Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/4032

4032 All matter spiritually enlivened....

April 29, 1947: Book 49

Even matter, which appears lifeless in itself, carries life within itself and must therefore be recognized as a bearer of spiritual substances, even though it is incomprehensible to you that something spiritual has been assigned the hardest matter to stay in, in which it seemingly cannot develop, thus it is to a certain extent forced into inactivity. But God knows about the will of this beingness and has given it the envelopment accordingly. But as long as the will of the spiritual is opposed to God it is also not willing to carry out an activity according to God's will, therefore the possibility is also denied to it to be active in service. But activity means life, an inactive being will therefore remain in a dead state, and therefore its cover, matter, will remain unchanged for an infinitely long time. And yet it is inhabited by something being-like, which feels a hard outer form as constant pressure, as fetter, to now be driven to give up its resistance, so that it gets relief from its agonizing state. Matter itself is likewise spiritual, which is God-resisting, which therefore only begins its course of development. But this spiritual can also only redeem itself through service, and its service consists of being a cover for the already more mature spiritual, which enables it to serve. Thus, through its willingness to help the spiritual in its ascent development, it can mature itself and slowly gain the degree which also earns it a cover and in which it is permitted to be of service. But the process of development takes a long time, so that matter itself needs a long time before it is completely dissolved and one can speak of overcoming it. But the course of development must now be continued, and this until many spiritual entities have united and this is expressed through ever more perfect and greater forms. As long as the spiritual entities have so-called dead matter as their abode, the state of these entities is constant, i.e., they remain in God-resisting will and therefore cannot expect any change in their surroundings and external form. In the knowledge of eternity, however, matter is so arranged that the spiritual, which is most likely to weaken in its resistance, enlivens the outer edge of matter, which is why even the slight change, which takes place in an infinitely long time, is dimly recognizable to the human eye from outside, while the inside of matter remains unchanged and does not release what is bound in it until God's will and power intervenes and destroys matter or allows it to be destroyed. Then the inner spiritual can also take the path to the light if it is willing. Once it has found the path to the light then it also pushes towards it, for even hard matter feels the benefit of the light and increasingly weakens its resistance to God. But the state of the spiritual in this matter is completely different from that in the softer deformation, in the plant and animal world, where life is visible to the human eye and therefore something essential is also recognized in it. For in this deformation the spiritual can already move and be active more freely, even if according to divine law. Hard matter, however, also harbours spirituality within itself, only lifeless because it is completely powerless and, as it were, bound by the outer shell. Something that is bound cannot move and therefore appears dead until it has burst the fetter. To a certain extent, spiritual substances fight against each other.... matter consists of immature spiritual substances which, when united, do not want to let the already more mature spiritual substance escape because it is their destiny to grant it a place to stay. The spiritual substance in matter already has a higher degree of intelligence, only it is disabled by its resistance to God and therefore cannot defend itself or free itself from the inconvenient fetter. But if matter is destroyed, then it escapes and takes on another form, because against God's will it can neither use freedom nor feel it beneficial. If the act of destruction has taken place in accordance with divine will, then the spiritual substance will take on a form which signifies further development for it, whereas in the case of unplanned destruction through human evil will.... the spiritual substance will seek the same form again, despite the torment it endured in it, because all spiritual substance is subject to God's law of compulsion before its embodiment as a human being. However, all matter must be regarded as a cover for spiritual substances which are to develop as long as this matter represents something useful, as long as it can still be used for things which fulfil a useful purpose. If this matter is now used by people for creations of all kinds, then the human being helps the spiritual in matter to serve and therefore to develop upwards, and that is why a person's industrious work is inconceivably beneficial in a spiritual sense, because all spiritual in matter pushes towards the state of life, which is only possible in loosened forms after certain spiritual substances have come together for joint activity. The course of ascent development therefore proceeds in such a way that every deformation must be regarded as a shell of spiritual substance which constantly changes but which initially requires a long period of time until the state of activity, the state of life, sets in, but then the soul substances in the form increase, thus one can certainly speak of a soul which, however, may not be compared to a human soul because the latter unites all soul substances....

(28.4.1947) And thus you must now imagine that everything you see is enlivened by spiritual entities, every entity is a miniature soul, countless of which form the human soul. Matter itself will also follow this course when its substances have matured to such an extent that they can now take up residence as beings in that which they themselves were before.... solid matter. There are therefore, as it were, two courses of development to be covered in the state of compulsion.... once as matter, but then also as an entity bound in matter, only that this second course of development is considerably faster, for matter is destroyed more quickly than it is totally dissolved, and as long as it is usable.... that is, it can be processed into things which have a useful purpose.... the spiritual in it does not escape either, only it is often without activity for a long time and therefore suffers. If it is then an inhabitant of the more life betraying outer form, then the latter will also undergo a more rapid process of decay, because the substances of the outer form are already more mature and soon need an outer form themselves in order to ascend further. All spiritual substances must travel the path through the whole of creation, otherwise they would not be able to live through the last stage in a human soul, for this soul is formed from all earthly creations in the smallest measure. Everything the human being is able to see is contained in his soul and so artfully put together that you will not stop looking and marvelling if you, as pure spiritual beings, look at your own soul.... You hear it but you don't grasp it as long as you stay on earth, nevertheless, knowledge of it is given to you so that you, who are called to the teaching ministry in the last time before the end, will be properly informed, so that you can truthfully imagine the course of ascent development and also provide information if it is required of you. But the knowledge of it is not absolutely necessary for people who strive little spiritually and to whom therefore the commandment of love is to be preached above all so that they tackle their soul's shaping. They should only know about their soul's infinitely long path beforehand so that they are aware of the great responsibility they bear towards their soul....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers