Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/8436

8436 The correct way of life is not enough to mature fully....

March 11, 1963: Book 89

If you consider that only deeds of love take effect on your soul after the death of your body and that all earthly intentions, thoughts and actions will not result in any kind of benefit for the soul in the spiritual realm, you truly would not live your earthly life so indifferently.... And even if you faithfully fulfil the duties earthly life demands of you, even if you do everything in everyday life in order to live a correct life in the presence of people.... each and every deed is without value for what alone is everlasting.... for your soul.... as it cannot take any earthly acquired possessions along, all earthly knowledge stays behind, all earthly treasures and every person's reputation is worthless if the soul enters the kingdom of the beyond deprived of spiritual possessions. Only spiritual aspirations and actions of love yield everlasting spiritual treasures for the soul....

And people are so often conscious of their own importance just because they are leading a correct way of life even though they only have their earthly actions or a certain amount of order in their living conditions in mind and fail to consider that the purpose of earthly life is a different one than improving their physical well-being.... they fail to consider that a human being's every activity has to be supported by love, that it has to be motivated by love if it is to be of value for the soul after the death of the body. And if you now observe all the things that are done and said by you or in your environment, and how seldom they are caused by love, then you have to admit that everything is in vain and only serves your attainment of earthly purposes. And you would be shocked if you could feel your soul's deprivation as physical discomfort, for then you would never be able to enjoy your life again.... Yet your soul is unable to express itself so obviously because then you would only strive to live a different kind of life due to selfishness so as not to feel this daily and hourly discomfort, and then such striving would also be worthless. But you should consider what value every earthly attainment has for you, since you know, after all, that your stay on this earth won't last forever.... But you don't believe in the continuation of the soul's life after death, and that is why you are so half-hearted and disregard your soul. You believe that you will cease to exist at the moment of death and one day will bitterly regret that you have not made better use of the time on earth; you will regret not having loved more, which each one of you can do, since a tiny spark of love smoulders inside of him that he only needs to kindle.... Every human being can also experience for himself the benefit of a deed of love done to him by a fellow human being.... And thus he could benefit his neighbour too, it would certainly not be to his disadvantage, for the inner satisfaction of his action would inspire him into ever more actions of love and his selfish love would decrease at the same rate as his love for his neighbour grows....

No human being suffers a loss, for whatever he gives out of love he will receive a thousand fold in return on earth or one day in the spiritual kingdom and then be exceedingly blessed, because the time on earth when he should thus rise above himself is only very short, whereas the soul in the spiritual kingdom can eternally enjoy the riches it has acquired on earth. People live indifferently, eagerly undertaking earthly work, eagerly increasing their earthly possessions, using all their energy of life for entirely negative actions, because they constantly just create transient values.... Their soul's immortality however.... is not taken into account by them, they do not take loving care of it, it has to starve and then enter the kingdom of the beyond in a miserable state where it only finds what its love as a human being on earth has provided for it.... And if this life were without love then the soul would be without light and strength and would approach a painful fate, for only through deeds of love is it able to mature on earth....

And therefore people should not say 'After all, I am not doing anything evil....' The human being has to do good deeds born of love in earthly life, only then will he be able to enter the kingdom of the beyond without self-reproach even if he has not yet achieved a high degree of love, he will surely be able to attain it in the beyond providing that the light has been kindled so that the soul will not enter the spiritual kingdom in complete darkness....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna