3128 Evidence.... justification of intellectual knowledge....

May 21, 1944: Book 41

Spiritual knowledge can never be proven but only substantiated, i.e. a person can draw logical conclusions from it. He can therefore also intellectually acknowledge this conclusion if he adopts an unprejudiced attitude towards it. But evidence can never be provided for it because it is not beneficial for the time on earth that the human being can convince himself of things which do not concern the body but only the spiritual in the body. Nevertheless, the human being himself can be fully convinced that spiritual knowledge is truth, he just cannot pass on this conviction in a scholastic way, but this would be the case if evidence of the correctness of spiritual knowledge could be established. And therefore such knowledge can never be taught.... thus it cannot be transmitted intellectually, but a God-pleasing way of life is always the condition that this knowledge can be received and also understood.... For only the gift of understanding makes what is received into what it is, otherwise it is only words which do not come to life because they lack the inner spirit. And that is why it is not the evidence that is decisive but the will and state of maturity of the one who receives the spiritual knowledge. And this is why knowledge cannot propagate itself through teachings either, for as soon as the human being does not fulfill the conditions set for him he will certainly accept the teachings intellectually but they will not penetrate his heart and will no longer work as knowledge but only as thought material which will not leave a deep impression. For the person who seriously desires true knowledge, however, the reasons, the logical conclusions, which stimulate him to think, are enough to awaken in him the conviction that he is being offered the truth, for it is not his sharp intellectual thinking which gives him the conviction but his heart, his will for truth, which also gives him the power of cognition, the ability to regard true knowledge as truth. Although the truth should be spread, which can only be done by teaching fellow human beings, the willingness of the listener is absolutely necessary in order to recognize the transmitted knowledge as truth. This willingness is more important than evidence, because even evidence would not be convincing if the person is unwilling to be taught the truth. However, the human being must not close his mind to the reasons, as these contribute considerably to convincing him, for the intellect must also be active after the heart has made up its mind so that the knowledge now becomes his intellectual property, which he himself can now defend....

amen

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