Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3581

3581 Using the gift of the mind....

October 19, 1945: Book 46

The gift of understanding should be used in every way. The human being should use it earthly in order to live in the right order and for the blessing of his fellow human beings and to fulfil his earthly task, just as the intellect should be used in order to fulfil the spiritual task. For the human being bears responsibility for his soul, and in order to be able to answer for himself he must be able to distinguish between good and evil and therefore also intellectually weigh up and consider everything that happens around him in order to take a stand in his heart. He must know what God requires of him during his earthly life; this knowledge must be presented to him and he must intellectually process it himself before he can adjust himself to it. That is why God gave the human being intellect, and only the use of intellect can bring his soul to maturity. And thus the human being is also obliged to think about spiritual knowledge which is imparted to him. Spiritual knowledge which is presented to him and which he accepts without examination is not yet knowledge for him. He then only mechanically carries out something which can never promote his ascent development if he complies with the duties which that spiritual knowledge demands of him. His own thought activity must necessarily have begun before it is real knowledge for him, which brings him advantage for his soul. And intellectual activity must be used in the right way, i.e. God must be consulted, He must be asked for help, for enlightenment of the spirit, for right, i.e. true thinking. For intellectual activity can also go astray in its results as soon as the human being considers himself capable of fathoming everything through his intellect. The human being's will is free and the freedom of will must also be unrestricted, so that the human being can think right and wrong, i.e. that right thinking is also dependent on his will. And since everything is only then ordered and corresponds to divine law if it is in the same will as God, this will must absolutely first be turned towards God so that thinking is also ordered. Thus God can never be excluded, just as one's own intellectual activity may not be excluded in order to gain possession of the truth. Consequently, imparted spiritual knowledge will only be of value to the human being when he has taken a stand on it himself, and that after serious reflection with the help of God. This is the right use of the gift of understanding, which must never be disregarded, because the human being must also be responsible for his thinking and because right, convinced faith can only be gained through intellectual processing. Anyone who thoughtlessly accepts what spiritual knowledge is offered to him will not call a living faith his own but only a formal faith which cannot withstand any shaking, because the human being cannot represent what spiritual knowledge he possesses if his intellect has not become active at the same time and has not processed this spiritual knowledge. He will always be assured of God's support if only he asks Him for it, for God is always willing to influence the human being through His spirit, to order and guide his thinking in the right way, yet He wants to be approached for His assistance because this demonstrates the will turned towards Him, which should strive for perfection in all freedom in order to become blissfully happy....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers