listen to the teachers' council room at the open door. You may even hear things that you can’t tell the world yet.

Letter 42 

The Kabbalah Lesson

15 May 1915 

Should I remind you of the vision that was revealed to you last night — the terrestrial races in the form of Sephiroth on the Kabalistic Tree of Life?

You know more about Kabbalah than I do, but you would never have learned about the Kabbalah correspondences of the peoples of the earth if the Master had not pointed them out to you.

The truth is that Germany (Gebura, Mars, Pahad, Cruelty) has become so cruel, so "Martian" that it has endangered the life of the whole Tree because it has upset its balance; and only through the power of the United States, depicted in the form of a certain Jecirrhatic Way, and provided the prudent relations of the United States with another Sephira, personifying the British Empire, can be restored.

The teacher told me something about Kabbalah.

Thanks to this vision, you now know what role the United States will have to play in the fate of the world - the role of Hesed, mercy. This will be the leitmotif of the Sixth Race, while Germany sought to create it - the Sixth Race - in herself with the help of blood and iron! What foolishness and short-sightedness!

Perhaps you do not need to tell the world about the place other races have occupied on the Tree of Life in your vision, except that the Three Divines are not represented at all in the form of races of the material level. This you can assert, in reference to my authority, that some German Kabalist should not begin to argue that the Teutonic race takes the place of the Keter. No, on the material level, the Three Divines are not represented.

Watch and pray that America goes the right way. So far, it has moved unmistakably. In those days of retreat, next to the president

Wilson was always the great soul of Abraham Lincoln. Did I tell you that he gave up his rest so that he could help the country for which he died when the day of the great trial comes for it? 

And so every day I will tell you a little bit of what my own understanding tells me.

It is good that you were able to rise to the level of this vision, otherwise you would probably remain too wary.

Now pray that the living soul of America's great son Abraham Lincoln will strengthen your President's hand and spirit.

Only God knows the future.

Letter 43 

The Second Coming

16 May 1915 

To those who have suffered this war, who have had to suffer either from bodily wounds or from wounds of the soul, it seems sometimes that Christ turned away from the Christian world and, perhaps, withdrew to some other star where His teaching would be understood and His law of love could have a real impact on the lives and hearts of people.

But Christ, who died in order to teach people to live, could not leave the world in this hour of severe trials.

He is still the same Christ, loving and compassionate; and he who tries to put in His place Christ, the merciless and hating, he defiles

His holy name, and someday he will have to suffer a terrible punishment for this blasphemy.

One day I met Christ face to face, as he was walking the earth in Galilee. Are you surprised that you are Christians who hope to meet Christ after death? Why couldn’t I meet him? Or have I served little in life and after death? And don't I serve now as my humblest? Yes, I saw Christ.

Wait, and He will come again “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” although this time He may not walk on earth clothed in material form. Why should He now return to earth in a mortal body if more and more men and women are opening their spiritual vision, thereby gaining the ability to see Him without parting with their physical body?

I used to tell you about the Beautiful Being on the battlefield, but now I will tell you about what Christ is doing on the battlefield.

He was never afraid of pain - the Son of Light, who showed the way of pain to the trembling souls of people. The cross of Christ is alive, and its power will manifest itself more and more as the world comes to its senses after its baptism with blood.

When the demigods leave, the gods come to replace them. When Mars, the demigod, the god of war, has to return to his usual place, then in the hearts of men and women, the God of love and compassion can appear instead.

Wise are those who prophesy to the Christian faith a new rebirth to life. Christianity has become old and conservative. Once it was saved, it forgot to think about saving the world. Feeling safe, she did not bother to protect the world from Mars, the god of war.

Many souls in their last hour, in the hour of their agony, saw Christ; many souls in France, in Belgium, in Poland, and on the frothy sea recognized a Friend who is more kindred than a brother.

Many mothers were visited by clear visions of their dying sons, who were supported by Christ. Catholics, Protestants, “freethinkers” — they all asked the Son of Mary to help their sons at the last, most terrible moment or after it.

Yesterday I saw one man, a mere soldier, barely passing through the arms of death, ascending from the egregious hell of Belgium immediately to the high heavens, leaving behind the restless realms of the Astral World, and it was only because, dying, he called out to Christ, in whom his mother believed, and asked the Savior to take him from this nightmare to heaven above the world in which peace reigns. Ever since this test of fire began, many have had to go this way, but many have remained below. Not everyone has enough faith for such a great flight.

Whatever religion you have to deal with, let there be Christ and the cross of Christ in it! What other comfort can there be for a soul who feels pain and sees what terrible pain the whole world now has to endure? Philosophy is not a bad thing, I myself called myself a philosopher, but love is the highest achievement of philosophy, and Christ is the highest manifestation of love.

Now they talk about a new religion, as if the love of Christ is old and no one else needs love. The love of Christ is reborn whenever the soul, at the moment of enlightenment, discovers this mystery of its own heart.

Worship Christ in your own heart, for He is there. Worship Christ in the heart of your friend, for He is there. Worship Christ, hidden in the heart of your enemy, for He is there too. And then kill if you can and if you know exactly who you want to kill.

A new spirit entered the hearts of the soldiers. They continue to fight, but in a dream it was revealed to them that they are fighting with their brothers.

And even those who kill at sea, pirates with the eagle sign, they too are your brothers. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Defeat them, for that is your duty, but do not forget that they are your brothers.

Christ, hovering over the battlefields, has no flag. He is the first among the neutrals because He loves everyone, even pirates with the sign of an eagle and those who are killed at sea. Even the Roman soldiers on Calvary He did not curse.

He willed to know all the limitations of the flesh to understand them after they had been overcome. We are not given to understand the essence of any restrictions until we cross them.

Who knows better than He what is the agony of crooked flesh, broken bones, and torn nerves? Can a wounded soldier teach him anything else? Can a world that has experienced betrayal advise him what he should do with Judas? "What you do, do quickly."

The one who betrayed the world has already hanged himself from excess zeal. Don’t think he didn’t feel any pain when his image was burned in Rome. He felt it. For a moment, the Supreme Commander felt enlightenment. Yesterday I saw his demon walking, growling, along the front line. When I first met him, a few months ago, he wasn't that angry.

If only I could make you realize that all I'm talking about is facts, not fantasies! All this I saw myself as clearly as you see a table or a pencil in your hand. And if I say I talked to demons, it's just that I talked to demons. And when I say I saw Christ, I really did see Christ. I'm not writing a novel, and I didn't come back from traveling among the stars to compete with storytellers. I am dictating all this to you, to make clear what would otherwise remain secret, to reveal to the world the causes, so that it will not be mistaken as to the consequences. I want to help even that race that all other races, including their Turkish allies, are now cursing.

Only the mercy of Christ is great enough to forgive even this worldwide betrayal. And I tell you that these traitors were provoked, inspired, and in turn betrayed by completely personified forces of evil, desperately trying to set the clock of civilization in the opposite direction.

But Christ cast out demons and raised the dead. So why not cast out the devils who are supporting the war now? Why should He not accompany the dead into the realms of peace and rest that await them? And can He not raise you to the level of His own mercy?

Letter 44 

Poisonous gases

27 May 1915 

This time I will not talk about mercy. This time we will talk about the eastern winds and poisonous gases and about the demons associated with poisonous gases.

Once again, the whole hell has turned against the world. We're even worse here than we were in the last pre-war month.

I haven't been with you for eleven days. And in all those eleven days, I haven't had a single hour to meet you.

If you had the strength to hear what I could tell you at this time, you would never have dared to tell the world about it, but I can tell you a lot of things that you are able to hear and that the world has the right to know.

Eastern Winds and Poisonous Gases! The very idea looks satanic, for people die in indescribable agony from the gases that bring these winds from German positions to where the war is being waged by ordinary means. But poison gas is a devil's weapon, and the devils fly with them. I saw their flocks flying forward, their eyes burning with hatred, their mouths skewed with fury and gloating.

Oh, you living so far safe in your own country! If you could look beyond the line of enemy trenches, if you could see all that is in the air over the military camps of your opponents, you would even feel sorry for them. Many people on Earth have become completely like the violent.

If people who invoke the forces of hatred send such infernal smokes to strangle and torture their own kind, then they can no longer be fully called people.

I, able to see their souls, am horrified by this spectacle. Perhaps it is even good that you are alone now, because it will be easier for you to withstand what I will tell you.

If it were not for the work you have to do in the future, if it were not for the work you are doing now and will do in the future, I would take you away from your world for good, at least from your present incarnation.

But you will have to endure to the end, as I myself endure to the end, because your work is not yet finished.

Those who say that everything is fine in Germany are brazenly lying, or they are simply hypnotized by the lies that still make Germany believe in the possibility of its victory.

If hell had conquered heaven, all souls would have been destroyed. If hatred were to prevail now, the whole world would fall apart.

Hatred! You do not know the true meaning of the word. The hatred of England, the hatred of America, the hatred of Italy! Every molecule of the race that provoked this war is poisoned by hatred. Babies absorb it along with their mothers’ milk and become sick. Children see it in the eyes of their parents and turn away in fear for themselves. No, you don't know what hate is.

Together with the poisonous gases, the east wind brought a blind demon to meet me. Where'd he come from? From some underground hell where there is no light, and therefore no need for eyes. If I could paint, I would paint it for you; and words are only meant to describe things known to the race from its experience; but of those who could see these things, no one used speech to describe them. As he made his way, this astral monster finally clutched at his victim, the prisoner in the hands of the French, the one who spat at his jailers, gripped by the madness of hatred.

No, I must not tell you what happened next; I will only say that the astral soul of the prisoner left his body and never returned.

This attempt to tell the world what I now know is like trying to play Beethoven’s music with a whistle. I feel now as a mathematician would feel, who undertook to teach young children their science. I'm not going to tell you anymore just because you can't take it.

The world is old, the world considered itself wise, and this is what it has come to!

There are many convinced souls who want to learn to feel on the astral level. I heard one person say in your presence that such and such an attack was "only astral." I heard, but I didn't say a word.

Do you know what the Astral World is, you are seeking knowledge of it? The astral world is a world of sensations, a world of emotions, a world of love and hatred. And now this world has become so dense because of the evil passions that overwhelm it that it can already be “cut with a knife.” And now it is really often cut - with knives and bayonets - and hordes of demons suffer from contact with this steel. "Just astral!" But even the astral world over New York, which, as you know, is terrible, is nothing compared to the astral world over the battlefields. Stay away from him! You won't be able to do any good there. If you can, go somewhere in the mountains and look there, in the pure breath of pine trees, for salvation from the poisonous astral world of New York. Go there and stay there until the pressure goes away. Where you are now, you can’t do anything useful either.

In the clean air of pine forests, I will be easier to dictate. Away from the poisonous fumes of war-ridden New York City, for the devils are moving along with the winds of hate, and you must not fall victim to them.

Your work is not done yet.

Letter 45 

Superman

1 June 1915 

In one of the higher realms of the Astral World — not in the realm of pure reason itself, but very close to it — I met last night a man who was walking around, putting his head down in thought.

“What’s bothering you, friend?” I asked as I approached him.

He stopped his anxious gags and looked at me.

Who are you? he asked indifferently.

“I am the judge,” I replied.

There was interest in his eyes.

"You must have answered my call," he said, "because I really need a judge.

“Do you want me to pass my sentence on someone?” I asked, barely holding back from smiling after his strange words.

- Yes, I want you to pass your sentence on me.

What crime did you commit?

“I have committed — if, of course, this is a crime, which you should tell me — in general, I am guilty of leading the nation to its own death.

Was it originally with malicious intent?

“Perhaps so,” he replied, “but not in the sense in which you mean it in your question. I never thought they'd have the guts to believe me.

"You're awakening my curiosity," I said. "Who is 'they'?" And what exactly were they not supposed to believe?

“They are Germans,” he replied, “Germans whom I despised. And they believed my theory that a man becomes a superman if he only does what he wants.

Does the devil take the laggards?

- Yes, the devil takes the laggards.

He put his eyes on me, and I waited for his words to continue.

"What a people these Germans are!" he said at last. "Whatever they do, they take it too seriously. They cannot be trusted with any great truth.

“It looks like they really broke your teaching down,” I agreed.

“I wanted to make them gods,” he complained, “and instead I turned them into devils.

“Only God can create gods,” I said. “Perhaps you were too ambitious.

- Yeah! Maybe I was too trusting.

“Stealth is much safer,” I picked up, “you told them too much.

Or maybe too little.

How many Toms did it take?

Ask the librarians. But not for foreigners - they are always making collections of them to please readers.

- How can I help you?

- Judge me.

Why do you blame and defend yourself?

Who else can accuse or defend me?

- Then start with the accusation.

“I seduced a whole people and led them to disaster.

- Explain it in detail.

I wanted to cure them of their softness. By following me with their proper thoroughness, they could become completely solid: neither hearts nor intestines.

Continue, I asked.

I preached superhuman. They acted like subhumans.

“So far,” I interrupted, “you’re blaming them, not yourself.

“But how can I blame myself without blaming them?” he objected.

Then I’ll try to go down the stairs and talk to you as a human being.

It’s good that you didn’t say it like a soul.

I have enough of a man! Like I said, you were too ambitious.

“Yes, too ambitious for a man; I am too tired of people and too fond of what a man could become!”

“It looks like we’ve already moved on to defense,” I said.

“You haven’t lost your judgment spirit yet,” he grumbled.

You asked me to be your judge.

- Yes, it is.

I feel sorry for you, I said.

He smiled a condescending, sad smile.

“You have a heart and a soul,” he concluded.

"You've been alone too long," I said, "you've lost your old eloquence. Why don't you let me accuse you, defend you, and judge you? You can interrupt me whenever you want.

- Okay, he agreed.

“You were born under a troubled star,” I began. “You wanted to follow the heroes, but they disappointed you by being human. Then you made yourself your hero, but it brought you the biggest disappointment.

- I think you know everything about me.

This is the glory and shame of your greatness, that everyone knows everything about you.

- I disagree with that! You don't know anything about me.

- And what do we not know?

You don’t know how much I loved someone!

- But you spoke of him with contempt.

Because he could have grown into a superhuman.

- Oh, yeah! To drown children on the Lusitania, cut your way through Belgium, lose all your friends and become a curse to the whole planet!

He raised his finger, stopping me.

“You’re not talking about me, you’re talking about the Germans,” he said.

But they are the only ones who have brought your philosophy to its logical conclusion.

Is that why you're laughing at me?

- I'm not laughing at you. I'm just setting out the facts. You were the one who laughed at them and almost killed them.

But I was just preaching superhuman.

- So much higher than a man that a man just didn't understand you.

- Is it my fault?

- Whose else is it?

- Maybe them?

- Nothing like that. You had too much hate in you. And you taught them to hate people.

I taught them to hate anything below the superhuman.

But man himself is inferior to the superhuman. So you taught them to hate themselves.

But each of them was also below the superman!

But now everyone is trying to become one. You taught them that. They thought that they had become superhuman, superior to good and evil. You taught chemistry to young children, and they blew up their world-wide cradle.

I just wanted them to know.

But I had to start with the alphabet.

What would you call a superhuman alphabet?

"A" is love, "B" is humility, "B" is truth.

“Why, then, have I not taught them neither love, nor humility, nor truth?”

“Because you knew neither love nor humility nor truth.

- I didn't know love?!

- Yeah, you didn't know love.

- And I didn't know humility?!

Your arrogance has become a parable in tongues.

- And I don't know the truth?!

You know only half the truth, and half the truth is not the truth, just as half an apple is not an apple.

Are you saying that my teaching was false?

“And the biggest lie in it was that they could turn into superhumans when they weren’t ready to accept the superhuman.

But man must rise!

“Man must rise above himself and not over others,” I replied.

What should I have taught them?

That the superhuman is man’s servant, not the abuser and not the tyrant.

- But they wouldn't understand.

- Don't be so self-confident. For there are few who have understood the Son of Man.

- Oh, you mean him!

Which you rejected.

He taught people to be slaves.

“Whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.”

Well, if you want to quote Scripture...

I am quoting the superhuman.

- So you're thinking...

I believe you have rejected the only well-known example of your own ideal.

- And you think...

- Yes, I think you're crazy because it's too late to realize that your teaching is false. I think that you simply did not find enough courage in yourself to refute your own conclusions and thereby rise above yourself; to rise above yourself and really become a Superman.

- So you think I knew everything?

- I know you knew. I know that He came to you in a vision, that you yourself understood what your mistake was, and that you were never able to accept your new understanding because it came to you too late.

“You know too much,” he said.

“You asked me to be your judge,” I reminded him.

- But not the executioner.

You are your own man and your own people.

“My people!” he squealed contemptuously.

- I told you you didn't know love!

- What do you want me to do now?

Go back to Earth and teach people how man can transcend himself. Go back to Earth and teach people to follow the carpenter’s Son, whom you called upon them to reject. Go back to Germany and deny yourself.

- How can I come back?

In another body, of course, in a clean and healthy body, the purity of which you will have to maintain.

- What do you mean?

- You know what! I told you you didn't know Love. All you knew was pickiness, swagger, and the urge to make a sensation.

"You gave me a difficult task," he said.

“Eternity is a long thing,” I replied. “And the new Germany will need your new teaching.

Should I thank you? he asked.

- Not necessarily. I thank you for not challenging my sentence.

“Good night,” he said.

“Good night,” I repeated.

And Friedrich Nietzsche's soul was gone. Maybe the gate of rebirth?

Letter 46 

The Temptation Serpent

2 June 1915 

After our conversation yesterday, when I told you about a tortured soul who asked me to make a judgment about a doctrine that had deceived an entire nation, I returned to France to the battlefields (the Germans will not be able to let me down with their torpedoes).

Walking slowly along the German positions, I saw a tall, majestic figure, entirely shrouded in black — the same one I described in an earlier letter.

This time I greeted him without waiting for him to do it himself.

How are you doing? - I asked.

He threw away his veil, and I saw before me a gloomy and majestic face, on which thought and vice were deeply imprinted.

“They’re coming, as always,” he said. “What were you doing?”

"This evening," I wrote for the world of men, "I answered.

He laughed.

Did you write about peace?

- Not this time. I wrote about my conversation with one great and restless soul.

- Yeah, I know.

- How do you know that? Did you eavesdrop?

I have a long-range phone.

“A wonderful thing is the phone,” I noticed. “Did you inspire his invention?”

- Me? Oh, no! I opposed his invention.

- But why?

It’s bad when a person knows too much.

“But when a man, despite all your efforts to prevent him, does invent something, you’re trying to turn these inventions against him, aren’t you?

- Of course.

“You are a very interesting conversationalist,” I said. “Did you find my conversation with Friedrich Nietzsche interesting?

— Much more than you can imagine until you learn why it interested me so much.

Will you explain to me why?

I have no reason to keep it a secret. I am honest with those who can see right through me.

Why don't you teach the Germans?

It will ruin my whole game. I want to destroy them after they serve me, but if they understand everything, they will become so true that their sincerity will disarm the whole world against them.

“But they are also quite sincere in their cruelty now,” I said.

- Oh, yeah! But that's not the case. If they had repented, the world would have forgiven them.

What do you think of Nietzsche?

Only what inspired him.

- You did a good job.

I always take everything I do very seriously.

Tell me more about it, I asked.

“What kind of worker could I get,” he exclaimed, “don’t decide to join the forces of good!

“But I was a good worker here too,” I objected, “and I even managed to upset some of your plans.

He laughed with a sharp, snarling laugh.

“Don’t think it bothers me too much,” he said. And even if you close the door in front of me, I can always get through the window.

How did you get close to Nietzsche?

Differently: that way, that way. He closed the door only in front of a man, and I, as you can see, is always also a Superman.

I noticed it during our first meeting. He who goes beyond the human must choose between good and evil.

“There is no point in lying to you, and I will not try to do it again,” he said. “Yes, I encouraged Nietzsche to preach the idea of a superman to the Germans. Because, imagining themselves to be strong, they could only choose the path of evil.

- What did that get you?

Instead of answering, he asked me a counter question:

Have you ever played chess?

“Often and in many lives,” I replied.

- And you liked that game?

- Very much.

- Did you play for money?

- Oh, no.

What was your interest in that case?

- Huh? The game itself.

- That's right, - he said. - And I treat my work as a game. When I play, of course I try to win. If I lose, I still enjoy the game.

And you played with the soul of a great man?

Like a cat playing with a mouse. I found in him a sincere spirit, but one vulnerable place in his head and the same in his heart. I handled it without much difficulty.

- But how did you do it?

In the usual way.

- What do you mean?

- Flattery.

- And he didn't feel the trick?

- I had to rite the crow in peacock feathers. And he is an ace.

So you always praise your product when you're trying to poke someone in a bag?

- It's not always necessary. Only when you're dealing with people like you.

“Yes,” I said, “you tried to come to me with speeches about peace. But I have too good a feeling.

The others have taught you a lot.

Has Nietzsche ever seen you like I do now?

He saw my proud face and trembled, feeling my strength. He was jealous and wanted to be just like me. You know, it's very funny when these mortals in their pride sincerely seek to imitate me!

Did you teach him to be superhuman?

“Yes, and I taught him to despise the One who was really the Superman.

Are you saying that you’re not really a superhuman?

“My mind is above the human level, but everything else is closer to the earthly level.

But you always hold on to that dignity.

“Oh, the earth and everything connected with the earth has its dignity too!

— Did this German philosopher really never find out who you actually are?

- I found out, but only at the very end, when it was too late to be able to reverse everything that had been done.

“So,” I cried, “in the end he saw two forms of the superhuman: you and Christ!”

- Yes, I did. And what he saw drove him crazy.

— Doesn’t your conscience trouble you over what you are doing?

- Conscience? What's that?

“You see, remorse is an emotion that people have when they feel they’ve done evil.

“The emotion that arises in people, — he repeated. — But I feel only those human emotions that give me sensual pleasure.

- Like...

You are indeed too curious and too annoying!

"I admit I'm annoying and curious," I said, "but I'm interested in this: you're taking a whole life's work — a man's life — only to turn it into a tool for achieving all this — and I gestured to the front line that was passing under us.

His eyes glistened, and he said:

What is life compared to the greatness of all this? You can work a thousand years and never achieve anything comparable to this!

- So you like it, all this carnage?

- What a stupid question! It rewards me for all my work, it glorifies me, it elevates me. All this carnage is the work of my hands and the hands of my kind.

Did you plan all this in advance when you were trying to seduce a nation with your writings?

- Yeah. And he was the perfect tool for that. No one else was better suited than him to achieve our goal — ambitious, dissatisfied, aristocratic, arrogant, loving — in the broadest sense of the word, capable of reckless passion and, consequently, disappointment, and, last but not least, ready to perceive visions.

In which you appeared to him?

- Yeah. At first he saw me in a dream, admired me and sought to imitate me.

And then you started telling him about Superman?

- Yes, using rather old arguments: that women should not take into account the lie at all, that female love interferes with a man, that a woman enslaves a man if he does not enslave her himself; that Nature is the devil, not the Great Mother, and therefore she should be conquered in every possible way; that a man rises to superhuman, when he rejects everything that can influence him, including his own recognition.

“Your teaching is in itself a magnificent combination of truth and falsehood,” I said.

“Of course,” he replied, “but what do you want?” The truth alone could never have achieved this.

And he pointed with his long hand to the field of battle that lay beneath us.

What else did you teach your chosen student?

Everything he taught the world. When he removed the female face from his heart, I opened the account, and he decided that he was a little closer to the Superman.

As he began to swell with pride and a sense of superiority, I recorded another point in my asset, and he thought he was getting very close to the Superman. When he read the Gospel and laughed at the humility of the Son of Man, I attributed to myself two points at once - one against him and one against your Christ.

“Thank you,” I said, “for counting me among the followers of the crucified Christ. You were not mistaken about that.”

Ignoring this last remark of mine, he continued:

I supported his desire to create a new ideal of the leader, the new Christ, the Antichrist, the harsh German Christ, who was to conquer people not with love and compassion, but with firmness and cruelty. Oh, I did a great job! Many Germans have set this ideal in place of the Son of Mary. Many Germans put me in the place of their Sun God and called me Superman, although he did not have the courage to call me the Antichrist. On the contrary, he attributed my qualities to Christ and called us both by the same name, and, hiding behind this name, wanted to destroy all pity and compassion in himself and in all others, wanted to destroy love, because it prevented him from becoming like me. It was I who taught him to worship the cross as a symbol of cruelty — not self-sacrifice in the name of love for man, but sacrifice in the name of self.

He fell silent, staring at the stars that shone serenely above us.

"I think," I said, "that you yourself are aware of the superiority of Christ over the Antichrist.

Again, he paid no attention to my remark, but continued to develop his own thought.

What an intellectual delight this transformation of the Christian nation into selfish monsters, cruel to all that does not belong to them! They should hate, despise, use, ridicule and insult any foreigner in every possible way. I taught them that only in this way can they become superhumans, overcome their human nature.

“Why do you put all your cards in front of me if you know mine is still better?”

When he turned to me, his eyes seemed ready to bake me.

"Because I'm jealous of you," he said.

— What is this — another veiled attack against me and the principles that I adhere to?

My dark companion laughed again with his abrupt, unfunny laughter.

“In truth, no,” he said. “You haven’t interested me as an opponent for a long time.

- I mean...

I’m tired of playing this game, at least for now. And the souls that I managed to deceive, already tired of me and my teachings. They are already seeing a new light before them - some of them.

"Perhaps," I said, "they saw the light of Christ, the true Superman."

Perhaps, he agreed.

Have you ever seen this light?

“Are you so presumptuous that you are trying to turn the devil himself?”

- Oh, no!

Suddenly he turned to me again:

Do you want me to be your student?

“No, again,” I replied. “That’s the best thing you can do to a good woman. It'll be easier for you to fool her.

You seem to know all my tricks.

“My Master told me a lot about people like you and your methods.

"Then I can only wish you a pleasant evening," he said, and vanished into darkness.

The world I'm writing this for, I'm trying to communicate to you what can equip you with knowledge. When Satan asks you to turn him, beware that he does not turn you. When Satan shows you the Overman, even Christ himself, first make sure that this Christ is not the Antichrist; make sure that He is full of compassion, that His heart grieves for the sorrows and imperfections of the world, that His crown of thorns is indeed a testimony of His self-sacrifice for man, and not merely a decoration for Him. He said, “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And again, "Be careful that someone does not deceive you. For many will come in my name, saying, "I am the Christ," and many will be deceived, <...> For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will give great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect."

Letter 47 

The New Brotherhood

9 July 1915 

I want to tell you about the New Race approaching. The world is now carrying a child, and the current generation will be able to look surprisedly into the clean eyes of a baby who will atone for the sins of his parents.

Strengthen your faith with the banner of the New Race, work for it, prepare for it clothes and be ready for its coming.

You are already in contact with those who will help the New Race to get back on its feet, who will become its teachers and mentors. Join us for the great cause that is set for America in the near future. No, you don’t have to stay here all the time, but you shouldn’t be leaving for long. Leave and come back, because from the trip you can bring with you new impressions and the spirit of romance of the Old World to entertain and inspire the New World.

But always be loyal to everything new.

There is a force in America’s pristine nature that can recharge you from time to time. This wild nature will atone for the sins of American cities. Life in the cities is too mundane. They have forgotten God. But in the open air, under the open sky, the awakened soul will acquire the ability to receive messages.

Send your children to nature to drink water from uncontaminated sources. Water coming from a water pipe can refresh the body, but water from mountain springs refreshes the soul.

Behind the veil of Nature hides the face of the Great Mother, and although she does not always smile, her eyes are always full of dreams and mysteries. Nature is not the devil. On the contrary, the Devil is waging eternal war with Nature. Nature is Isis, Mother. Do not listen to those who blaspheme. They confuse Isis with Typhon. It is Isis, Nature, who will produce the Mountain. Return to Nature and ask for a message from Her. She waits in the silence of the woods, the murmur of the stream is Her whisper; when the leaves make noise in the trees by the wind, it rustles Her dress. O children of the New Race, meet your Mother, for she is near! In Her hands you will find peace that will restore your strength, and in Her eyes you will read Love, alien to all selfishness, the bliss of self-sacrifice.

For too long you have lived in cities, forgetting about the Mother who nursed you. For too long, you have not felt the good magnetism of the earth, transmitted when bare feet came into contact with it. For too long, you’ve been walking through dead, stone, and non-magnetic streets that only took energy away from you, giving nothing in return. Go back to the woods and the streams. Read your fate by looking into the eyes of real stars, not those printed on astronomical maps. Jupiter has a message for you that he will convey only when he meets you face to face. There is a message from both the gentle Venus and the restless Mars. So go to them, and in the silence of the mountains, alone with Mother Nature, they will impart to you their knowledge.

Do not build your temple in the market square. Let the forest be your home.

Go back to the city when you need to, because it’s always good to know the opposite. After the bazaar crowd, the silence of the cathedral seems even deeper.

Give honors, when they are deserved, to those who led children to the knowledge of the secrets of primordial life. You adults are the same kids who just got a little higher. Drive the dances around the birches or around the fire. I already mentioned when I wrote to you about your Paris fire, which was being burned with wood, that the smoke from a burning tree can bring about visions. But what is a fireplace in Paris compared to a fire in the forest? Yeah, I was there that night, too, standing a little away from the whole company and enjoying the view of the fire.

My greetings to the Chief!

The salvation of America lies in this movement to return to the wild. Move! You can call this process. He was awakened by the forces of the earth itself; he is inspired by the Spirit of the race; it will spread further and further, covering an ever wider range.

He who throws a stone in the way of this movement, himself stumbles over it. And whoever brings Satanism into this movement will be consumed by demonic forces. And there will be less of it than there will be of the wood after the fire burns.

Stay in peace. We stand guard, and with us are the souls of thousands, tens of thousands, millions of Native Americans who cannot find peace until they hand over to someone the flaming torch of the secrets of Nature they inherited from their distant ancestors.

Those who oppressed them and plundered them have treated them with contempt; but their forgiveness will atone for your sins, O America of a new Race!

Did you know that many of those who have found peace in the “happy land of abundant hunting grounds” are now returning to reincarnate in the country they once loved? Take a look at the protruding cheekbones of many children, look at their eagle eyes and slender, taut figures.

Oh, America, in pursuit of your destiny, you have once committed a great injustice! Yes, it is. Try to redeem her now. Let the reincarnated red-skinned children play in the wild forests, teach them the ancient code of honor and courage, and then they will work hand in hand with the incarnated souls who come now from Europe — hand in hand they will go forward, bound by the Brotherhood of the Friends of the Forest.

My greetings to the Chief!

Letter 48 

Severe test

9 July 1915 

I still feel the keenest interest in the country where I was born. Difficult days lie ahead for it, and the great soul of Abraham Lincoln is closer than ever to the helm of state at this moment, because peace and war are now in balance, and each day could prove decisive.

No irreparable misfortune should be allowed to happen to this country, for it is the great pioneer of racial freedom. As I told you a few months ago, one arm of America threatens the other, and both together they threaten the whole body.

May she keep the peace as far as possible, without prejudice to her honour! But if this dark day comes, let her meet it, proudly spreading her shoulders; and if her external enemies are added to this, and internal enemies, well, she is not used to it. I remember someone once asked God to protect him from his friends, and he could deal with his enemies himself.

The current calm of the American Germans is fraught with a threat. But if the time comes when decisive action is required, they should still be asked to return to the bosom of their current naturalization, and those who do refuse should be treated harshly, up to deportation. There is another country that can take them back to Faterland, once abandoned by them for the freedom they have now insulted and betrayed.

The world is now undergoing a severe trial, and Satan and his minions are working tirelessly. Our task is to stand firm, although remaining steadfast can sometimes be very difficult.

Remain calm and believe in your homeland, which will give life to the New Race - the synthesis of different races.

Letter 49 

Black Magic in America

25 July 1915 

You now have a clear enough picture of the methods evil forces use to thwart progress, destroy what has been built up over the centuries, destroy those who work for the future, and intimidate those who seek to frustrate their schemes.

Note that none of these methods are creative. They are all destructive and destructive. Creative wars are an invention of angels, but this war is not creative.

Now let me tell you some of the things that the nascent New Race in America should be protected from. In it, as in all places where the forces of progress are active, the forces of opposition are also active. I have written enough about the beneficial effects of this new birth; now I want to make a few warnings and analyze some of the destructive influences.

In America, a very significant group of people is gaining strength, striving to establish their control over the nature of desire and over the will of other people in order to use them later for their own selfish purposes. These people are not concentrated in any one place and do not have a single organization, but have created many small organizations, and some of them act completely autonomously. Here, in the Astral World, in the language we use as workers in this world, such organizations are called “groups.”

Those who pay them either with money or with service, they are taught some rules that allow them to control their own mind and the mind of others. They offer many rudiments of astral knowledge, preserving more complex principles for a limited circle of persons. Some of their teachings are true, some are false; but few of them offer their students to really work on themselves. And as one great teacher said, every step in mental development must be accompanied by three steps in character development.

I will not name those who most criminally teach black magic spells to men and women who are absolutely not ready to perceive such knowledge.

It is enough that the reader will have a quite natural question: “What is black magic? “I think I’ve given a similar definition before, but why don’t we repeat it again.

Black magic is an attempt to control the will or astral nature or the mind of other people by means other than the normal physical or legitimate mental influence in the form of oral or written speech, whether it be the use of natural or artificial elementals, or man's own mental or elemental nature.

Black magic can be used to achieve conscious action, or black magic can be used to deliberately cause harm; its adherents often use the substance of the body of their victim to establish sympathetic control over its astral and etheric nature.

For those who find jokes with such things witty and fun, I want to say the following: beware of those men and those women who seek to use normal or abnormal means to get hold of the vital fluids of your body, especially blood.

I won't go into details. I will only say that those who listen to my warnings do not need to thank me, and those who let them pass by their ears, then let them blame themselves.

Personally, I have no pleasure in standing between the forces of evil and their victims. In doing so, I take on all the rage of these forces, which I then fight as best I can.

But let it be so! I'm competent enough to deal with them. I only want to warn anyone who tries to destroy what I have done or harm those who selflessly and with selfless courage help me in my attempts to protect my own country from the diabolical forces that have already overwhelmed Europe - I want to warn every evil sorcerer interested in this that if he gets in my way, he himself, and not I, will suffer from it.

The security circle that I and the Masters behind me have outlined around our helpers, the forces of evil can only cross with great risk to the bearer of these forces.

There is no need to use black magic. We never use it. But we know how we can turn the harmful stream away from its intended victim and crush it with a crushing force on the sender himself.

And I also want to warn those who, because of their ignorance or irresponsibility, allow the devil to use them as his obedient tool with which he could carry chestnuts for himself from the fire - you will be burned by the fire, and the hot devil's chestnuts will stick to your fingers.

But this topic is unpleasant even for me, and I will gladly leave it.

I would like to be heard by those who are not well versed in these things, and such by the majority, even among those who have "learned psychism."

Many innocent (or half-innocent) souls have gone to the brink of insanity under the pressure of the evil thoughts of those who willfully directed this mental stream at them.

I can advise them not to weaken themselves with fears, but to strengthen their strength with prayer.

I have already said that in each of you there is a god and there is a devil. Turn to God and He will protect you from the devil. If there were no devils inside of you, there would be no harm done to you by the devils. Remember that.

Make your devil serve your god.

If you want to use signs and symbols, meditate on the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ is a deep enough symbol to be meditated on for the rest of your life.

Do not use black magic to protect yourself from the same black magic. Ask your own god to direct the evil back to its source.

Pray before you go to sleep and ask for God’s help. Sometimes evil forces, unable to reach you while you are awake, do so while you are sleeping. Children's prayer: "While I will sleep sweetly tonight, I ask God to protect my soul" - stronger spells of the sorcerer.

Childish, you say? Yes, but I am writing now for those who are still a child in all these matters, whether they are seven years old or seventy.

Of all the countries on Earth, America is the least aware of the dangers of black magic. So remain children until you acquire an adult’s appropriate knowledge of these matters.

"I am out of danger because I know it well," is often smugly repeated by those who are almost caught in the net of evil forces. Indeed, lack of knowledge is the greatest of dangers.

If you need additional protection, my children, try to restrain your own bad emotions and unfriendly passions, beware of envy and overly critical attitude towards others. The devils bring waves of anger and indignation.

Beware of temptations, and remember that young souls are tempted through their faults, and larger souls through their virtues.

Don’t be fooled by saying that evil doesn’t exist. Evil exists as long as good exists.

Very few of you can say that they have already become “above good and evil”, most of them do not even know what it is. But these words are a powerful temptation for vain souls.

When you really become above good and evil, you will no longer speak ill of your neighbors, you will not envy their charm or their condition, you will not try to use them for your own purposes, you will not be afraid that some evil person will harm you, you will not try to impersonate your shortcomings as virtues and you will not deceive yourself about the motives of your actions.

Check yourself, my children. Look for flaws in yourself. And if you don't find one, hang your harp on the nearest tree - your progress is over.

A person improves when he recognizes his shortcomings, fights them and overcomes them. If you are perfect, then this world is not the right place for you.

Indeed, "higher than good and evil."

Do not judge, but you will not be judged. But don’t try to flirt with the devil to prove that you don’t judge him either.

Yes, all people are your brothers, even very bad people. But you should first of all deal with your own shortcomings, and let God take care of the rest.

This applies mainly to you, dear children of the world, for for it is much easier for me in my refuge, where I am lifted above your passions.

Letter 50 

Summary

28 July 1915 

With this letter, I finish the second book so that its content can quickly become the property of those who want to read it.

Entire volumes can be written about the astral events of this war, and without the risk of exhausting this topic. What I was able to give you is just a brief overview — a few events, some reflections.

But what you probably should learn is that there are always angels and devils near the battlefields.

That those who watch the war from above see both causes and effects and, for these reasons, can make convincing predictions based on information much more complete than that possessed by the inhabitants of the Earth. War, like everything else, is subject to the law of rhythm. So don’t despair when the situation becomes difficult for the side you call your own. And when your side starts to move forward too quickly, you should expect fierce opposition, as when retreating from the suburbs of Paris.

That though evil must exist as long as good exists, though evil is only the opposite pole of the magnet, yet it is the duty of those who wish to walk the Bright Path to fight for justice. But this is not a rejection of Christ’s commandment: “Do not resist evil.” A paradox, you say? But there is great wisdom in the paradoxes, of course, for those who have found the key to it. The existence of evil makes good even stronger. As the Hindus would say, this is Kali Yuga.

That this war is an attempt by the personified forces of evil to destroy humanity. The previous attempt was again made in Europe before the so-called Dark Ages of the Middle Ages, but the Renaissance restored balance.

That every man has in him both the principle of Christ and the demonic principle; that the will is free, and that man himself is free to choose between these two principles.

That new races are born in wars and revolutions. He who has ears, let him hear.

That I, although my outlook is wider than yours, also cannot know everything. I draw conclusions based on presuppositions, just like you. I deduce the supposed consequences from the reasons I know, but the sudden intrusion of an unpredictable will can create new causes, and then I have to calculate everything from the very beginning. My predictions are not the result of divine omniscience. I can just see beyond yours, that's all. My logic may not be stronger than yours. For example, when we repelled the attack of the forces of evil in the first months of the war, I completely lost sight of the Law of Rhythm, which inevitably had to allow them to repeat their attack after they had regained their strength. Even the devils are capable of producing their own energy. Yes, they too are Power Units, and that is how they should be viewed. I won't make that mistake again.

My Master, who is standing next to me now, insists that I say that even the Masters cannot know everything. Just as my outlook is much wider than yours, so theirs is much wider than mine; but what happens in the most distant stars, and they may not always see. They urge you to become like them, but they understand that you are held back by the Law of Rhythm, and that every two steps you take towards them inevitably throw you back at least one step. By not rolling back the same two steps, you owe your free will and even greater rhythm, the tidal wave that now carries all of humanity forward. Each of your achievements is a small splash on the surface of a large wave, which you can not always see.

You asked me to tell you more about the Master, but my Master prefers to stay in the shadows. However, I can tell you, of the world, that my Master still has a physical body, and he walks the earth like an ordinary man. He can act in both the Material and Astral Worlds, as well as in the higher Worlds above them, and the purposes of His life are beyond your comprehension. He is a servant of the Law, and his happiness is to act in accordance with the Law. And vice versa. Black teachers (and those too) are against the law. I told you about my conversation with one of them and gave you some idea of the methods they used.

If you are strong, you do not need to be afraid of Black Teachers. You can even meet them without risk to yourself, just like me. They fear me more than I fear them. I don't turn away from my path if I see one of them coming. I find them very entertaining, although I am aware of the tragedy of the lot they have drawn. They are carrying out a terrible mission, which, however, someone must carry out, and therefore their suffering is immeasurable. They are the lost brothers of the Light Masters. At first, they were in the same school, but the great “moment of choice” came, and the evil ones broke away from their origins. The Light Masters do not try to destroy them, because they know that sooner or later they will destroy themselves. Is it worth the effort to hurry the sunset?

Don’t let the Black Masters and their minions get you out of the way, avoid them as much as possible until you are stronger than they are. And when you get stronger, you don’t have to be afraid anymore.

When they can’t influence you directly, they try to do so through those you love. Don't lose your temper. You are not your brother’s keeper. If your brother prefers the devil, let him fully enjoy his choice. The will is free.

Witness the truth that is within you, but do not try to break the howl of dogs calling witches to the Sabbath.

Enter the Holy Temple and close the door behind you, and then call the angels. Dog howling and barking can't drown out the music of angelic voices.

Stay calm and remember that God is God.

After all the trials, a great day is coming for America. The sun will rise above the clouds, but the freshness of dawn will bring with it great works in the name of the New Race and in the name of the brotherhood of races. Across America, movements to educate and improve humanity will begin to emerge. Help them, for you will act in accordance with the law. This will teach you your first lesson in the school of Light Teachers, whose password is Service.

Although I am not going too far this time, I am leaving you my blessing on the peace I have worked and suffered for — much more than you have in this difficult last year.

I also want to thank you, the world, for the immense interest you showed in my previous book, “Letters from a Living Dead Man”. Yes, I am still alive, even more so than when I wrote you my first letters. Gradually, my life is acquiring an intensity I could not even have imagined when I lived on Earth as a human being among other people.

In these Letters on War from another world, I have tried to give you some idea of the intense life I am living now, after returning from a journey among the stars. I intended to tell you about this journey immediately upon my return, but in this case my story would not be as topical and instructive as this narrative of war in the Astral World. Because the Astral World is much closer to you than the distant stars, and before you learn to read novels, you should first master the alphabet.

I am but a humble servant of the Law, a pupil in the school of those who are far wiser than I am. But to buy, I have to give it first. To learn something, I have to teach. In order to move forward myself, I must push forward you too.

It seemed to me that at the moment the world most needs to know the answers to some of the mysteries behind this war. I was an invisible soldier in this war, where I got a lot of wounds. I had sleepless nights and full days of work, but they gave me strength that I could not otherwise acquire. I am strong now because I served.

You will receive the reward, and you will receive the reward.

And now I'm going to take a break, because soon I have another assignment to fulfill.

But I'll be close.

«X.»

Last Letters of the Living Dead, 1917-1918

Letter 1 

Spirit of America

3 February 1917 

I want to write about America, the country of my previous and future birth.

The path followed by the Spirit of America is majestic, and the first stages of this path have already been passed by it.

Spirit of America!

Each country is watched by its own Spirit, instructing and disciplining its children.

Try to feel the Spirit of America wandering alone in the night among the forests - try to see, hear and call it. Perhaps you will get the answer: you recognize him, and he recognizes you.

If you are one of those who are able to hear the words spoken by the Great Ones in silence, then your soul may be able to hear something. And if you succeed, do not rush to tell the world about what you heard, but keep everything in your heart, because what is stored in the heart can sometimes feel and understand other hearts.

If you are one of those who seek service, the secret of your heart will be heard in the silence of those who are able to hear in silence.

The hour is approaching when the mission of this country will have the opportunity to manifest itself. The hour is approaching when the Spirit of this country will declare his will to it. But it won't be easy. Too many forces try to pull the reins out of their clutching hand, too many eyes look in different directions, and each pair of eyes sees its own goal. But there is a will so strong that when it comes, it will gather together the individual wills of other people and lead them in one direction, like a strong wind that carries straws.

You don’t know the power of God’s will. You do not know the greatness of the purpose behind God and the future. Those who stand in the way of the Spirit of this country will be swept away like straws trying to resist the wind.

From my invisible world I can see the deeds of many. My faith has strengthened many hearts. And now I am just as invisibly waiting for the destiny to come true.

And I ask you, the one who has followed me from the very first steps I took at the twilight of my new life, even before the enlightenment came; the one who has accompanied me on my journeys through the battlefields, both in your world and over it, to follow me a little more; and let your mind not reflect on those truths and on the advice I wish to convey to you. Because my advice is as impartial as rain, and the truths I want to convey to you are as free as light.

I have come a very long way since I left my body a few years ago, a few years that flashed like a moment, a few years that flew by for the world as fast as they did for me, but not as painlessly as they did for me. For he who knows what he is in pain for and for what he is in pain, endures it more easily than does a child who knows only that he is suffering.

I would have written to you before, but you didn't want to listen to me. Baby! Will you allow your progress to be stopped halfway through the fault of your desires or unwillingness (which are also desires, but only with the opposite sign)?

Faced with your will to avoid the continuation of your work, I tried to find another way, but it was too cluttered with prejudices, prejudices and other debris in the form of fragments of thoughts accumulated over the years of living in a world of disbelief. You, who have lived for a short time, but in many houses, allow entry to you without hindrance; and the only thing that can create obstacles in the way is your will, but this obstacle I now reject.

I'll go in and out and talk when I want.

Letter 2 

Don't be afraid

8 February 1917 

Did I not tell you many months ago that Abraham Lincoln's soul is still watching the country he gave his life to save it from collapse, and will not leave it until it goes through another great trial? You asked me what the test was. Do you still ask about it now?

And yet, you don't know.

But the months gradually passed one by one, becoming the property of the past. When in the spring of 1915 you had a vision of a German emperor standing in his spiked helmet against Uncle Sam, who was, as usual, in a shirt without a jacket, did you not guess anything? You are wise enough to draw conclusions from such visions.

Don’t even hope that this war will end without bringing changes that have never been seen before in the world in their scale. When I told you almost two years ago that the war between the forces of good and evil had already ended in the unseen worlds with the victory of the former, I learned of it from my Master; but do not think that the beginning of a new century will not bring with it shocks and changes more grandiose than you can imagine. Change is birth, and birth is always painful, and blood and exhaustion accompany it. All the work that has been done before is just the work of conception.

The stars in their heavenly path are fighting on the side of the New Race.

I’ve written about the blood fields in Europe. Now I will write about America, about its future, near and far, because the sun is already approaching the eastern horizon and the pre-dawn clouds are already colored by the rays of the approaching dawn.

America, don't despair! Your fate is beyond doubt. During the coming storms, think about the freshness that comes after the storm, when the earth exudes a meady aroma and birds sing. After all, these birds will sing for the children of the new century.

In between the changes, it is time to calm down. And the world will say, "It's over, now it's back, it's going to be like before." But exactly as it was before, it will not be. During the lull, you will take a breath and prepare for new changes. A lot of things will change, including people’s hearts.

The world knows what horror is. Without this experience, without the balance that the fearless resistance to horror gives, the world could not withstand the trials that the future prepares for it. Is there anything now, after thirty months of war, that could surprise the world? Is there anything else the world can’t stand?

But remember that you are immortal and that every departed person will have to return back, restoring their strength to rest in the Invisible World! Because a change of place gives rest to the consciousness. To a person who has a depleted nervous system, a wise doctor prescribes changes. And rest in the invisible worlds restores strength much better than spent in the mountains summer. Don't be afraid of death. I have passed through death and feel even more rested now than when I woke up in the morning, being in the prime of my powers. I'm not going back to my old body. When I need my body again, I will create a new one. I know how to do it because I’ve done it many times before.

Rejoice with me. A wise man once said that only the intolerable is tragic. This world and the souls that inhabit it are in a position to endure the coming changes. What if they weren’t prepared for this war? That's what wars are for.

America is rich. Her storerooms are full of gold, her mines are filled with ore, and her lands promise rich harvests. Should it be afraid of a future in which labor will be able to deliver everything necessary for the body, and faith - everything that is necessary for the soul? The history of this country is a history of faith.

What led Columbus to sail on an unknown ocean, if not the star of his faith? And did our ancestors follow him, not attracted by the same faith in the future? The past has returned to God and is now as safe as any of the dead, but the future you have yet to experience, and your faith will determine what it will be.

Don't be afraid. In former times, our ancestors slept peacefully, although in the forests there was a red man hiding, and any crop failure could cause hunger, and it was possible to heat yourself and your children in the cold winter only by transferring trees to wood. Are you afraid of coal? But the earth is full of coal. You are afraid that you will not have enough bread, and your muscles, meanwhile, become overgrown with fat due to lack of activity. Those who first came to this country had many reasons for fear, but you don’t have them. Work is beautiful. Any child for whom work is his game can vouch for the truth of this statement. So why not turn your work into a game? When I was a kid, I built houses out of cubes. And I really liked it. I dug ditches in the garden. I built boats from planks and let them float in puddles. I planted a tree.

And study? In libraries around the world and in the minds of people, the wisdom of centuries is concentrated. And the new century will not lack the written evidence of past eras. Although paper is not as durable as parchment, it will live to see the new century. Don't be afraid.

With these hints, I try to make you understand that there will be a lot of change. Which ones? All progress involves change. So go boldly to meet the future - with a smile on your face and with a song on your lips. As your wandering angel would say, the future will come with a rose in the buttonhole.

Letter 3 

The Promise of Spring

17 February 1917 

When you learn to think of life as a whole, of which you are a part, while at the same time possessing the potentialities of the whole, you will be happy to look at these great changes. The one must sometimes sacrifice himself to himself, in order to destroy himself, to open the way for a new life. The whole, whether we call it a race, or an earthly spirit, or whatever else, may become too heavy and lazy in the process of its growth, just as a man may grow fat enough in time to be unable to move with the same ease, and then the war that begins between his organs, or fever, or fasting, or some kind of medicine restores to him a disturbed balance, and the man is renewed.

At first glance, it looks sad, doesn’t it? Who said life should always smile at you? Both in the depths of the earth and in the depths of man there are dark substances.

Winter cold is a severe test for those who are defenseless against the elements, but winter is a time of low tide in the constantly changing sea of life, followed by a tide - summer. Rhythm. Rhythm is everywhere.

Speaking of the winter period of the race, I did not try to inspire you with pessimism at all, for after it spring will come and roses will bloom again. The March Winds! After them come the April rains and May flowers. And now it's February.

When the sky is cloudy and the snow falls outside the window, we gather at the pebble and think about the future, when flowers bloom again, the earth will be covered with green grass, and birds will sing on the trees again. In March, when the winds begin to blow, the sun will again "cross the line" and enter the sign of Aries. Great giver of light - the Sun again crosses the Zodiac. Are you afraid of the spring equinox?

The soul also has its winter of materialism and its idealistic spring.

I look at the world from the outside and see that there is no reason for despair in it. I look at the soul from the inside and see that it has many reasons for joy.

You are already looking forward to the end of the war, but the soul must continue to fight along the way. As long as the soul is enclosed in a material shell, its wars will never end, for the soul's greatest battles are with itself. I've told you that before. Sometimes her crusade is directed to the outside world, sometimes to the inside, but swords never have to rust in sheaths.

Think less about yourself, but more about race. You forget about the whole too much, and the same happens when you get too carried away with yourself, because you’re only part of the whole. Think of yourself as the whole race, and of the whole race as yourself; and then you will become a race, and the race will become you: "The universe will grow to the size of I."

There once was a God so great that the cells of his body were themselves little gods. You too can become so great that the cells in your body will be happy to sacrifice themselves for your good. By rejecting your will to live, you can gain immortality. By rejecting your will to joy, you can gain that joy.

I once wanted to be a great person. Now, if I think about it, a man should become great, as I myself become taller.

I once wanted to be loved; but now that I love for love's sake, not for my own sake, I am enjoying the love of many. The Master’s words were indeed prophetic — I had found life by losing it.

I'm watching the world now, like I used to watch my garden. I see the sprouts coming through, and I know the seeds are already thrown into the ground. I have planted seeds in the hearts of people and I know that they will all germinate and will reach for the sun because I believe in spring.

I left Europe for a while and returned to the country I love most. I traveled from state to state, watching what was going on in the minds of our legislators. They also feel that they are instruments of power. They feel the responsibility that their posts impose on them; they feel part of a great whole whose name is America. And our flag is a symbol of their dedication.

I have wandered through the forests where the spirits of the Earth gather for their conventions, which are not written about in the newspapers. They are also aware of their purpose. They strengthen you with their faith. When I lived in America as a man, I didn’t know America. It takes a long time to understand what a home is.

Now I am fully immersed in the spirit of unity. And you must not allow fear of particulars to take away your power. America is a whole, and it must also act as a whole. The task of today is to bring together many races. Don’t let a spirit of division enter your hearts.

I see a great leader who will appear in this country. His mission will be to unite the races. He will be a teacher and a prophet.

Letter 4 

The Golden Diet

10 March 1917 

The same trends that are now contributing to the collapse of this country, will subsequently contribute to its unity. And many of them will come together. The idea of the unity of the whole people deserves to be paid attention to, and even to be more tolerant of the temperaments of other races for its sake. Those who are already ready to separate from their old race and join the new, feel the tension now, always accompanied by changes. This annoys them, and despite the fact that their will requires them to create new bonds for themselves, their whole being rebels against it.

But few of the “recent Americans” (“foreign-born Americans”) would really want to go back.

America is the most interesting of all countries, and we, those who look at it from the other side of the invisible border, see its historical perspective. And the closest to us is in our field of view the figure of your current President. He's very visionary. He already knows what new horizons will open up for him when he finishes his earthly labors.

At the moment — in the month March one thousand nine hundred and seventeen from the birth of our Lord — our country suffers from the “indigestion” of gold. You have swallowed more gold than you can digest, and the body of the country is now weighed down by it. To restore balance, some gold must be thrown back through war or something else, but not through a general morbid state that can create the illusion that a nation is already dying.

Don't be surprised by my speech. I just want to convey to your consciousness the facts and circumstances as they are.

You can't eat gold. “Gold is the equivalent of exchange.” If you just accumulate it, it loses its connection with life. A stingy nation is a picture even more sad than a stingy man with his envious eyes and raking hands. He is a miser who believes that by accumulating gold, he can protect himself from all possible dangers. And the stingy nation believes that by accumulating gold, it will save itself from all the financial difficulties that threaten the world at the end of this war.

But the miser — when his stinginess is common knowledge — puts himself in danger of being robbed and killed. And a stingy country exposes itself to the risk of attack and robbery by other states.

You Americans would like to be merciful to the raw and hungry Europeans of today, but your mercy has not yet had any effect on the density of the dinners of the hundred-million-headed creature whose name is America.

I don’t care what you do with your gold. But I'm worried about what you're going to do with your food. You are not alchemists and you cannot turn gold into products. You are human, and your stomachs need more delicate food. Even the chicken will not want to carry you until you feed it properly. However, if she starts to express dissatisfaction, you can punish her for this by making soup from her. But no matter how much you then pull on her "bone of desire" - it still will not resurrect her. It is better to maintain its efficiency, throwing her from time to time a little grain, and then you will have eggs for breakfast, and new chickens. At times, the chicken is overcome by attacks of laziness, and she just wants to sit still, but put a few of her own eggs under her - and the results will not keep you waiting too long. Someday I will tell you about other, no less practical ways to provide yourself with a full breakfast.

Letter 5 

Salary - piecework

10 March 1917 

Today I learned that a wealthy man (probably a sponsor who had heard nothing of the contents of the book) had assumed that these letters from the Living Dead had brought you some profit and were generally a "profit," had seriously considered giving financial support to a medium who was willing to announce that he had made contact with me in any way, and that I had personally agreed to do so.

I'm funny, too. I immediately imagined how you make a "beneficial" investment in securities of another world, and then proudly climb on board some ethereal boat, accompanied by the envious views of those who could not pay for the passage.

I can also tell you that this country, and some others, are already teeming with my “messages” of a variety of properties. In order to write them all, I would have to have as many hands as a centipede’s feet. And according to the style and content of these messages and the contradictions they contain, we can conclude that I have as many minds as Indra’s eyes.

Even the elementals (moving the arrow on the board during spiritualistic sessions) do not contradict themselves as often as I contradict myself, thanks to my "secretaries", writing allegedly under my dictation. Looks like it's time for me to get my own brand.

After several serious letters written the day before, I decided to have a little fun writing this letter.

If you want to include it in the book, then please title it as follows: "Payment is piecemeal."

Letter 6 

Three calls

11 March 1917 

I am outside of this world and therefore I can see what is happening inside people’s hearts. Now I see incomparably more than when I was a man, one of them. If I could then see the depths of my own heart as well as I can see theirs now, I could see in it the reflections of the hearts of my fellow men — for we are no more different from one another than are the two insects. There are also differences between insects.

People, I read in your hearts! And what do I see there? — High ideals and obvious pretence, selfishness and selflessness, hunger and satiety.

So why should I turn to my own advice: to your ideals, to your selfishness, or to your hunger? These three opposites will never allow you to do what I call you to do.

Letter 7 

Builders

22 March 1917 

I promised to give you advice on how America can restore balance. Direct your excess gold to rebuild a ruined Europe. Give her credit and give her food. Those who work in the field - give Europe some of your products. Those who build, put your hands where they are needed. Those who do not feel comfortable here, go back to Europe, where you were born. By doing this, you will gain new interests and new views. And new interests and new views are a new life. Don’t be afraid to make sacrifices. In saying this, I have two goals in mind: impact on the outside world and impact on oneself.

Working for the ideal is sometimes even more practical than working for the so-called reality.

You can take my words about the restoration of Europe either as practical advice or as idealistic advice, depending on your point of view. It is perfect because Europe really needs to be rebuilt, but at the same time it is practical because it is now that America needs to direct its thoughts to something external. This advice we usually give to those individuals who are too focused on themselves. Now there is such dissatisfaction and uncertainty that the Spirit of the race, caring for the welfare of the race as a whole, can use anything that can attract the attention of the broad masses of people and make them forget about themselves.

Give your money to Europe and do not demand any usurious interest. Although a certain percentage can still be taken, since money has the ability to accumulate and every worker is worthy of a reward, even if it is working gold.

Let it be merciful loans at low interest rates, capable of easing the terrible tax burden that is now falling on the shoulders of Europeans and multiplying their discontent and despondency.

Let many of you visit Europe to see with your own eyes what a war can do to a country, what it could do to your country if you rashly made yourself a target for strangers who want to take away from you by force what you have so skillfully accumulated.

Go there and you will see with your own eyes and you will feel clearly the spirit of self-sacrifice and devotion of your nation that has encouraged Europeans throughout this long war. They were able to regain their souls, but you have not yet succeeded.

There are many engineers in this country whose work is now more necessary in Europe than at home. There are specialists in all fields of science, and there they are now more needed than here. We have enough specialists. We can afford to share them.

Build the ships. More ships. Keep people busy. Set a goal for them. Don’t let them be idle. The brain is the devil’s workshop. If there is no job, find it. There's always something to do. Build the ships.

Now about the management of railways and other utilities. The coming state control over them was proclaimed already when the threat of a strike appeared - so powerful that if this threat was realized, the whole country would again have to walk. Thus, all public enterprises, the stop of which would threaten the life of the whole country and all people, should be placed under the control of the state. This is not socialism or any other “ism.” So those who are still paying attention to these stupidities should not worry. You can find a way that will not cause them dissatisfaction.

Think of the good of the whole, for you are its parts, and you cannot prosper if the whole is poor. It's not bigotry. It's kind of race biology. When I look at you, I see you as a huge single being, and I address you as a being, a racial organism, not as individuals. All cells of the racial organism must work together. Think of race as a unit of consciousness. Join yourself in a single race consciousness. Stay individual, please, but be individual parts of the whole. Balance relationships with other individuals, positive and negative.

Set yourself the goal of rebuilding Europe. Allow a lot of dissatisfied workers to go to work in Europe. You can say that after demobilization Europe will have enough workers, but too many of them will still not be. And by doing this, you will kill two birds at once: and the work will be done faster, and it will have a favorable psychological effect on the workers themselves.

I would like to convey to you by the method of suggestion an idea of the state in which my consciousness is now. I would like you to see firsthand that separation is death, and unity is life.

I talked about state control of railways, but this is just the beginning. State control should be established even over the distribution of products. Start gradually, with separate things. The whole world will move in that direction, that is its destiny. And the wheels of this chariot cannot be stopped.

Serve if you hope to survive, that should be your slogan. You cannot survive unless you dedicate yourself to service, all of you. The best cell is the one that serves the race. That's how you look to me.

Just a few words about nervous diseases. Yeah, it has to do with what I just said. When the war is finally over, the tension in which people have lived all these years will dramatically ease. The human mind will begin to return to its normal state, but this process will take time. He will not be able to adapt to the changed conditions immediately. For too long, the brains of men and women have stimulated the need for concerted action, a stimulant as powerful as, say, caffeine. And when they are again left to themselves, there will be a sharp decrease in the load.

Or, on the contrary, an unprecedented delight will push them to various excesses. Have you ever seen crazy people who never rest, who have lost the ability to rest? They walk around, they stomp their feet, they break their hands. Many men and women after the war will be like them. There is no doubt that there will be an excess of loving excitement, and the best panacea for this is work. And again, after years of war, when, whenever people wake up in the morning, they are not sure that they will be able to survive until the evening, they can maintain their habit of fear. The very thought of rest, relaxation will frighten them. And as a result, they will be inclined to turn to any sources of excitement, if only they could replace the previous incentives to which they had become accustomed.

This is the second reason why I would like the Americans to be directly involved in the reconstruction of Europe. Not because the American worker is phlegmatic, not at all, but because the American worker is not afraid of anything (except for the loss of work and the ensuing famine) and, therefore, will inspire confidence and hope in all those around him. An American likes to feel like a leader, and how else can he best fulfill that need if he is not encouraging his comrades?

You have no idea, nor can you imagine, what a great depression will break out immediately after the war, albeit for a short time. It'll be a respite, a release. After the war, the low tide is followed by a period of unprecedented activity, but first consider this low tide.

You will feel it in America. You have already got used to the fact that gold itself floats to your shores. And when its flow begins to decrease, you will have to deal with the fear that will be caused by this reduction. The breeding ground for general panic, as well as for individual fear, is mass.

The unity of the world is becoming more tangible, and what affects one part of it affects the whole world as a whole.

After the war, there is also an increase in mental perception. Although this is not bad in itself, it also has its dangerous side. Prophets will begin to appear everywhere - true and self-proclaimed, offering various means of healing the body and soul.

And so I take the liberty of advising anyone who finds any psychic ability in themselves to think twice before making this public. This makes you feel new, but just as the early stage of your evolution certainly had no less peril than the virtues, so the awakening of this new feeling can be dangerous at first. Do not try to speed up the development of this feeling, but also do not try to get rid of it. Remember that although this feeling should become completely habitual over time, at first it, like any other new feeling, will often convey a distorted picture to you. It will cause both true perceptions and false ones. If a person, for the first time opening his eyes, sees a harmless tree, he can take him for a terrible monster.

Restraint in everything, moderation in everything, even in the laudable desire to act. Balance and proportionality. Before you perceive anything, make sure it is correct, check it either by reasoning or by intuition, since you cannot wait for practical confirmation. Weigh and evaluate even my own words in the same way as you would weigh the words of the wildest of the present predictors. Fight the hysteria. It is possible that a wave of hysteria will sweep around the world. When one revolution follows another, frightened people may conclude that there is absolutely nothing stable in the whole universe, that the whole world is sliding into an abyss, and that they cannot escape the universal chaos that they imagine. And then they may well begin to live one day, trying to squeeze the maximum pleasure out of the current moment. Restraint, Restraint!

I see that women are afraid to have children because of uncertainty about tomorrow. I see that men are afraid to marry because they are not sure that they will be able to keep their home. I see that farmers are afraid to sow because they are not sure they can harvest. Again, I say to you, don’t be afraid.

If you sow, you will reap. If you marry, you will build your own house. If you have children, the race will protect them, and you are part of that race.

Restraint and fearlessness!

Letter 8 

The World of Thought

24 March 1917 

I would like sensible, reasonable people to experiment with telepathic communication more often. I am aware that this phenomenon is occasionally used to produce jumbled, semi-serious tricks and nothing more; and therefore it would be a good idea not only to increase the volume of meaningful literature on this subject (which should include accurate scientific observations and detailed verified information), but also to encourage the experimenters themselves to take the study and description of paranormal phenomena more seriously.

You are the one who writes for me, and you do not cease to conduct and describe various experiments. I can say that you are perhaps even too cautious in this regard, but this quality is not common to all.

Try to establish how the necessary activity and passivity of those who participate in such an experiment is achieved. And although you would have achieved much better results yourself, the testimony of several people who participated in this experiment will sound much more convincing than the testimony of one. However, you are doing the right thing by refusing to cooperate with insincere and simply curious people offering you their services.

The biggest difficulty when working with most people is that they are not able to give themselves enough negativity even for a while. At the end of the experiment, they would, of course, return to their normal positive state. This return from one pole to the other is simply necessary to maintain physical health and balance.

However, it should be remembered that this process has both positive and negative sides, as well as all processes taking place in the world; and if you feel someone’s hostile “presence”, immediately expel it and return to a positive state. After any such intrusion of unwanted influence, you should not go back to a negative state for several hours. It is better to take a walk or do some difficult work, or read a book, the perception of which requires mental stress.

You live in the ocean of the mind and at the same time in the ocean of the psyche; they interpenetrate each other and at the same time penetrate the physical world; but when working with them (or through them), do everything possible so that they do not mix with each other.

I am increasingly acting in the Mental World, and less and less in the Astral World, but this statement will seem incomprehensible to most of my readers. The difference between the astral and the mental levels is even greater than that between the astral and the physical.

Do not treat the Astral World with contempt. Its dynamics are of great importance. But still try to develop a purely mental nature, because the astral nature of each person is much better developed mental.

In my previous letters, I have already told you something about the dangers of the astral world. Now I want to talk about the dangers of the Mental World — even more obvious.

Those who know that they are capable of creating with the power of their mind must develop a sense of responsibility. They are taking advantage of this ability too foolishly. Remember that as you move up from one level to the next, you get into increasingly thin spheres; and the thinner matter becomes, the more power it gains — not the other way around, as it usually seems.

And one of the most important temptations of the Mental World is to create false images. By telling a known lie, you are transferring to the Mental World a picture that has a certain degree of strength. This picture is able to deceive other people, but above all - it deceives you, your own creator. He who speaks lies cannot understand the truth. Those who create such false images in the Mental World will be deceived by them in the first place; thus they will have to reap the consequences of the causes they themselves have sown.

Have you ever met someone who has been lied to by their friends? These are usually the ones who create misleading images themselves. These are people who cannot tell the truth from lies. They cheat, and they cheat too. No matter what intelligence a person has, if he deceives, he himself will inevitably be deceived.

And so I want to warn everyone who wants to follow my advice and start experimenting with clairvoyance and telepathy - if you sow the seeds of lies, then you will have to reap unreal images. So anyone who thinks they are sincere, check yourself again. And you will be able to acquire valuable knowledge concerning your own karma. (Yes, I will use theosophical and Indian terms, if they most accurately reflect my thought. In accordance with the original of those who rewrite Eastern philosophies, using Western terminology, can believe only that the ignorant).

What the New Race needs most of all is truth. Modern science prepares the world for the fearless perception of truth. The man who works on the microscope, trying to learn more about nature, serves God much better than the man who, with a prudish expression, instructs his neighbors in what they should not do; for the work of the first gives positive results.

Too much has been divorced in the world of various “don’t do...” and too little still is “I will.” The new race will have a lot of tolerance. With undesirable phenomena, it will more often struggle with ignoring rather than suppressing them. By suppressing something, we only give it strength.

Try to act more in the World of Mind. And the results of these actions in the Physical World will exceed all your expectations.

Letter 9 

Good Friday in America

6 April 1917 

It's past midnight. The day of Good Friday began. In the souls of people, important decisions for the whole world and for the future are already ripe.

On this day many years ago, one person (who was also God-man) single-handedly defended the ideas of love and universal brotherhood. And now, after so many years, we can finally fully understand what He died for. But then, many centuries ago, it all ended in a crucifix.

I have brought you here from a far shore, so that you may witness firsthand the great struggle that is now taking place in the souls of men. You are now in the center of it.

Today, in thousands of churches around the Christian world, prayers will be offered to the God-man who died so that God, who is imprisoned in each person, might live. Today, a cross will appear in the hearts of millions of people.

It is happening now — just past midnight, marking the beginning of this greatest of days.

Christianity has risen and is now gathering around Golgotha to see everything with their own eyes.

Pray! Prayer is a confirmation of the soul’s involvement in the One. War is the affirmation of the separate existence of the soul from the rest of the world.

Love your enemies. This is the only way to conquer them.

Letter 10 

Test

12 April 1917 

Now let’s talk a little bit about the test that the race is going through. Testing always precedes achievement.

When all these wars are over, a New World will be born, for the souls of men will pass through baptism with fire and blood. America should be involved, too. And in order to achieve the goal, it should go through the prescribed tests. Watch and pray.

Someday I will bring you back so that you can commune with the soul of the Old World; someday we will bring you back. But it will be another Europe, a Europe tested by fire; and a part of it will be like pure steel, and a part like useless slag, for fire tests metal and separates pure metal from slags.

From pre-war times to this day, all these battles that are now taking place on Earth have raged in your soul - and blood, and fire, and pain, and labor. You've been through this fire, too.

Long ago, when you first identified your soul with the Soul of the World, you took on all the trials that this world goes through, all the trials that accompany initiation. You have also caused yourself and all your old karma — all the consequences of the causes you have created over the centuries. The fact that you are now given a temporary respite is explained by the fact that you have already managed to get rid of some part of the burden assigned to you. If you didn't do it now, you'd still have to do it in the future. Enjoy every test as the tests bring you closer to your goal. That's what I'm saying to all people.

If I am speaking now of the whole world, and not of the part of it alone called America, it is only because I identify the particular with the whole. And when I speak of you personally, I also identify you with the whole.

When you return to Europe (and you certainly will return there), you will find two categories of people: those who have been hardened like steel and those who have become worthless refuse. You will easily be able to distinguish them.

Don’t worry about the dark prophecies. No one lives by bread alone. If you have less food, your bodies will only become thinner and cleaner. But if you have more work to do, your mind and your spirit will grow. Only a few of you are working at full capacity. The unit of power that man is is capable of producing a lot of energy, drawing it from his own depths under the pressure of necessity or will.

Work harder. I once told you that you should rest more, but the vineyards were already waiting for their workers. The hour of rest will come to you when the day filled with labor will tend to the end.

My country, when you enter the war, leave all malice: fight for a just cause, but do not yield to malice. Give up all hatred. The hour of hate has passed. (I say this because I know: Hatred and Fear, Father of Hatred, will come and try to take your souls).

I have no hatred and no fear, and I will stay with you until this day is over. Do you regret letting me talk again? But when fear creeps up on your house, I'll tell you about courage. When hatred threatens your soul, I will turn it into love. I found the Philosopher's Stone, capable of turning base metals into gold.

It is in this country, where the eagle is heard, hatred will be turned into love. Listen to the voice of the eagle. The eagle is a free bird, and its flight is high. Only a few years ago, people began to listen to his voice. The eagle teaches freedom. And they'll hear it across the ocean.

America is indeed a melting pot for different nations. I couldn't have come up with a better definition. And an American of German descent, now devoted to America and hiding the pain of his heart behind the brave expression of his face, can also come out of this crucible, acquiring the strength and purity of real steel.

I'm glad you understand their suffering. Support the true devotees with your heart. And let all other loyal Americans do the same. This will speed up the melting process. For some of them, this tragedy will open the doors of initiation. Their faithfulness to their word is a test even more severe than the fire of battle. Those who remain loyal should not become pariahs. And those who disbelieve, I will not say a word, but the law will give them justice.

The initiation process! He holds the whole earth in his hands. Among those who feel his grip, there are those whom you love. They suffer as you have suffered. And they will find peace.

Letter 11 

Clean your home

4 May 1917 

Did you know that the human race is weighed on a scale? Work hard and pray that it is not considered too light.

We, who are in the clear light of this world, which for you is the Other World, are able to see what is written on the wall.

There are too many lies in your world. Could this war begin in a world where honesty prevails? In the New World, nations and people will no longer distrust each other. But now distrust is an integral and necessary feature of human character. You can trust other people, but only to a certain extent. You can love your neighbor, but again, not too much. You can do to your brother what you would like him to do to you, but not always.

America was built on ideals, but in the bonding solution of its building still could not but penetrate the dirt of selfish, personal searches.

You have already washed away one plague with your own blood, slavery, but there is another plague that you need to wash away. Will you wash it with pure water of goodwill, or will you prefer blood for this purpose again? We'll wait and see.

Don’t say that all the problems in the world will finally be solved because America has entered the war. You can't solve all these problems. And when this war is over, you will have another, even more difficult war, oh, America is a war to clean up your own home!

In no other civilized country does lying yield such high dividends.

Can you buy a pound of oil and be sure that it contains exactly sixteen ounces? When you buy meat, can you be sure that it is weighed on an accurate scale?

A new race is born. So pay attention to the children. Teach them honesty before you start teaching them geography — honesty with their parents, honesty with each other, honesty with themselves. "If the root is indirect, then the shoots will be crooked."

When I was a kid, I was told that George Washington never lied. And George Washington was my ideal. I tried to imitate him. And when I was a grown-up, I used to keep loving the truth. I was looking for her inside and on the surface. And one day I lived in solitude for several years, trying to find the truth in myself, and did not leave it until I found it. And if I had not found her, I would have left my mortal ashes there in solitude.

