1162 Materialists.... transience of earthly possessions....

November 6, 1939: Book 20

Nothing in earthly life is more of a hindrance to climbing upwards than the continued attempt to increase earthly goods. Man spends so much energy in vain, which he should only devote to the one goal of increasing spiritual wealth. The more he only strives for earthly wealth, the less he can concern himself with the further development of his soul and the further away he is from the thought of what will become of him after his death.... He does not allow himself to be deterred by such brief thoughts and immediately turns his attention solely to earthly activity, seeks to derive the greatest possible benefit from it and thus remains in constant contact with matter, which he is supposed to overcome during his earthly life. This is all the more regrettable as he now also lacks the strength for spiritual endeavour, for his inclination for earthly possessions attracts all unfair forces which support him, while the good spiritual strength can gain less and less influence over him and thus the battle between good and evil strength has to be waged extraordinarily persistently and the human being's will is needed first in order to fight for a final victory. And this will must turn away from earthly desires, otherwise it will never be possible to gain the upper hand in the battle against evil. He who constantly has only his earthly advantage in mind cannot possibly enter into contact with the forces which have long since overcome all matter. Through this desire he himself erects a barrier between himself and the spiritual forces that want to help him, and the human will must first become active to tear down these barriers, only then will the good forces have access to him and be able to exert their influence. It is therefore extremely difficult for the materialist to accept what is spiritually offered.... he simply lacks any understanding for it because only that force has influence on him which is the most fervent opponent of what is offered to people as the purest truth. This force will naturally strengthen the human being's will to reject it. He lacks realization, he does nothing of his own accord to remedy this deficiency and therefore it will be unspeakably difficult to preach the gospel to a materialist. God's words will only be empty sound and his thoughts will soon wander off again to his earthly affairs, which completely dominate him and are therefore the greatest obstacle to the soul's further development. For this reason the human being must first learn to regocnize the futility of everything earthly before he can successfully start his soul's work; he must be made aware of the uselessness of his earthly life; he must be made aware of the transience of that which fills his whole thinking; it must be brought to his attention that the human being ultimately cannot stop the corruption of earthly things, his decline, if it is divine will that they should fall prey to destruction.... He will have to see all his possessions perish under his hands in order to finally reflect on the values that endure and outlast earthly death....

Amen

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