THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MAN’S GENERATIVE POWER FOR HIS SPIRITUAL ASCENT

I WOULD AGAIN point out that all life in Creation is of two kinds– conscious and unconscious.

Only in the process of becoming conscious does the likeness of the Creator, by which we mean the human form, evolve.

This goes uniformly hand in hand with the development of consciousness.

In the first actual Creation, which stands closest to the Creative Spirit and which can therefore be only spiritual in nature, unconscious spiritual substantiality exists beside the first created conscious spirit beings.

In this unconsciousness, which has the same qualities as consciousness, there naturally lies dormant the urge for further development, which can only take place when there is an increase in consciousness.

If now the urge to become conscious has increased to a certain degree in this spiritual unconsciousness, a process similar to an earthly birth takes place in the normal and natural order of things.

We need only observe our own environment to see that the physical body automatically throws off every fruit that has ripened, both in man and beast.

Every tree, too, casts off its fruit.

This process is a repetition of development and follows the basic order established in the first Creation.

There likewise, at a certain stage of maturity, unconscious substance striving to become conscious is automatically cast off, a severance, or what is also called an expulsion, from the other unconscious substance in which the urge is not yet developed.

These spiritually unconscious particles which have thus been ejected now form the spirit germs of developing human beings.

This process must take place because unconsciousness is without responsibility, while a growing consciousness calls forth a corresponding sense of responsibility.

This severance of the maturing unconscious is therefore necessary for the spirit which wishes to follow its natural urge and develop towards consciousness.

This is progress, not retrogression!

Since these living germs cannot be ejected upwards, i.e., towards perfection, they can only take the road leading downwards.

Here, however, they enter the Realm of Animistic Substantiality*, which is heavier in weight and contains nothing spiritual.

In this sphere the spirit-germ striving towards consciousness suddenly finds itself in a strange surrounding of a different consistency from its own and, as it were, uncovered.

Being spiritual it feels naked and bare in the denser animistic substantiality.

If it is to stay there or advance it naturally needs to clothe itself in an animistic cloak of the same nature as its surroundings.

Otherwise it can neither become active nor maintain itself there.

Thus it not only has the desire to cover its nakedness in its pursuit of knowledge, as is depicted in the Bible, but this is also a necessary step in its evolution.

The germ of the developing human spirit is now guided along the natural paths into the World of Matter.

Here again it needs and is covered by a cloak of the same nature as its new material environment.

Now the spirit-germ stands at the outer boundary of the Ethereal World!

This earth, however, is that gross material point at which all that rests in Creation meets.

From all sections, which are otherwise strictly separated owing to their different characteristics, the species come together here.

All threads, all roads converge upon this earth as if to a common center.

There they combine and also create new effects, which flare up strongly and send forth currents of power into the Universe, such as come from no other part of the World of Matter.

As all kinds of species in Creation combine through the medium of the World of Matter, experiencing is most intense here.

But it is only a combination of all species in Creation, nothing Divine or of the Holy Spirit, Which stands above and outside Creation.

The last vibrations of this experiencing on earth now stream towards the spirit-germ as soon as it enters the Ethereal World.

It is surrounded by these effects, which attract it but also help to awaken it to consciousness and to develop it.

While it still stands unfettered, that is, without guilt, on the threshold of all matter, the spirit-germ perceives the last effects of the vibrations of strong experiences which take place in the birth and decay of all matter.

The wish then arises within it to have closer contact.

As soon as it forms such a wish, however, the spirit-germ voluntarily adjusts itself to one of these vibrations, be it good or evil.

Through the Law of Attraction of Homogeneous Species it is thereupon immediately drawn to a homogeneous species stronger than its own.

It is then driven towards a point where greater homage is rendered to the wished-for species than was its own desire.

Such an inner craving immediately increases the density of its ethereal cloak, and the Law of Gravitation causes it to sink further downwards.

Only on the gross material earth, however, can it truly experience the craving that lies within it!

Therefore, as it wishes to proceed from nipping to enjoying, the spirit-germ is further encouraged to incarnate on earth.

The stronger the desire for earthly enjoyments becomes in the spirit-germ awakening through this nipping, the denser becomes the ethereal cloak it bears.

As a result its weight also increases, and it sinks slowly downwards to the earth-plane where there is an opportunity to realize its wishes.

Having arrived on this earth-plane, however, it is then ripe for an earthly birth.

The Law of the Power of Attraction of Homogeneous Species now manifests itself more conspicuously.

Each of the undeveloped spirits, exactly according to the wish or propensity within it, is magnetically attracted to a spot where the main substance of its wish is realized by men on earth.

If, for example, the spirit has the desire to rule, it is by no means born into circumstances where it can indulge its wish, but is attracted by a person who has a strong craving for power, that is, to one who thinks and perceives in the same way, and so on.

In this manner it can in part already atone for wrong desires or can be made happy by having wished rightly, at least it is given the opportunity to do so!

From this process it is erroneously concluded that characteristics or spiritual abilities are inherited.

This is wrong!

Outwardly it may appear to be so, but in reality a human being can bequeath nothing of his living spirit to his children.

There is no such thing as spiritual heredity!

No man is in a position to give away even the least particle of his living spirit!

In this matter an error has been fostered that casts its hindering and confusing shadow over many things.

No child need thank its parents for any spiritual abilities, any more than it may reproach them for its deficiencies!

That would be wrong and unjust!

The wonderful work of Creation is so complete and perfect that it could never allow arbitrary acts or acts of chance such as would be involved in spiritual heredity!

