Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1446

1446 State of mind.... godlessness....

May 31, 1940: Book 24

The spiritual state, which requires a reformation of the existing living conditions, must be subjected to closer scrutiny if man is to have the right understanding for the coming natural events. First of all, people's attitude towards God must be taken into consideration.... and no other judgement can be formed than that mankind lives almost entirely without God. That they still traditionally speak of Him or outwardly profess Him, but that actual life is lived independently of Him and that the concept of God almost exclusively means something unbelievable to people. For it is always only the inner attitude towards God that is decisive, not the formal outward confession. And it is precisely the innermost attitude that is only very rarely found in the way that God demands of people. Many endeavour to fathom the essence of the deity, but rarely do they do so in such a way that they turn to Him directly for enlightenment. This is the only and sure way, but they only ask this question when they already inwardly affirm the deity.... However, as long as they are unable to do so, they ponder it intellectually and do not come to a conclusion. So they have no faith, and in the best case they try to replace faith with intellectual enquiry. But this way is wrong. In order to regocnize God, He must first be acknowledged. Only a God-affirming attitude can also lead to the right relationship with God. And this must be felt inwardly.... The being, which is of God, must regocnize its origin, it must feel that it belongs together with God in order to approach Him again. At present, however, human thinking is far removed from the right realization. For people God is still only the concept of an infinitely distant being or a figure of light called into being by people themselves which lacks all probability. And so one does not seek to enter into contact with such an unproven being, indeed one rather tries to free oneself from this concept. One therefore lives life consciously without God. A union with God can never be striven for if one does not regocnize the eternal deity. And almost nothing is able to change people's erroneous thinking. For all the suffering and sorrow that comes upon a person does not allow him to realize that these are dispatches from this very deity Which is not acknowledged. They try to explain everything in an earthly way, i.e. adapted to the human intellect, and the existence of the eternal deity is increasingly more questioned, humanity increasingly frees itself from thoughts pointing to God and thereby the soul gets into a state which questions all spiritual progress.... (interruption)

Translated by Doris Boekers