4569 Effectiveness of divine truth only after overcoming the world....

February 20, 1949: Book 53

For people, the world is the real, the spiritual the unreal, to which they pay no attention. In the world of appearances they see reality, and they are therefore accessible to everything that comes from the world or leads to it. The spiritual realm, however, is a dreamland for them, which touches them dimly from time to time, but is not taken seriously. And thus divine truth is only valuable and significant to the person who has already broken with the earthly world, who has recognized it as a world of appearances and no longer desires it. This is why so few people can be given the truth, because the world still holds most people captive and even the spiritually striving person is often plagued by doubts when he also turns to the world. Divine truth can make a person infinitely happy if it is the only good he finds desirable; therefore it fills the human being's heart and no longer leaves room for thoughts of the world. But before this state occurs in the human being, the intellect must assert itself, i.e., it must simultaneously incline towards truth with the heart, profess it, and this can only occur when the earthly does not excessively claim the intellect, when it can turn to what the heart strives for. The human being is in a completely closed area when he is concerned with spiritual things, then access to the world is blocked and the human being's soul is happy, even if the human being himself is unaware of it. Then divine strength can have an effect on the soul which, however, immediately diminishes when the world approaches him again and he pays attention to it. Therefore, whoever wants to connect with God must withdraw into his little chamber.... he must seek solitude or keep quiet contemplation within himself.... he must switch off the world, otherwise the spiritual kingdom cannot exert its effect on him. But in the midst of the world he will not find what is good for his heart which longs for God. Admittedly, the human being can also enter into silence in the midst of the world, listen within himself, but then he is only physically in the world, his soul, however, withdraws into spiritual realms, then the human being himself is stronger than the earthly world, then he does not desire it but puts the spiritual world before the earthly one, and then he will also succeed in rising into spiritual spheres at any time, even if his body is still bound to earth.

In order to be able to spread and represent the pure truth, this preceding must be taken into account. It is extremely difficult to introduce worldly people to divine truth because it seems so unreal to them and the worldly person in his sobriety rejects what is not tangible or visible to him. And it often takes a long time for the divine word to become effective in such a person, until he mentally engages with it and thereby puts the world aside. And it is difficult to preach about the end of the world, about the last judgement and the great spiritual hardship to people who are completely worldly minded and have little contact with the spiritual kingdom. The preacher will always appear to them as a fantasist, and he will not feel the effect of truth until he ventures into spiritual realms himself and allows these spheres to have an effect on him. Then he will separate the spiritual and the earthly world, and only then will he be accessible to the pure truth from God and it will make his soul profoundly happy....

Amen

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