You need a new notebook for aphorisms. If a boy writes in school: "Honesty is the best policy", and returning from school, sees how his father tries to poke someone with a stork stallion, assuring that a calmer horse can not be found anywhere, then he inevitably begins to doubt, and did not his own teacher deceive him in school? Child frustration is a tragedy that threatens the entire future of the country. It is better to see reproach in the eyes of the Teacher-Adept than in the eyes of the child. If I disappoint my Master, I will not cause him serious mental injury, but if I disappoint my child, I will cause him irreparable harm.

You have to be clear that America’s life needs to be reorganized.

You wonder why I haven't written in so long. I was busy studying America. I’ve seen a lot of things I can tell you now, and a lot of things I can’t tell you yet. Since I myself am able to remain calm, you will lose your inner balance if you know everything that I know.

It is said that necessity does not recognize laws. Remember this to anyone who makes money in the war. You want to benefit from the fact that the world is in dire need. But do not forget that even a humble animal, if cornered, becomes dangerous; and horns and hooves also appear in the corner of need.

There is a disease for which doctors have not yet come up with a name - a disease of hypertrophic avarice. Its symptoms are an irrepressible passion for accumulation and a manic fear of losing everything already accumulated. She gives her sick person more anxiety than neuralgia and indigestion combined.

I would like to see hundreds of millions of people living in America in peace and prosperity.

Fanatics, as always, call for the confiscation of large fortunes. I don't care what you do with your money. But I care about what you intend to do with your land and your food, and more importantly, what you will do with your men, women, and children.

I beg of you one thing - do not panic. Panic is faster than sand. Stay calm. Your country is out of danger, unless you lose your head.

Letter 12 

Stay calm

15 May 1917 

Americans, don't give in to emotions. If you remain calm, you will safely go through all the tests. If you lose your head, your losses will not end, and you can lose so much that you will have to restore the lost for hundreds of years.

I don't give in to emotions. I don't lose my head. (Yes, I still have my head, and my legs, and my hands. If I try to give up my arms or legs here, this unusual change for me will surely have a ricochet on my head. So I prefer not to experiment with removing any of my members.)

Here’s a good example: Russia is a country trying to live without a head as an experiment. But no nation can continue to live as a full-fledged nation without a head, and a sober-minded head. A country can be anything — republican, democratic, socialist or any other, but it must have a head. An anarchistic gathering of the people cannot be called a nation. It is only a geographical space inhabited by individuals who, being divided, are actually an empty place.

Do not be impatient, for I can only write occasionally. I'm very busy. But when I have to tell you something important, I will appear immediately.

Changes are coming in America. And some of them have already happened, haven’t they?

This country is big, this country is strong, this country is receptive to new things. She is able to make changes. The people of this country did not know of long-term slavery. The inhabitants of Russia knew slavery of all kinds, and therefore their reaction to freedom seems inadequate to the free world.

But be patient! You don't have to lose your head over this.

I have nothing against a few more people finding out that I've started writing you letters again. It will not hurt me, on the contrary, their sincere interest will inspire me.

Letter 13 

Trees and brick walls

16 May 1917 

Make sure that the gloomy prophecies predicting a global catastrophe, world cataclysms, the destruction of half of the human race and others that are now coming from all sides do not put discouragement in people’s souls.

Remember that hope in a person never dies. And if the human mind is ready to come to terms with the idea of a global cataclysm, then it will be able to survive changes of a smaller scale for sure.

Read the Old Testament. The most gloomy predictions from it have not yet come true, but changes have nevertheless taken place.

Some American "independent priests" surpassed Jeremiah himself in their fury. But indirectly, they still do a useful job - they teach people to think about the inevitability of change.

If you start to panic (and this is quite possible), do not give in to it.

If there is violence (and this is also possible) - do not join it.

If pessimistic moods begin to spread (and this is inevitable), do not become infected with them.

And when your brain feels overworked, rest while looking at the trees. Their appearance will calm you down. If there are no trees nearby, you can look at a brick wall. The brick wall is also a calming sight. It stands firm until it is destroyed by some external force.

Letter 14 

The Invisible Army

23 May 1917 

And here many soldiers who have already fully regained their self-consciousness are trying to realize the goals for which they sacrificed their lives on Earth. Thus, the soldiers fighting on both sides of your war continue to fight here, on this side of the curtain. But this happens, as a rule, immediately after the transition; and then they come to the conclusion that the benefits will be much greater if they begin to help their brothers in the flesh. They can inspire, inspire, and teach.

We have armies here too. There is no shortage of recruits for them. But America must be saved, and few of you know how many dangers America is in. But we know this, those who have been watching the world for the past two and a half years.

Death is not so terrible. In fact, birth is much more terrible.

The army we are recruiting here is made up of people of all ages, I mean their age in this world. Of course, there are women in our military. There are several veterans of the Civil War and veterans of the war with Spain. And over all the regiments and divisions of this army are placed their commanders - just as in the earthly armies. Otherwise, they would not have been able to achieve coherence. Our army is mostly voluntary, although conscription also exists here.

Are you surprised? But think for yourself: can we tear the soul from some fruitless occupation and attach it to useful work? Of course, we are able to do this, and we do it every day.

We also recruit a fairly large number of old, Native Americans, red-skinned warriors and hunters, who are here, next to

There is still a lot of land. There are things that no one else can do except them. There is work of a very different nature here, but also workers come across a variety of things here.

I travel back and forth from one coast to the other. I know what's going on in the Pacific, in the Atlantic States and in the Gulf States. I also know the Rocky Mountains. During this period of my life, I am restoring my youth. I work for the good of my country. And of course, I continue to improve myself.

Why are you smiling? I am improving my mind and my will, and this process gives much more positive results than physical body training - more and faster. Again, the astral body can also be trained, giving it greater performance and elasticity. You, I'm sure, don't need to explain it all.

I also coach others. We, the “old-timers”, can bring quite tangible benefits here. Now I'm even glad that I moved here earlier, when there was still peace on Earth, so I had plenty of free time, and I could afford to do things that now I would not have enough time for. It was a great vacation. I hunted in the wilds of the invisible and fished in the waters of space, but now I'm back to work.

Letter 15 

The weakest link

2 June 1917 

In the archives of the Masters of Wisdom, among other things, information concerning the past and future of this country is stored. This information would attract a lot of attention if they were published in newspapers during the national crisis.

America already knows about its democratic mission, but it does not yet know anything about its other, equally important mission - the mission of preparing the world for the perception of spiritual culture. I do not mean religion — in the ordinary sense of the word, I mean the culture of the spirit of love — the idea of love that was borrowed, albeit distorted, from the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, but was still lost because it was too hot for hearts cooled by selfish labors aimed at achieving material well-being.

In the worlds above the physical, America has taken on a kind of debt, a commitment; it should in no way be regarded as a “treasure in heaven,” but when that debt is fully paid, it can turn into a real spiritual treasure. I am talking about whole armies of souls who once inhabited this country as free owners. Subsequently, they were pushed out and deprived of the right to inherit this land by the civilization that attacked their wigwams and hunting grounds.

These souls — at least many of them — would like to return. Many have already returned, but they will remain a destructive force until they have the opportunity to somehow continue to live the free life to which they are accustomed. Now that they live in white bodies and demand civil rights on a par with everyone else, they are no longer easy to destroy. They are scattered all over this huge country - from one coast to the other. You can recognize them from eagle eyes, squint faces, free walk and love of freedom. They are hard to get used to in factories and offices. Out of them come unruly clerks and dreamy workers. Many of them have been able to penetrate your sunlit world as the children of European immigrants, because they believe that it is easier for them to enter the flesh and blood of any, but not the Anglo-Saxon race, despite all the freedom of the Anglo-Saxons.

But it is quite possible that the time will come when these foreign-born and still primitive-minded Americans, obeying instinct, will rebel against the restraining influences pressing on them from all sides, when they will again want to live, as before, in nature, even if the realization of these plans will seem to them as difficult as, for example, the achievement of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The time is approaching when love will be needed in this country more than ever before, when the phrase: “Live and let live” will have to become not just an aphorism, but a law. And those who strive for free life on Nature will be able to obtain this freedom. Only in large cities will it be difficult to solve this problem.

I’m not trying to put fear in the hearts of Americans. On the contrary, I want to give them something like an injection against fear.

The wheels of civilization’s locomotive are still spinning. Although the Space Eye would be enough to blink once for them to stop.

America will be saved. And salvation will come to her in the hour when the greatest danger hangs over her. What kind of danger would that be? You have to think about it yourself.

Learn to look at everything through the eyes of the Planetary Spirit. Your outlook is too narrow. For you, the center of all things is the books on the shelves in your library; but the center of things is in the heart, and the heart is in everything. If you think not of yourself, but of the whole race, your heart will grow larger, you will learn to see with the eyes of the heart, and he who sees with the eyes of the heart is wiser than all historians and forecasters-analysts.

The world must be prepared for love. Future plans should take into account the interests of all people — all men, women and children. No one’s interests can be neglected, since the strength of the chain is determined by the strength of the weakest link in it. Every link should be strong.

Letter 16 

Council in the forest

One night, wishing to give my soul a rest from its labors, I retired to the terrestrial pine forest in one of the states of New England. I found myself a place where I expected to be alone; but as soon as I got into my thoughts, I heard a strange sound. He was not like any of the earth sounds, for he was unusually subtle and piercing; and then I realized that it was a song (if you can call it a song), and my fellows sing it on this world, not illuminated by the rays of the sun. And suddenly they suddenly jumped into the clearing behind me, sat in a circle and waited. Then I saw a light of apparently unearthly origin. It was the light of the fire; and I guessed that before me was a group of Indians preparing to perform some rite of their ancient religion.

They didn’t invite me to join them in their ceremony, nor did I invite them to join my reflections. So I stayed away from watching them.

(Yes, there is no secrecy in this world that you have, because there is much more understanding and more tolerance.)

Soon before my eyes unfolded a panorama of some strange dance. Still in the circle, they circled around a bright fire, singing and jumping. I did not understand the words of their song, but I could read their thoughts by the images they created and I realized that they were celebrating the anniversary (calculated by God by what lunar calculation) of some Indian massacre in which they took part a hundred or two hundred years ago.

And the essence of this dance, its driving force was the hatred of whites, who drove them from the hunting grounds that belonged to them before.

Shocked and at the same time fascinated by this type of souls of the aboriginals of America, I continued to observe them.

And although I am not strong in magical rituals, I soon realized that this dance has its own goal and method for achieving this goal, which was clearly aggressive.

By inflaming themselves and concentrating their thoughts, they were trying to inflame the souls of a certain kind of people in the United States — people with low intelligence but endowed with a violent mental temperament — and push them to violent, destructive actions.

“That’s what they’re here for,” I thought.

After that, I built a wall around my thoughts so that the Indians could not perceive them. Yes, I am able to do this, and not only me, but many of those who live in a world above the earthly.

I felt the tart, fresh smell of pine trees, I felt the wind intensifying, bursting into the clearing, it seemed that the wind responded to their call and now offers them its strength. You should know that although the elements themselves are impersonal, they are inhabited by semi-personal elements; and every being who has developed in himself in one or more lives corresponding abilities can control both the elements and the semi-personal elements living in them, directing them either to good or bad deeds.

Looking at all this from the outside, I noticed how the wind picks up and carries with it the thoughts and passions of these long-dead people, these souls who, due to the influence of their own life tendencies, could not free themselves from the attraction of matter, from that astral gravity that binds so many souls to the Earth.

So, looking at them and mentally moving my consciousness over long distances (which I also learned here), I noticed the impact this ritual of revenge and threat had on the minds of some people who are far from this place. I noticed how their thoughts creep hatred - hatred of civilization: being part of it, they could not deal with their own desires.

I knew that on that night and the next day, and for a few days after that, there would be violent outbursts, property would be destroyed, and law-abiding people would be in danger.

My heart was filled with sadness, because before I did not even imagine how real the danger hanging over my country at this time of crisis caused by karma, which was created by the first settlers. Of course, they believed that they were doing the right thing by ridding themselves and their chosen land of simple-minded and at the same time complex natives whose civilization was older than that of Europe, and who loved this land as only people who knew freedom in its vastness could love it.

When the magic dance was over, and its participants began to disappear one by one among the forest shadows, I decided to go straight to the center of the circle, wanting to talk to anyone who expressed a desire to respond to my proposal of acquaintance.

Suddenly, I came face to face with a majestic chief, whose head was decorated with that outfit of long feathers, where each pen symbolizes some bold act or other achievement of its owner. (What a wonderful tradition, however! What an incentive to be active! Each red-skinned person received a certificate of his achievements in the form of a feather to a headdress).

His face looked like a hawk, and his eyes glowed with internal fire, — such an intensity of feeling and thought can only manifest itself in a leader, in a person who is able to command other people.

And I turned to him because I didn't know a word of his language:

I just witnessed your ceremony. Could you tell me a little about her? As far as I understand, it was aimed at the world of people who have not yet stopped breathing.

With the wave of his powerful hand, he ordered all the remaining companions who had not yet left the glade to leave, and soon we were alone - only he and I.

"I came as a friend," I said, noticing that he was hesitant.

And this was true, because, despite all the attempts he made to cause harm, it was felt that there was a consciousness of justice in his soul - that ability to choose between the true and the false, that premonition of the law, which, being the property of reason, gives him special dignity and causes respect to others. He was not at all like a dilettante who indulges in disgusting primitive sorcery, but rather like a priest who demands retribution, a tribal demigod who one day may become not a destructive but a creative force, an instrument of the great Spirit of America, of which I spoke in one of the past letters, the Spinner of the Courts, who is in charge of our country.

We measured each other’s eyes, and I threw away the curtain that had previously hidden my thoughts, so that he could see my mind with his mind and understand that I respected and to some extent even understood it.

“You saw what you saw,” the chief concluded.

— Do you mind my being here?

- Oh, no.

I was still smelling the fresh smell of pine forest, and my new acquaintance, too, majestically tilted his head and seemed to drink that smell.

"Freedom is beautiful," he said, "and this land used to be ours.

He seemed to justify himself and his companions, and I realized that he had caught in my thoughts a condemnation. I was glad to see that I could communicate directly with him, mind to mind, just as I was glad to have every opportunity to expand the horizons of my knowledge and make acquaintance with a person with a strong will.

"But a free land must be open to the whole world," I said, "for you, and for me, and for all other people, and for my race and yours.

“We don’t think so,” came the reply.

“But,” I insisted, “are we not both enjoying this freedom now, you and I?”

It is quite difficult to put into words the instant flashes of thoughts we have addressed to each other, the images that have appeared between us every now and then, while I have tried to delicately, but insistently convince him that the well-being of his race does not at all require the destruction of mine.

I told him how the soul, leaving the Earth for a while, returns there again, but in a different form, and this thought turned out to be so new for him that I had to present my thought in all the smallest details for lack of words. I told him that many hundreds of his relatives, including the most famous of them, had already returned to the Material World, to the America they loved before, that they now had white bodies and could only be recognized by special keenness of eyes, by gait and even by some features of speech and behavior.

He listened to me in astonishment and even with some morbid interest, for he guessed the truth by his inner knowledge, which here (on this side of life) is almost impossible to deceive; and he believed my words.

Are you lying to yourself?

(I didn’t expect another question.)

Then I told him about my past lives, which I remember now quite vividly, and gave a few more proofs that my words are not self-deception.

“But what kind of life awaits my people if they become white?” he said, somewhere between a question and an assertion.

And he began to present me with a picture after picture, depicting the daily life of an ordinary white American: a school with a teasing oven and cramped air, a house with closed doors and windows, a “prayer”, where a whisperer or, conversely, a screaming preacher rants about things about which he has no idea, to those who either believe him or do not believe him. He mocked me with white clothes from the lowest strata of society: tight and uncomfortable boots, itchy trousers, a disgusting hat that rubs the spit on the head, and a collar. He deliberately depicted a paper collar - salted and sagging at the edges.

He then presented to me, as if trying to show the breadth of his observations, an office in some city, where clerks sitting on chairs bent into three deaths over ledgers that contained only numbers, numbers — long rows of numbers (a kind of vampum of paleface). And this occupation really seemed too small for the soul of a red-skinned man who enjoyed freedom in his native forests.

Should they go back to their homeland?

“But the soul must experience everything,” I replied.

This idea also turned out to be new to him, and his eyebrows in thought converged on the nose.

Why would you want to try everything? he asked.

“To return to my God enriched with knowledge,” I said.

- My God.

With this thought in his eyes flashed a strange light, but his face remained motionless.

“Yes,” I said, “because my God and your God are both God.

“There are many gods,” he replied, “there is the Great Spirit, there are others.

But in the center of each of them there is a place, there is a root of the heart, and it is the same in all that exists; and in each heart there is that one which knows no difference; such a center is in your heart, and in mine, and in the hearts of the gods we honor.

Did you find out about it in one of those schools?

- Oh, no. I didn't know it, even when I was old there on Earth, I found out about it after I got here. On Earth, I was rather proud of my isolation.

- So, you can learn new religions here? - he asked in surprise.

“If you can find a teacher,” I said.

Why do we need new religions?

“In the center of every religion,” I replied, “there is also a place in which they are all one. In the same way, every race, I have emphasized, because I have noticed that my words cause doubt in it, all races have a root of unity. The red-skinned man is a brother, not a sworn enemy of the pale-faced. Why then should you harm the descendants of those people who thought years ago that they were doing the right thing by expanding their possessions on this earth?

But I didn’t take revenge on them for the sake of revenge.

I think I misunderstood the magic of your song.

“You have caught my children’s feelings, and they see nothing beyond their feelings. I just want to destroy the present life so that the old one can return.

“But the present,” I said, “is always the part of the road that leads to the future. And those of me and your people who will reincarnate — that is, those of them who are already ready to go further — will go hand in hand on this earth. Together with those who still come to them from across the ocean, they will make up the New Race. And by the labors of those few whites who have been able to appreciate and study the traditions and civilization of the redskins, while trying to save them from complete destruction, the history of the old forest will become the property of this New Race, which will arise as a result of the merger of your and my race and many other races. And every year for a while, when the life of the New Race is already settled, boys and girls, men and women of this race will go to the bosom of the wild and enjoy a free life in tents and conversations by the fire, and then we will finally become brothers, real brothers in blood, and all the old wounds will last. Can you recognize me as your brother?

He nodded.

Will you give your people the good news of a new race, in all its acquisitions will be their share?

We stood looking at each other for a long time, and I told him a lot, but here I can not convey everything we talked about, otherwise I would have to drive with your hand for many hours in a row. But eventually he understood me.

I believe that he will tell his people all that he has heard, and the children of the New Race will thus be spared at least one of the dangers that lie in wait for them.

Letter 17 

Ideal is success

23 June 1917 

Remove fear from your heart. The future will teach you lessons, but not more than you can learn. Knowing the future to the smallest detail is not desirable. If the world had known even a decade ago how much suffering it would have to endure during this war, would it have been able to make the kind of progress in art, science and business that it has made? Oh, no. Every thought has to be missed.

You may object that in this case the weak races (and the strong ones too) could have been better prepared for this war. But one of the lessons of the war was not to put aside the necessary preparations and to know for the future that if a nation idealized war and armed itself, neither its ideal nor the army it created should be regarded simply as entertainments that would eventually disappear by themselves.

If you want to understand the essence of the life of a nation or the life of an individual, look at the ideals that dominate them. Ideal is a trend.

What is America’s dominant ideal? To put it briefly, it’s a success, isn’t it? Now America is engaged in a world war, and you can be sure that she will not miss a single trifle that could contribute to the success of this war, just as she has not missed a single opportunity to succeed in business.

Now look at you. What are your dominant ideals and trends? You probably will call work, study, full-fledged communication, right? Fine. As for work, you have nothing to fear - in the future, a good job will be able to provide you with at least a livelihood. Studying? Books to satisfy your thirst for knowledge are enough for you. Communication? There are enough lonely souls in this world for you to never be alone.

Anything else? He raised his pencil and thought... Pretty much everything, isn't it?

Now back to America. America is not, and never has been, a warlike country. Her fighting spirit only woke up when she or someone else was treated unfairly. Will she lose this war? I don't think so.

But at the end of the war, there may be some difficulties.

I want to go back to what I said in one of my last letters, namely, that we are working on this side of the invisible border for the future of America.

I have also spoken of the Spirit of this country, which you may regard as a composite being, if you do not have the imagination to see that you — all of you — are separate cells of the body of the Spirit of America.

Now the Spirit of this earth has big plans, and he uses you — all of you — to implement them just as you use the cells of your body, just as you are now using the cluster of cells that forms your hand to hold a pencil over the paper.

By expressing your willingness to respond to the call of your country, you involuntarily confirm that you recognize the fact of serving all cells to the interests of its huge, but one body. Some of you will even have to die in war for the common good; in the same way, cells die every day and are reborn in the human body - the microcosm.

Extend this rule to all of humanity, and you will get even more vivid confirmation of it. Now the spirit of the race is suffering, but in the end it will become even stronger.

You may object to me on the grounds that many of those who perish are the true color of the race — young and quite viable. But don’t you remember that their souls continue to live? The main part of them is not lost, but only released for even more grandiose work. Have you not considered that the life of this world can only be a dream, and the life after death a wakefulness? The sages have been thinking about this for a long time before you and found it quite possible.

Here we are never left without a cause and without hope. It is because of my work that I come to you so rarely. So don't rush me, because I'm not rushing you.

And we have our problems here, too. As I have said, one of our problems is the great number of Indian souls, red-skinned souls, who have passed away with hatred in their hearts and a thirst for revenge caused by the destruction of their race in America by the white man.

Sometimes we manage to appease them and even drag them to your side. Otherwise, they would continue to pose a threat to the future. Some of them want your civilization destroyed because their civilization was destroyed, and some of them are really strong enough to cause significant harm.

The best way to defuse an enemy is to learn what qualities he has, to establish the causes of his hostility, and then turn his hatred in another direction - so that it does not hurt you. But the souls of the Indians are usually very secretive. Even with me, they sometimes try to hide their dislike — deep, deep — for “stealing” (as it seems to them) the land on which they once roamed freely.

I recommend that America expand its practice of free living in nature. In the last book I advised you to revive the old knowledge of the forest and then teach it to children. It is possible that the time will come when the elements of this knowledge will be useful to many of you.

Great changes will soon occur in the world, and a period of adjustment will come for people. Each such period brings with it an element of anxiety, and the anxiety of the nation, like the anxiety of a teenager during puberty, should be moderated by moving outdoors or by work disguised as play.

The future will take from the present those elements that are most necessary for survival.

Don’t be afraid to go back to the dark days. That's not gonna happen. The bright time is approaching. And what is happening now is just the dawn of dawn.

Letter 18 

Order and progress

18 July 1917 

Our task is to implement the changes that must inevitably occur. We are trying to avoid drastic changes.

You in your world have no idea what abilities and capabilities we have here. We can inspire people with thoughts without even giving them the opportunity to guess how these thoughts appeared to them. When an idea suddenly breaks out in their minds, they think they have it; but unexpected ideas usually come from outside. (One of them, for example, I inspired you this morning, and then quickly retired so that you don’t have time to recognize me. Why did I run away? Because I want you to always rely on your own judgment.

Right now, we are trying to teach America to look with confidence to the future, to its orderly and peaceful future, which will come after the conclusion of peace in Europe.

You may have already guessed that here we have many such people who care about the future of the whole world. After leaving their physical bodies, people, however, do not cease to worry. Many here believe that the world is approaching disaster. They have always feared this in their lifetimes, when life, in their opinion, began to change for the worse, and now they are just as ready to perceive every difficulty as a foreshadowing of the coming collapse and chaos.

Across America, there are many men and women who portend — and many from high stands and church ambones — the imminent demise of society that will supposedly follow the war. Calm your excited hearts! Society will not die. With some elements of social life after the war, of course, gradually will be over, well, God with them! But society has already made quite a lot of progress, both technically and intellectually, and stopping it is not so easy.

Don't worry. Be careful, but don’t worry. Abraham Lincoln once prevented a territorial split, and therefore a possible weakening of this country; but now he and others are trying to prevent a spiritual split, the consequences of which could be even more devastating.

No, we do not want all your useful inventions and structures, which may still be useful in the future, to be thrown into the landfill because of reckless cruelty and intemperance. Everything useful must be preserved. And anything that is useless for the future can be remade and used for good.

Humans are not used to racing. It is more usual for him to consistently rearrange his legs one after another, confidently moving forward. In the past, man tried to correct and remake more, and not to abandon overnight not only his social institutions, but even his clothes. Only what was really worn to the extreme was thrown away. The same goes for our financial systems and our social systems — they should be corrected, not discarded. Don't you think we're going back to the vampum? Of course not!

And here we have a fairly strong current (represented mainly by those who previously inhabited this continent) aimed at simplifying life in America. America is no longer an isolated country. It now has its place in the Republic of Nations. Some souls — usually those who used to live in the bodies of American Indians — would like to make America a country of wigwams and campfires again because they want to go home, and the complexity of modern American life scares them.

But there are teachers — and some of them are red-skinned — who can teach backward souls better adaptability.

I have already said that there is a force that seeks to reverse the development of America. But I also said that you should take this fact without panic, because there are reactionaries in your world.

The impact of our world on yours is peculiar, but noticeable. However, most of those who live here, who care about the fate of the world, seek to lead it forward, not backward. The world will continue to move forward. 

Yes, the souls that you call "disappeared into the other world" are also not alien to organization. They understand that having a goal and a program, they will have great influence. When the war began, there was a big stir, but now everything is gradually returning to normal. Individual minds are becoming more and more united. Many of those who have common sense and at least a little verse in politics, give lectures here and there, wherever it is possible to gather an audience. This is another reason why my visits have become so rare. I'm as busy as ever. Knowing that the time will soon come when I can finally take a break from my current labors, I try to use my strength to the full, because those whom I manage to convince that America and other countries are still moving forward (and should move forward to even greater achievements), in turn, try to convince others of this. In the last month I have been as busy as no earthly lecturer has ever been. Moving from one place to another — from city to city, from state to state — I spoke to hundreds of people several times a day. One morning I was giving a lecture in San Francisco, closer to noon that day in New York City, at two in the afternoon in New Orleans, and in the evening in Butte, Montana. Fortunately, I do not have to adjust to the railway schedule and do not have to pay for travel.

Believe me, we will save America and save the world. Teachers are behind us, and they will never let the world die.

I wouldn’t want you to know how close the world has been to disaster (and repeatedly) over the past three years. But now the forces of deliberate evil that we have fought against are already dispersed; and although they are not completely destroyed, their influence is far from being the same as before. What we should fear now is the folly of those who believe that the world is good — the follies of fanatics, agitators, and alarmists, who distort and distort the original correct ideas with their delusional, if not obviously harmful ideas.

Order, order, and again order! That is what peace should strive for in the period of reaction that will inevitably come after the war. You will have to take into account the reaction, but this will only be a brief rest for exhausted hearts, which will soon have to go back to creation.

It is during this period of creation that I have the greatest confidence in America, because it will not be as exhausted as the rest of the great world brotherhood. But it is in America at this time that one danger will arise. I am telling you this now, so that this danger does not surprise you and so that you do not lose your vigilance.

Be careful, but don’t be overconfident.

And believe that the Teachers of Life will somehow help you overcome this or that test.

Letter 19 

Federation of Nations

9 August 1917 

It is time for America to join the rest of the world and take its place in the federation of nations. If it establishes a strong alliance with England, they will be able to save the world from the danger of a new war.

America’s past isolation was entirely in its own interest: it needed to evolve to its present state without being subjected to any outside interference and without, in turn, interfering in any international conflicts. Free and alone, she never became part of the cumbersome, creaking machine of international diplomacy and intrigue. But now it is completely independent, and, in the language of politicians, its character has already been formed. We can say that America has already gathered the necessary quorum and now has the right to vote in world meetings and world elections.

In the past, England and France did a lot for her, and now it’s her turn to try for them. After all, it was they who shaped her culture and most influenced her spirit; now their spirit will be influenced by America.

When you read the day before that our soldiers were not only at war, but were also working in France, trying to help the peasants and farmers there in some way, you were very pleased; you remember, probably, what I told you before America entered the war — that our compatriots would go to France to work, work and work there for the reconstruction of this country.

And that's just the beginning. During the war and after it, our people will become more and more involved in the reconstruction of Europe.

Soon there will be a need for a new type of work - new for us.

The fact that many nations unite for the common cause is very significant. From here, there is only one step to unite all nations for the sake of achieving a single goal.

The power of indignation in the world must be reduced, just as the power of racial hatred has subsided, and indeed it has already been exhausted. Then the war will continue without the fury that took place at its beginning. We are growing because that is our destiny, and even in New York, we no longer feel the rage that was there a couple of years ago. It has weakened in England, France and Germany. The war is now treated as an ordinary unpleasant duty, from which everyone would like to get rid of quickly. When no one sees any meaning in it, it will stop.

Now I wonder what place America will take in the federation of states.

Letter 20 

The New Ideal

19 August 1917 

Due to the fact that Germany became overly fond of its nationalist ideas and then tried to introduce them to the rest of the world in imperial form, the world is now becoming increasingly skeptical of the national fetish. The world will no longer believe in the good intentions of any nation that flaunts its perfections in the face of either a friend or an enemy.

America, which is now becoming more and more confident in its high purpose, would not hurt in parallel to develop in itself and modesty. It needs to realize that it is only one of the sister countries that make up a great community of nations. And Eagle in this regard would not hurt to learn the art of communication. A calm voice immediately attracts attention in a mix of heterogeneous noises, where the cry would certainly go unnoticed. Therefore, the voice of America must be confident and calm.

Now she is paying for her right to participate in world meetings. So let her voice gain credibility through her restraint and dignity.

In Europe, a great change is taking place - the ideas of Europeans about the American character are radically changing. France has so far known only American tourists, and those (away from the roots) of Americans who preferred to live in Europe, and not in their own country. Now France is beginning to learn how Americans work, entertain, fight, love, live and die. Seeing the Americans in this light, France began to wipe her eyes, thinking - is it a dream? These Americans were not what she had imagined. She still hasn’t quite figured out what a true American he is, but she’s already got the urge to figure it out. In the heart of France, a new, exciting, warm feeling has already appeared for her new brother, who came to her aid from overseas. Due to its refinement and more far-fetched standards, she notices its untidyness. But she also notices his chivalry, and nobility, which she did not expect to see in a foreigner.

Oh, America and Americans!

Now more than ever, the world is inclined to judge and test you. My heart is filled with delight when I see our guys, going to an unknown world, bring with them the invigorating spirit of the American forests and steppes. When I see the gaze of a proud and painfully constrained Frenchman warming up, stopping at our boys, how proud I am of them! I forget that I am no longer an American myself, because a few years ago I left my land and moved to a country on the other side of death.

And when many negotiations begin at the end of the war and after it, let the modesty dictated by the consciousness of one's own greatness keep America from reminding England and France that it was she who saved them from complete destruction. I prayerfully fold my palms and fervently pray that America behaves with dignity in the upcoming negotiations.

Modesty: Let this word become your password.

The soul of France is full of gratitude, the soul of France is full of love. The hearts of the French are warm, and the eyes are filled with moisture when they whisper, "Les Americains! Les Americains!"

Remember that this love is your most important conquest.

I would rather die a thousand times than see my Americans disappoint their French brothers in this crisis for the world.

Is it any wonder I don't say anything about England? Aah! England already knows you. He's known for a long time. You will not surprise England. She knows you as a mother knows her son or daughter; and for the French, you are a mystery, a mystery that came to their aid; khaki-colored angels, wearing wide-brimmed hats, and speaking an incomprehensible language.

Now you understand?

France is praying for you. She'd be praying for you if she wasn't so humble in her love. She sees an unknown miracle before her and feels awe-inspiring.

Let us celebrate the brotherhood of nations, an ideal hitherto unfathomable!

You can’t shake the idea that America is free and should always be free. Throughout the years, the people of this land have been willing to die for freedom — for their own personal freedom, for the freedom of the Negroes. Now they are fighting and dying for the freedom of the world.

Do you know what it means to be free? Only a reserved person can be free, because lawlessness is not freedom. Lawlessness is always inherent not in freedom, but in tyranny.

In the new America, the outlines of which I already see on the horizon (after all, my eyes see much further than yours), all conditions will be created for the most complete development of individuality, but at the same time its development will be balanced by the idea of social responsibility. So far, individuality has evolved spontaneously. And the results of this process are evident: few have accumulated immense supplies of food, while many often remain completely without it; everywhere there are clashes and confrontations of interests, and everyone tries to benefit from this tragic confrontation.

Until the end of the war, people need to reconcile their minds and hearts.

The old generation is leaving — the generation that, spurred by the desire for personal gain, has girded the entire continent with railways. And before the new people coming to replace the old "captains of the industry", a new ideal will open up.

One of those who know more than I did once told me that those people who succeeded in building an industrial America through their vision and initiative were inspired and guided by Beings who sought to turn their ambitions into peace, though the builders themselves certainly did not know it.

Letter 21 

A sad story

15 November 1917 

Today I am not interested in literary work. So my speech, I'm afraid, will be a little incoherent.

I don’t know if you have a good enough picture of the seriousness of the enterprise that America has entered. You think so. But until things settle down, I'm afraid you'll have a lot of surprises.

Don't worry about your London property. London is a big city, and to do any noticeable damage to it would require a much larger number of bombs.

Yes, I can repeat with confidence what I said about two and a half years ago: Germany will face serious internal difficulties, and not only Germany. The world will change. But don't be afraid. You're not going to get hurt by this remodeling.

Humanity is so afraid of change.

But the human race has experienced changes more than once (some even in prehistoric times), often more dramatic than those occurring now. Humanity has a long history, and only a small part of it is described in your books.

Yes, the world will unite, and at the same time it will be torn by contradictions. I don't doubt it sounds a bit paradoxical.

Today I had the opportunity to relax, so my speech is a bit chaotic. You should live permanently in a small, quiet place like this, away from the center. Busy and crowded business districts are not for you; neither New York nor other big cities will suit you. All those whose inner feelings are already highly developed should live away from them. This does not mean that they necessarily need to become hermits, but it is best for them to live somewhere on the outskirts. And when you want to be in the thick of the crowd, you can always go to the center.

Tell *** so he doesn't worry, as work on this book is progressing slowly. Time does not work against you. The world moves forward, and you move with it. So don't be wrong about that. The world is moving very fast. All these new "spiritual" books are evidence of the rapid progress of the world. A few years ago, no publisher would have printed them.

I'm not surprised you have a head around.

You were impressed by the “loss” of many personal friends during the war, because their deaths, at first glance, were not connected with this war. They simply could not adapt to the new world, which is replacing the old, and there are many such as them. Their Silent Watchers simply took them from there. Each of you has your own Silent Observer, something above and beyond you, and at the same time absolutely real and integral part of yourself.

Observers of the universe are now watching her much more closely than usual. And your own Observer is watching you and the world. And when you need to do something important, it will let you know.

It seems that the world has become accustomed to the idea that the dead can talk as well as the living. But this is only a prelude to knowledge.

When this worst of wars is over, and people are a little used to peaceful life, they will try to know themselves. And then they will find that their bodies and souls are only part of themselves, that they exist on all the levels of matter and finer matter in the universe, and that each of these human bodies is as real as the one they see in the mirror. People will learn to create connections with each other, to build bridges of communication. Eventually, they will become fully conscious beings.

Someday joy will return to the world, and joy such as the world has never known. And one day you will feel alive again, I mean all of you.

Don't worry, you'll be in America for now. At this time, America is the most suitable place to live. The world is increasingly watching America’s progress. She sets an example to her friends that they will be ashamed not to follow. And one day it will become the highest example for everyone.

Letter 22 

A means of achieving world unity

19 November 1917 

Don’t you see that America’s unifying influence is already beginning to take its toll on this war? Can’t you see how America, through its president, is rallying the Allies? This is its purpose - to unite all nations into a single brotherhood on the basis of democratic freedoms and mutual assistance. This demand by President Wilson to jointly conduct military operations is probably one of the most important events in history. For the first time, a group of friendly nations has been able, leaving behind all their personal, petty claims and fears, to truly work together for the good of the world.

This is the means of achieving world unity that will free the world from such unreasonable expenditures, which until now have consumed almost half of what it has produced.

Nations of Europe, do not be afraid of a huge free country located beyond the ocean! She needs nothing from you but the privilege of helping you save yourself now, and in the future, the opportunity to work with you to achieve those ideals that will make you all stronger.

The Anglo-Saxon race should once again become a single family, although living in different houses. Britain! Remember that even when America gradually dissolves all foreign immigrants who have settled in her land and creates a new, unified race, she will not cease to be your sister! And you two will unite to further enlighten the world.

Sometimes I go up high into the etheric realms to look down at the Earth; I go up so high that I see the whole Earth — both hemispheres one after the other. The horizons of time are also expanding, and in addition to the present, I am beginning to see the past and the future. I'm starting to see the reasons that led the world to the dead end it's in now. You will have to break down the wall that separates you from the Age of Enlightened Brotherhood.

You’ve read about the golden age of the past. You probably thought it was just a fairy tale made up to entertain kids by the fireplace in the evenings? And I tell you that one day it will be re-established here on this Earth, now torn apart by war and hatred.

You must preserve all that this Earth has given you and that has given you the activity of your own mind. Science and the arts will have a worthy place in the approaching New Age: they have not yet been appreciated, but in the future they will greatly increase the glory and well-being of human existence. If you lose something of value to the soul, it will only be your own stupidity and blindness. The soul needs matter, just as matter needs the soul. And if a world is ahead of us, free from hatred and meaningless national division, this does not mean that complete idyll and inertia will be established in the New World. The possibilities for the manifestation of genius, talents, ambitions will remain limitless.

The highest aristocracy of the Earth is the aristocracy of mind and soul, hence the development of soul and mind will also be encouraged. Education in the future will become not only practical, but also humanistic; nothing that leads to beauty and to the development of thought will be forgotten. And after the work necessary to meet the material needs of the world, there will still be time for fine arts, study, social activities and religious delights. There is also a place for mysticism in this world.

Three years ago, I would not have dared to predict the happy ending of all these tragic events. I told you more than two years ago that this battle was won by the Forces of Goodness, those who work for the good of humanity. Can you doubt now? If the war ended two years ago, then the world has already managed to live some time without war. But now he is no longer able to follow the previous selfish path. The very realities of post-war life will force the races to help each other, and representatives of different races will finally be able to see brothers and sisters in each other.

Never lose faith in the fact that the consequence of this tragedy will still be the reward of the desires and aspirations of the world. I already see it and live for it (since I am even more alive than you are); and in order that you may see it too, I struggle now with the ease of my present body, which always wants to throw me away from the dense spheres in which you suffer and offer your prayers you are the people of the Earth.

I call you, the one who has followed me from the very first days of my stay here, when I have written to you from the lower realms of the Astral World, describing all that I have seen around me, like a traveler who has fallen into an unfamiliar country; the one who has gone with me through the hell of the astral coterie that began in the first months of the war, to follow me a little more. I'll show you the way, the way I saw it. You all have to go this way, at first - stumbling and feeling searching for the guiding thread of the goal that will lead you out of the labyrinth of the recovery period. It will be in the days that you call peaceful. But lasting peace cannot be achieved overnight. You will also have to work hard for it, as you have worked hard to achieve victory in the war. But if you have faith, you will be able to cross this stormy sea and reach the sky, which is the new earth. And over this new earth will soon shine a new heaven, as the sky is populated from below - from the earth; people come to heaven from below. New angels are not born. Breathing has already completed its Breathing out, but a new Breathing has not yet begun. You practiced yoga breathing and you know how hard it is to hold your breath after exhalation. This can only be done by an effort of will. There is now a renewed tendency to return, and the race is beginning to seek a return to its own Origins. That is why I say that you are still powerless to stop (except for a short time) the flow of the breath of the race, again striving for harmony, peace and love.

This internecine struggle of people, caused by the selfish desire for isolation, is similar to the attempts of a young and inexperienced yogi to stop breathing, since a wise person breathes smoothly and knows when to end inhaling or exhaling.

Race knows that. And she will relentlessly follow the law of inhalation and exhalation. And there's nothing you can do. Therefore, trust yourself to the flow that should take you back to God.

It will be a long and leisurely journey, since breathing on the breath should also be done at a moderate pace. You have enough time for work, for rest, and for collecting flowers on your way.

Are you afraid of this return to God, even slow? I have experienced death, and now I know that there is nothing terrible in it; and since I have already tasted a new life, I now have the right to say that everything that happens to us is for the better.

Letter 23 

Stars of Human Destiny

24 November 1917 

Have you ever thought that the forces responsible for world progress, for the sake of timely achievement of evolutionary goals, can use methods that would personally seem disgusting to you? In revolt against the progress of cosmic progress, man may delay it for a short time; but when the wave of that progress reaches a sufficiently great height, it will carry man along even against his will, and, despite all his resistance, what is to be accomplished will be accomplished.

Take this war, for example.

On the universal clock, there was at last the hour when the human races had to unite for the sake of achieving a common goal. But people rebelled because of the fear that some of them might not get their share of world wealth; therefore, a common enemy was exposed against all races, which forced them to unite for the sake of a common cause - preserving civilization from destruction, the threat of which was that common enemy.

Could this war have been prevented? Yes, if she could have been foreseen. But none of those whose influence was powerful enough to be listened to with respect could have foreseen it. Those with the greatest influence in the world have focused so much on their own work and their individual ambitions that they have lost the ability to look at things impartially and see the world as a whole. If only a few can consider the trends taking place in their own countries, the number of people able to discern the main trend of development of the whole world is even less.

And I can tell you now that if, at the end of this world war, the races are not able to realize the need to unite into a federation whose goal is to protect the interests of each of its subjects, then in forty years from all that has been achieved during the brilliant nineteenth century (and in these hundred years such material progress has been made as in the previous two millennia), there will be little left.

And why can't a man see the stars of his destiny until he's hit on the back of the head with a beam? If a person does not care about the common good, then everything - absolutely everything - will be threatened. It is already under threat if you can see it.

Letter 24 

Melancholy

23 December 1917 

I want to talk about melancholy — not depression caused by upset digestion or nervous overloads, but about that dark cloud that sometimes envelops even the most brilliant minds and the most steadfast hearts, making them unsuitable for any work, except perhaps learning the very experience of being in melancholy.

Not all sadness originates in the heart of the person himself; both sadness and fear are the basis of melancholy can be transferred to the soul of an earthly person by another soul outside the Earth. You do not even know what cloud of unhappy and frightened souls has broken loose into the invisible worlds as a result of this massacre; they gather around the most sensitive earthly souls, wanting to tell about their troubles, seeking help and sympathy. They make exactly the same impression as many insecure earthly people, one kind of which causes depression in stronger personalities.

So now that you feel that this cloud of melancholy is beginning to envelop you, interrupt your previous thoughts and think about the source of this influence. And you'll notice that the power of suggestion is there. And if the environment and circumstances in which you are now do not give you any real reason for a feeling of emptiness and hopelessness, would it not be wiser to ward off a bad mood from yourself, assuming that this cloud of melancholy formed in some other place, and then simply descended on you?

A disciple who is already determined to become an Adept one day (even after many more lives have passed) can now begin to learn to control and direct his thoughts and emotions.

You will not fall into melancholy until you want to. There are many texts, mantras, proverbs and aphorisms that you could focus on at this time. This will help you to endure the most acute attacks of blues. Here are some of them:

Pain and pleasure are opposite manifestations of the same Force.

I am a part of God, and nothing can harm God.

What truth is hidden behind this wall of discontent?

Even if I plunge deeper and deeper into this darkness of the dungeon, sooner or later I will come to the surface on the other side of the Earth, and the sun will shine on me again.

Yesterday I was happy, and I am the same yesterday and today.

A frightened dog will not drive a thief away.

If all these misfortunes are destined for me, then I am destined to learn to overcome them with the same fate.

Perhaps not too deeply, but if you want, you can find your own, more successful sayings. I am only describing the process of liberation from oppressive fear. Is there really anything that scares people? Even death is scary only when you fear it.

Teachers even like the difficulties. For them, it is the same acid that tests the strength and purity of the gold of their skill.

And at the lower levels, too, there is a charm in overcoming difficulties. For example, writing a novel requires much more effort (both physical and mental) than overcoming any serious difficulty. It is much easier to gather the spirit and cope with any trouble than to write even a short story.

However, quite a healthy person, even if quite ordinary, abilities, still tend to fall into melancholy from time to time. Why this is so, let the philosophers understand.

I am not talking about grief caused by the death of friends or the betrayal of false friends (which is more unbearable); I am only talking about the fear of some imagined misfortune that can hardly ever happen in reality.

There is no better way to attract a certain misfortune to yourself than to scroll it in your imagination. You can create almost anything if you think about it persistently — even joy and courage if you want to.

The Master once told me that the ability to control and drive out melancholy is an even more difficult test of human strength than even control over one’s desires.

Both desire and melancholy often come from outside, perceived by an impressionable and passive mind. The Master himself now responds only to those suggestions that make him stronger. If you have a friend whose very presence adds confidence to you, try to be more often in his company. If you have a friend who suggests melancholy to you, try to either re-educate him or get rid of him altogether; recommend that he consult a doctor.

What good is it to talk about some occult abilities if we are not able to cope even with our own mood? Work on your mood. I can recommend this exercise: when you are very active, force yourself to be a little lazy; or when you are not tired, but you are just too lazy to do anything, force yourself to be active. Natural fatigue should not be resisted for long, as we have said ourselves that it is natural; but fatigue and laziness are different things. Laziness is the physical equivalent of melancholy, which affects the mental activity of a person accordingly.

Or another exercise: if your mind is fixated on one thing, try to turn off this idea, as you would turn off the desk lamp.

Turn your thoughts sharply to something else. You can do that.

But the best way to cure melancholy is to do a math calculation in about an hour. I have never seen a person in my earthly life melancholy engaged in geometry or trigonometry. Why not? It is impossible to think about mathematical formulas and about oneself. And when a person is in melancholy, his thoughts are directed towards himself.

You tell me that melancholy overwhelms you when you think of your friend who has lost her job. Think again. When you think about how you can help her and whether you can afford to do so, fear overwhelms you... Am I not right?

You may be upset that your friend is out of work, but only you yourself can be the cause of your melancholy.

Another person can cause you to become melancholy only by hurting or scaring you.

Our thoughts are so attached to our egos that it is quite difficult to separate them for a long time. But do you fall into melancholy when you imagine a scene from a book you read? And can you succumb to melancholy, calculating, for example, the “polar altitude” of the planet or calculating its “backward movement”? I see you're smiling. When you do the numbers, you forget about yourself. So listen to my advice. If autosuggestion doesn’t help you deal with melancholy, do astrological calculations on that table of inclined ascents I saw you have yesterday, and try to calculate the reverse motion and longitude of Vulcan.

You remind me that during my earthly life I had little respect for astrology. But I am speaking only of mathematical calculations.

Letter 25 

Recovery period

1 February 1918 

I've looked at you several times over the last few weeks. Glad you finally got the chance to rest.

Too ambitious and energetic people usually underestimate the benefits of such a passive rest. Even the machine can not work without periodic rest and lubrication. Likewise, the soul, however violently active, cannot exploit its body and its brain for too long without allowing them to cool down. The farmer knows when he should leave his field under steam.

“After the war” it is desirable that soldiers who have been engaged in the same work for a long time should have time to rest before re-joining the hustle and bustle of industrial production; a kind of recovery period when they could do nothing. Let them at least briefly disconnect from all problems and enjoy the fresh wind and the aroma of serenity; and the result of this rest will be a renewed thirst for activity, which will return them again to factories and factories. If the world loses them for a few weeks, it will not be a big loss for him.

In the coming years, the largest amount of rest will fall on the share of America. In Europe, after the war, there will be quite understandable fatigue, and America in no way loses, even if a little let down steam.

An hour of passive rest is sometimes as useful as an hour of active work. It is during the hours of so-called passive rest that we reflect, get to know ourselves, and build castles in the air, which are in fact our working plans for the future. Fantasy is good. During my life on Earth, I often fantasized, and now my fantasies serve me as a work plan for building my future, which I am now just doing. I wanted to take back something that was lost, and here I am. Do you want to know what exactly? Well, I'll tell you. In my past life, I have achieved great heights of skill. But then I was struck by a long-term regression. I dreamed of getting lost again, and here I succeeded to a great extent.

And if my consciousness had not preserved in itself a vivid image of my fantasies, I could not here make such progress in restoring what was lost.

I recently spoke here with an old friend of mine, a very dear and dear person, who moved here a year or two ago, and we both came to the conclusion that our imaginations were our greatest achievement in previous earthly lives.

She is also enjoying recovering now, and I think she will even catch up with me over time. Yes, restoring your memory in this way, you can even remember that once you had the abilities of an adept.

My friend told me with a laugh that with the arrival here she had already managed to set up so many plans that their implementation will not be enough and eternity.

“You can do them,” I advised her, “and eternity is always at your disposal.”

She looked at me as she did on Earth (I remember that look very well) and said, “Time seems to have been invented for slaves and eternity for masters.”

She's also happy to be here. She has been doing the same job for a long time, and is now happy to change it for another.

Do you wonder if it helps me? No, it does not help, unless, of course, we consider the joy of resuming our communication as a help. Why would she help me, or should I help her? Each of us has our own job.

But you in your world should help each other as much as you can, and we here equally help each other with what we are. And I have to say, it's a very big help to be together sometimes.

What a wonderful way to say “be together”! What poetry! Not working together, not having fun together, but just being. You probably feel this joy when you are with a friend whom you love very much. You don’t need words to convey that pleasure. Verbal transmission always limits the true feeling. A serene existence! Even birds can enjoy it, even a rose can tell you the secret of that enjoyment.

Once on Earth, I heard gossip in absentia reproach one beautiful woman for doing absolutely nothing. So what? Rose doesn't sew on a typewriter, she doesn't write articles in a newspaper.

Joy is returning to your world. She was absent for a long time. To be simply for the sake of being is a principle that takes on new meaning for those who are already happy that they are alive.

To go through all the dangers of this long war and not to stop "being" - is not this enough to cause delight of the soul.

Those people who have been through this war since its beginning should not be bored with excessive attention when they finally return home to take a break from the hardships of military life. They deserve that right. And when they tell you about the war, listen to them with respect. For your sakes, they have passed through the shadow of death. And if God has kept them among the active cells of His body, then He still needs them, but this does not mean that they must now work for you every minute. You can work for them for a while. And when they rest, they will join you in your work.

Last night I listened to two soldiers talking, and this is what they said to each other:

“What are you going to do, John, when this is over?”

“Every morning I’ll be lying in the bathroom for an hour in warm soapy water, and then I’ll call my girlfriends, everyone, and I’ll drink tea and listen to their chatter. What are you gonna do?

I’ll just hold my hand and look at her.

What do you say, empty talk? It depends on what you think of as empty talk. For example, this conversation seemed very important to me.

One day, after our minor conflict with Spain, I heard an energetic woman say that since her husband returned from Cuba he had been completely useless.

"Well," I said, "but in Cuba he was fit for a lot."

The Spanish-American War!

A fly in front of an elephant when compared to this war.

The Germans are tired too. After the war, you don’t have to be too hard to keep up with them.

Letter 26 

Age of Aquarius

2 February 1918 

You are surprised that the Masters suddenly started talking about the interests of the common man, because before They rarely touched on this topic. But don’t you know that when the world comes to the threshold of any important change, the task of the Masters is precisely to guide it along the right path?

You have heard of the Iron Age, the Golden Age, etc., and you know that the Golden Age must come after the Iron Age. You may have been surprised that two such contrasting periods follow each other in time. But between the Iron and Golden Ages there is still a transitional period, small in length in comparison with the actual "age" (after all, for example, the longest of them - Golden - should last 1728000 years).

But I'm not here tonight to announce that the Golden Age is coming. Oh, no! We are approaching the end of another small cycle, and the subsequent transition period between the old and new cycles will last about a thousand years. Thus, this thousand-year period will end around the middle of the so-called Age of Aquarius, since this small zodiacal period will last just twice as long.

What is the Age of Aquarius? You know that Aquarius is a human sign. You also know the characteristics of the planet Uranus, with which Aquarius corresponds this time. The conclusion is self-evident. We will have an Aquarius World in which all things, however, will be like the strange and unpredictable planet Uranus.

The world of Jupiter is gradually disappearing, and we are gradually entering a period of change - political, social, religious and personal. And soon humanity will witness attempts to form a federation of states, a federation of souls. Perhaps, only this war can delay this process, and its results will appear unexpectedly, quite in accordance with the nature of the mysterious planet Uranus.

At the end of the Age of Aquarius, the creative will of man will reach such proportions as have not yet been dreamed of by the world. She will finally be free of all the restrictions that currently constrain her. When livelihood ceases to be a problem for man, what freedom of mind he will then find! America’s current freedoms are nothing compared to the freedom that the coming era brings us.

When education acquires a truly universal scope, humanity’s moral and mental level will rise sharply, and new ideas will be readily assimilated by the developing human brain.

Oh, peace, look to the future without fear! Three years ago, even we, who see far beyond you, experienced doubts, thinking about the future of your planet. But the Great Teachers have constantly told us that the world will be able to pass through this test and maintain its balance, and that the forces of order will prevail over the forces that seek to create disorder. Have you not noticed that in the spirit world the tension is already going away? Have you not noticed that there are no longer those hostile beings whose triumphant malice in the first months of the war seemed to threaten you, and all people, and the whole world? This is the straw, the flight of which indicates the direction of the "wind blowing between the two worlds."

It is good that you are able to notice mental states so clearly. This observation will serve you well in future years. Those who will not be able to adapt to the new conditions will leave for a while, so that, returning again with an unbiased mind of the child, they will begin to accumulate new experience already in the New World.

At first there will be much unrest. Things now look far less stable than they seemed four years ago. The war has revealed the instability of the realities that exist in the world.

The wave of psychic research now sweeping the world will contribute to thinning the veil between the visible and the invisible. More and more men and women begin to live simultaneously in two worlds, as both worlds occupy the same space, and the differences between them are the differences of consciousness, the frequency of oscillations (which implies different states of matter).

New influences will contribute to the increase of magnetism of people. Their influence on each other will become stronger and stronger, and this is one of the reasons why it is necessary to achieve greater freedom. The increased sensitivity that needs to be established in the future will make it more difficult for large families to live under one roof. And although the whole of humanity over time will increasingly resemble a single family in spirit, people will gradually become convinced that for more successful development, every person needs an intimate environment. The tyranny of the family will be replaced by freedom within the family. Remove tyranny from family life, and you will see that it can be quite pleasant.

The more sensitive and refined beings of the New Age would simply explode if they had to gather at the family table every evening and listen to the muttering of the least developed of them, only thanks to their age usurping the monopoly of the right to dictate their will. This does not mean that children will cease to respect their parents, but in the new environment, parents will have to take into account the need for their children in their personal lives and provide them with an opportunity to do so, thereby confirming their freedom.

At the end of the Age of Aquarius, freedom will be manifested mainly in the sphere of the mind. "Heresy" will cease to exist, and the concept itself will lose its meaning.

Sin against the Holy Spirit will be interpreted as an attempt to limit the will of others.

And the result of this mutual tolerance will be ever-increasing friendliness. We hate only those we fear, and in a world of universal tolerance, there will be virtually no prerequisites for the emergence of hatred.

All people will learn; school will be just the first stage of learning. When a person becomes his own teacher, his academic success will become much more noticeable.

What you now know about art, music, literature, can only give you a very weak idea of what forms they will take in the next century. Think of some newfangled words from the recent past, "impressionism," for example. This word will be used in all genres of art.

Science is still in its infancy. According to the ancient books, Aquarius is an air sign, and the air contains many secrets that you have to reveal. And these secrets concern not only the possibilities of movement, but also psychology. Aviation and mental research began to develop simultaneously.

The last “line of defense” of such a phenomenon as electricity, you have not yet mastered. It is also a treasure for you. When you learn to get it from the air (where it hides, laughing at you), you will no longer need to extract coal in such quantities, and miners will be able to get out of the bowels of the earth to the surface and more often will see the sun above them.

Inventions. I already see in the World of Primeraignments, which I told you about in my first book, a lot of things that would cause your unlimited surprise, if you knew about them. It won’t be long, and the technologies that are now considered new will become obsolete. And the patient silkworm will no longer be as aristocrat as it is now.

The human ego returns to itself. It will find itself when it abandons selfishness. This is not just sophistry, but a statement of psychological fact.

The chaos will take the right shape, and in it you will see hitherto unknown beauty. I will not hide from you that in the period of world changes, many people will use this word - "chaos". But don't worry. The formless will find its form in time. Clairvoyance, which is developing more and more in a person, will help him to see what his old faith did not allow him to see. He will believe in the future, he will believe in his brother and will not be deceived. And the intuition of the soul will indicate to a person what he really needs for prosperity. Behind the air (or in the air itself) is the ether - it is also matter (a separate substance), which is God. And man will use it for his own needs - with the consent of God, who gladly gives himself to his children.

As I have said above, the Masters direct the development of the world in the right direction, but they are wise enough not to accelerate this process. They closely monitor the course of the cosmic clock and wake up the world exactly at the hour of the new dawn. We are fortunate to serve them.

Letter 27 

Observers

3 February 1918 

One day I was standing in front of a Great Soul who had given up on rest in Heaven, and I asked Him what kind of work was most important to us now. And what do you think he said to me?

Dealing with those who fear the future.

Do so many people look to the future with fear?

“Everyone who thinks, sees and has a sense of responsibility, fears the future,” the response followed.

And then I decided to check it out on the Americans. I watched a lot of men and a few women. And I found tremendous uncertainty in their minds.

“We have enough for a rainy day,” I thought so intensely in them that many answered me with a calm smile.

Yes, I can really evoke a response in a person when I think about something intensely, being in close proximity to him.

The faith of One of the Great Souls here has already helped many withstand the gusts of wind that sought to knock them off their feet. He knows that America will follow its destined course faithfully, but to keep it on course, He Himself has decided to disperse the fog that prevents the skipper from finding his bearings.

In these gray days, the “ship of the state” will often fall into a fog. When Wilson nationalized the railroads, what a celebration it was! True, when the enthusiasms subside, many will criticize and condemn it, but criticism and condemnation will always be a reward for those who, forgetting about themselves, work for the benefit of their country or the whole world. But if a man is big enough to overcome his egoism, the slander will not be able to cause him any harm. It can only hurt our selfishness. And the soul is able to withstand all the headwinds, maintaining its serenity and purity.

I am not calling on all people to immediately abandon all selfish motives in their actions. Only those who have a huge responsibility can refuse them without any fear. A small, undeveloped person cannot persuade his soul to take the place of his lower self. For in this case the soul would have to descend to a personal, egoistic level. Most souls are only partially reincarnated. Most people’s higher self remains higher, separate from them. She is their Silent Watcher, only occasionally interfering with their lives in order to prevent or save them. The higher entity is separated from the lower in order to accumulate experience and learn lessons, looking at the suffering and joy of the latter, at its successes and failures. But when a person develops so much that his actions begin to go beyond personal interests, the soul can come down and begin to directly affect the person, since the soul is designed to function at a level higher than the personal. The soul is the conscious part of the Great Whole, possessing its own consciousness, the part of God it serves and worships no matter how immersed in vanity and blasphemy the lower entity is.

There is a supreme observer in every man who has not yet lost his soul. The observer is One and at the same time plural. He's your connection to God, man! He is your connection to immortality.

Death is by no means a guarantee of an immediate encounter with it, for you may long remain in the Astral and lower Mental World before you meet it face to face. But if you can ascend immediately after death to the Higher Spheres, you will see HIS, HE is waiting for you. You will be able to present to Him all the good fruits of your recent life, and He will rejoice in them with you.

I have come face to face with my soul; but I cannot remain long in the Higher Spheres, looking serenely at its beauty, while I find myself waiting for an unbecoming end of work in the near-earth realms, where I try to help the human races. Gradually I will ascend again, but if I go to Heaven for a long time, you will hear nothing more about me.

Yeah, I've seen your soul, too. But I will not describe its essence to you, because you are able to see it yourself. Listen to her. If a person has acquired the ability to reach his Silent Observer, the collapse of earthly friendship will not be able to destroy his faith. For the soul of a treacherous friend is as pure as his own; he sees and understands everything. Friendship, like love, begins in Heaven, and therefore true friendship cannot die. Its roots are deep in the waters of Eternity. It is immortal, like Yggdrasil, and its roots are also at the top and its branches are at the bottom.

But it is better to fail in business than in friendship.

If a person is great and strong enough, he can draw the soul down to himself in the lower worlds, and it will remain with him wherever he is. In that case, he becomes a whole person, an Adept. Lincoln was such a person, such a soul. He was able to unite with his Higher Observer, and these two, who constitute one, can act even on the astral plane. But such a union of heaven and earth is rare; an Adept is a rarity.

Your “Heavenly Father” is one with the Father; and if you and your “Heavenly Father” are truly one, he can live with you even on Earth.

For centuries, the higher souls of men have never come so close to men as they do now. Grief, fear, pain, and selfless service to ideals have elevated the human race in the last three and a half years to the extent that it could not have risen in even a hundred years of peaceful life. If the race were now to fall back, the opportunity would be lost without any benefit. But it's not gonna happen.

Letter 28 

Ritual of Brotherhood

8 February 1918 

I've been waiting for you for half an hour while you're sewing and thinking about your friends in France. Thinking about France warms the heart.

The relationship between the two great republics is becoming closer and closer.

Do you want me to tell you one occult secret? French blood has long been mixed with ours, and since then we have had a love for them. Now we are mixing our blood with the French, and soon France will also have a reciprocal love for us.

Mixing blood is the ritual of establishing brotherhood. The English, the French, the Americans, the Italians, the Scots, and all the rest... Don't they have a reason to form a fraternity? Their mixed blood cries out from the depths, demanding love.

I notice the warmth in the eyes of the French when they see our boys marching past their houses, or when they try to help them — the French — at least in something, because they are accustomed to it at home, in America. They will never look at us again as strange strangers living somewhere beyond the ocean.

We used to just come to their country, spend our money there, walk around with an important view and talk to them, swaggering the lower lip, but now we live and die with them, our blood is mixed — and we become brothers.

Go back to France as soon as possible. They have always loved you because you loved them, but now you will see that they love your country as well.

Letter 29 

Search for volunteers

February 1918 

A day or two after America declared itself at war, I undertook a journey through this country, studying the situation that had developed by that time in both worlds. And before this study, I had a general idea of what was happening in both worlds, but I wanted to refresh my impressions, because I had a grandiose plan in my head. During my earthly life I have told myself many times that I have a grand plan; sometimes I have been able to realize it in part, sometimes I have not. But this time, I decided there would be no slip-ups.

When, as a result of my research, I came to the conclusion that all the necessary materials are already available, I found a great man, a spirit, call him whatever you want.

Then we worked out a plan for our campaign together. Its main points were the following: Preservation - negative forces were to be involved here.

Building with positive forces.

Coordination - using both negative and positive forces.

We have assembled a group of men and women with a strong mind and strong will, who have been here long enough to be able not only to navigate this world well, but also to influence the thoughts of people living in the Material World. We sent them to different places where they were supposed to think, think and think, being near senators, congressmen, large industrialists and just people from the street. They should thus inspire people with the idea of preserving the products, money and other materials needed during the war.

Our other companions, full of love for America as the place of their last birth, roamed the country in crowds, subtly infecting with their patriotic enthusiasm the hearts and minds of millions of people who were already accustomed to consider America for granted. They sang patriotic songs, and although the earthly people could not hear their singing, his very spirit was still transmitted to them; so that our people managed to achieve a lot.

Then others, the wisest of the former leaders of mankind, took up the task of eliminating the disorder and suppressing the discontent caused by the war. And if somewhere a group of rants about the world of wild "idealists" gathered to resume their chatter, then immediately one of these invisible auditors appeared next to them and suppressed their enthusiasm caused by their own malicious statements.

I hope I won’t be bored if I give you all the details of this carefully designed plan of help. But we have involved more than a million people who have volunteered to help us as long as their help is needed. You may think that a million helpers for a nation of more than a hundred million people is not so much, but one active worker per hundred people is not bad at all, since each of them can still choose his helpers from among earthly people.

The generals of this auxiliary army reported on the work done to its commander-in-chief and received many incomprehensible orders from him. However, no one doubted his wisdom, and the results proved him right again and again.

Once, when I intended to go north, he ordered me to go south, and on the way I understood why I should go in the opposite direction.

I wonder why in recent months before various legislators in their capitols and did not “appear ghosts”? Or maybe they did show up? But people are getting used to thinking about us without fear. This is another positive consequence of the war. To look beyond the line in search of those they loved, people may sometimes encounter Masters and even angels of those they loved. And these meetings deepen their minds.

In town *** There was a funny incident (with me). There lives a certain "pacifist" who has influence on a certain circle of people. And one day, when he again began to "philosophize" in the presence of several people (as he did not speak publicly), I found that by whispering in his ear answers to his own questions in an amazing way for him, I could completely confuse him. Strangely enough, he heard me. But he did not believe in the possibility of communication between the worlds, and therefore decided that he had “hearing hallucinations”, and turned to a doctor who told him that he thinks too much about the war. The doctor, who himself was not a pacifist, advised our friend to do ornithology.

Yes, he is young and will remain young for many more incarnations.

We also contributed to the organization of the appeal. Those who were already called to be called, we just encouraged, but there were also those who were enough of a dream sent by us or suggested by us to guide them on the right path, and when a young man knows that his country is at war, this right path usually leads him to the gate of the nearest draft.

In town *** There was a guy whose heart was shaking as he read about France and the battles that were taking place there. He was afraid of the call. He could not be called strong. He worked as an accountant in a bank, and therefore his leg muscles were poorly developed. And his digestion was unimportant. That's why he decided that a good soldier from it will not work.

But one day, when he was in a dream transferred to our world, I met him and offered him a little walk with me. You think I showed him the battlefield? What are you, no! I moved him to the training field. You may have thought what sense it was for me to take him there at night; but this time I was just lucky, the guy fell asleep during the day. And I helped him to look from above at the world he had left behind for a while. We were looking at the training field. He was interested.

And the next day, the work on the ledger seemed to him more boring than usual. In addition, he accidentally heard one girl, talking to her friend through the window of the cash register, said that the yellow-faced clerk was never her ideal man and that she likes soldiers more.

When he went for a walk after work, I followed him and drew his attention to the infantry marching along the street, accompanied by a good orchestra. The guy came home, looked at himself in the mirror and found that his face from working in the bank really turned yellow. And then he remembered that he was also a clerk.

That's how he got into the army.

You may ask why I spent so much time just recruiting one uninteresting young man into Uncle's military flock.

Sam, when we have so many helpers to take care of it. Twenty years ago, I met this guy’s father, and some of his words pushed me to a decision that had a beneficial effect on my entire life.

When this guy comes back, he won't be yellowfaced, and he'll be a hero, not a clerk.

I'm used to paying back my debts.

Letter 30 

Virus of destruction

16 February 1918 

“Freedom combined with restraint and social responsibility” is a good motto for Americans in the years ahead.

The hidden and open propaganda of Bolshevism, anarchism, etc., inspired and supported by the forces of destruction, can be successfully contrasted with the spirit of orderliness, restraint, responsibility.

The end of this war will not mean the end of disorder. The soul of the world has been infected with the virus of destruction, and it will now take the concerted will of millions of people to bring the infection out and restore the health of humanity.

America, as we know, was born out of a protest against oppression and a love of freedom — it’s her father and mother, positive and negative. If now the protest against oppression degenerates into a protest against all restraints, and the love of liberty degenerates into a love of permissiveness, I can only say that the man who is unable to govern himself must be ruled by others.

The human race is now going through a stage of initiation. Weak moral and weak wills are constantly in danger of being led astray. For the spirit of destruction, these are the ideal tools by which he realizes his will.

The Kingdom of Heaven is far away. It will be a good seven years before the consciousness of humanity will return to normal after such a shake-up. As is always the case in such cases, all the mud has risen from the bottom, filling everything with itself.

And if a dozen men in the whole of the United States had known or had had the opportunity to understand what occult forces were behind the present universe disorder, and if these twelve could work together, united by a single purpose and a single leadership, in different parts of the country, using the word of mouth and the printed word and their own will, they would be able to lead the people out of the animal state. But where are these twelve? Every leader knows that unity is strength.

The opposite would be true: in disunity, death.

Bolsheviks and Anarchists! They do not like the way this world works, they cannot adapt to the environment enough to fully satisfy their thirst for power or desire for idle life. And so these people devoted their lives to the destruction of a society in which they are so unhappy. And they believe in their right. Even in the most worthless man there is so much divine that he also needs to believe that he is doing good, even when he is doing obvious evil. Even the murderer seeks to justify his black cause before he decides on it, and when he finally has a blind passion for destruction, he seeks to justify this passion as well.

A person’s heart is more important than their brain. Positive impulses can be felt by almost everyone, but a person whose thinking is not influenced by passions is a rare and solitary phenomenon. Universality of education does not mean that everyone acquires the ability to think. But the accessibility of education is only the beginning; it is the seed from which the tree of the world’s intelligence will grow.

I have told you of a kingdom of love which will eventually calm the hearts of all men, but I have not said that its coming is to be expected from day to day.

If you could free yourself from all personal and transitory things and see life and cycle alternation in perspective, you would notice that all these temporary worries are nothing more than short-term stages that we encounter along the way.

Those who are able to adapt to the environment will also adapt to this restless life. Remember that. A flexible tree bends in the wind, but its roots sit firmly in the ground, attached to the granite of individuality.

America, be like a flexible tree. And if hurricane winds are rushing around the world, hold on to the ground of freedom, do not miss the granite of social responsibility. If you do not break away from the soil and the rock that supported and strengthened you, you can save the whole world.

The tormented eyes of Europe are staring at you from the flames of the fire. Friends look at you with hope, enemies look at you with fear. Once you throw the weight of your strong young body on the scales of justice, you will change the fate of the world. Yes, you will, that is your destiny.

I appeal to all who have studied Occultism — that is, have acquired knowledge the depth of which materialistic reason cannot comprehend; you who have studied Occultism must know that every candidate for the Initiates must go through certain tests and trials without which he will not be able to advance further. Consider that the whole human race is now preparing for initiation. And if your mind is better developed than the mind of your neighbors, you and you too - you should not forget that both you and they are connected by an inseparable connection. You cannot separate yourself from your race. You can rise higher, as the Masters did, or fall lower, as the lost souls do, but the connection that connects you to the other parts of God can only be broken at your own risk.

Teachers work for the good of the Race, knowing that abandoning it will not benefit them. Even if the Master becomes equal to the gods and wants to create his own world, he will still have to draw substance for him from a common reservoir. Even if he could, like a spider, weave his whole world out of himself, he would still have to use a common source of food to maintain his own existence.

Love your race, because you still can not completely separate from it. Even if you ascend into the subtle matter of the Kingdom of Mind, you will still feel streams coming from your neighbors, who are both above and below you. Some may not agree with this, but I’ve checked it out for myself.

One day I climbed very high to rest. But the needs of the world drew me back.

And the main need of the world in the next few years will be knowledge of the Law of Conservation. Take care, O world, of all the treasures you have made through your labors for centuries. Throw away only worn-out clothes and only worthless things. A well-organized world will no longer need a wooden plow and wooden shoes, but you will still need science and art, and those Catholic cathedrals that you will destroy now, you will never be able to restore.

Letter 31 

Fire on the Altar

18 February 1918 

Everywhere there is a struggle of opposites! In all the talk about internationalism, let us not forget nationalism. Our present enemy was perfectly able to take advantage of it, but he did not think of its opposite. To keep your spies under the guise of commercial agents in all countries of the world is not internationalism.

Of all nations, America is most in line with its own motto, “One for all, and all for one.”

But in her love for other races and other nations, she must not forget her own strength and her own protection.

"My country, you are ours!" The stronger this statement will sound in your heart, the more your desire to evaluate other nations will bring you closer to the idea that their countries are their countries. Your country is based on the idea of freedom, not the idea of world domination — freedom for yourself and for others.

Your president has been called the creator of beautiful phrases. But it's not bad. A person who creates phrases that can fly around the world, affects the thoughts of people around the world in this way.

“Make the world accessible to democracy.” These words will live on for centuries.

You Americans who worship the legendary land of Europe should not underestimate your own country that gave you life. Her clock hasn't struck noon yet, and she's already the greatest of the greats. It is still morning for America. The current American is the ancestor of the Sixth Race man. He will be an escape from many roots, in his blood will be mixed the blood of all the Races that were before him. In terms of its qualities, it will be unique. And no one of the former races will be able to imitate him, since his consciousness will also have its own characteristics.

As you often say, a person is not just a clot of flesh and blood, bones and muscles; a person is a state of consciousness. You comprehend the nature of other people only by imagining them as states of consciousness different from your own.

If (or rather, when) you return to live in Europe, do not forget your country. And don’t stay away from it too long, or you’ll lose touch with that unique consciousness that we’ll see flourishing in the Sixth Race.

Yes, art will flourish in America. And in the next fifty years you will reap its fruits. Let’s hope that they will not disappear too quickly, but, like a strong American apple, they will delight the eye for a long time with their freshness.

This war will benefit America. There is little good in the fact that the race has acquired such enormous material wealth without pain and without struggle. It is the pain that softens the heart.

America has not yet found its soul, but it will certainly find it. Those Americans whose hearts are now broken will also find their souls.

France has found its soul for a long time and is now looking for its divinity. Will this divinity bring her only suffering? Christ on the cross is greater than Christ at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.

If I didn't want you to write this book, I would send you to London, where you could experience the weight of air raids and malnutrition. I would send you back to France, where you could help the wounded.

Although you have already withstood the tension of the war in the Astral World, you have not yet seen and felt the agony of physical suffering that the women of France already had to see and feel. But you cannot live and suffer in multiple worlds at the same time.

Have you ever thought that our American guys who are fighting in France will greatly enrich their experience, regardless of whether they survive or die? Life in the material world is not the only life, and he who sacrifices himself gains more than he loses. Death in the name of the ideal is sublime. “Make the world accessible to democracy.”

Americans know America better than ever. Many of you will come and go, as has always been the case; but few of you will serve to strengthen the understanding between America and Europe. You can only do that by making your own nation famous in your heart. This does not mean, however, that you should show off your pride. Let it burn like a fire on the altar in the hidden temple of your essence.

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