This power of attraction of all that is of the same nature, which is so important in the birth of a child, can proceed from the father, from the mother, or from anyone in the vicinity of the expectant mother.

Therefore an expectant mother ought to be very careful whom she allows around her!

Consideration must be given to the fact that it is not in the outward character, but primarily in one’s weaknesses that inner strength lies!

Weaknesses bring important periods of inner experiencing which produce a strong power of attraction!

The coming of man to this earth is comprised of procreation, incarnation and birth.

The incarnation, that is, the entrance of the soul, takes place about the middle of pregnancy.

The growing state of maturity, both of the expectant mother and of the soul preparing to incarnate, also produces a special and more earthly tie.

This comprises radiations created by their mutual state of maturity, which irresistibly strive towards one another in natural release.

These radiations increase more and more and unite the soul and the expectant mother ever more closely in their longing for each other, until finally, when the developing body in the mother’s womb has reached a certain maturity, the soul is literally absorbed by it.

The moment when the soul enters, or is being absorbed, naturally brings about the first shock to the little body, which shows itself in twitching’s called the first movements of the child.

When this occurs the expectant mother very often experiences a change in her inner feelings, either uplifting or oppressive according to the kind of soul that has entered.

On entering the little body the human soul which has developed thus far now takes on a cloak of gross matter, which is needed to enable it fully to experience, to hear, to see and to feel everything in the World of Gross Matter.

This only becomes possible through a cloak of a homogeneous kind or a tool of the same substance.

Only now can it proceed from nipping to actual tasting and thence to discriminating!

It is understandable that the soul must first learn to make use of and control this new body as if it were a tool!

This in short is the process of man’s development till his first birth on earth!

But already for a long time, in the natural course of events, it is impossible for any soul to embark upon its first incarnation on this earth.

Instead souls were incarnated which have wandered through at least one life on earth before.

Thus they come grievously burdened with much and diverse karma at birth.

The opportunity to free themselves from this karma is offered through the generative power.

Through the protection afforded by the gross material body the soul of man is kept isolated during its childhood years from currents which try to reach it from outside.

All that is dark and evil on this earth-plane finds its way to the soul barred by the gross material body, and thus it cannot influence or harm the child.

But naturally the evil a reincarnated soul brings over from previous experiences also remains with it during childhood.

The body forms this protective wall as long as it is still undeveloped and immature.

It is as if the soul had withdrawn into a castle with the drawbridge pulled up.

During these years an impassable gulf yawns between the soul of the child and Ethereal Creation, in which latter the ethereal vibrations of guilt and atonement live.

Thus the soul lies sheltered in its earthly cloak, maturing towards responsibility and waiting for the moment when the lowering of the drawbridge will mark the real beginning of its life in the World of Matter.

Through the Natural Laws the Creator has endowed every creature with an imitative instinct to take the place of the free will before the latter has become active.

It is generally spoken of as the “receptivity of youth”.

The imitative instinct is a preparatory step in development for life on earth until the time when, in the case of animals, it is enriched and supported by experiences, and in the case of human beings it is uplifted to self-conscious activity through the spirit and the free will.

The spirit incarnated in the child’s body lacks a bridge of radiations, which can only be formed with the help of the generative power at the time of physical maturity.

The spirit needs this bridge to become fully and truly active in Creation, which can only be accomplished through the uninterrupted exchange of radiations between all species in Creation.

For there is life only in radiation, and only in and through radiation is movement generated.

During this time the child, which can only have a full effect on its environment through its animistic part and not through its spiritual core, has little more responsibility towards the Laws of Creation than the most highly developed animal.

Meanwhile the young body matures and gradually generative power, which is only to be found in gross matter, awakens within it.

It is the finest and noblest flower of all gross matter, the highest that the Gross Material Creation has to offer!

In its finest nature it forms the summit of all that is gross material, that is, of all that is earthly, and as the highest of the living ramifications of the World of Matter it comes closest to the Animistic Realm!

Generative power is the pulsating life of the World of Matter, and it alone can form the bridge to the World of Animistic Substantiality, which in turn acts as intermediary to the World of Spiritual Substantiality.

It is for this reason that the awakening of generative power in the physical body may be likened to the lowering of the drawbridge in a castle that had hitherto proved inaccessible.

This permits the inhabitant of the castle, the human soul, to step forth fully armed and ready for battle.

At the same time, however, it allows friends or foes lying in wait outside to enter.

These friends or foes are first of all ethereal currents of good or evil nature, but also include those in the beyond who only wait until a hand is stretched forth to them through some wish, as it were, which enables them to attach themselves firmly to the soul and exercise a like influence upon it.

However, in the natural course of development the laws of the Creator do not allow the influences from without to be stronger than the power of resistance within, so that an unequal struggle is completely out of the question, providing no sins are committed in the process.

For every sexual instinct which is rendered unnatural through artificial stimulation opens this strong castle prematurely and causes the soul not yet equally strong to be exposed!

It must then succumb to the onrushing evil ethereal currents which it could otherwise easily have coped with!

As the soul matures normally in the natural course of things there can only be equal strength on both sides.

The decisive factor in this, however, is the will of the dweller in the castle, not that of the besieger.

Thus if his volition is good he will always be victorious in the Ethereal World, that is, in the happenings of the beyond, which the average human being cannot see as long as he remains on earth, but which have a closer and more lively connection with him than the gross material surroundings visible to him.

But when the dweller in the castle of his own free will, that is, through his own wish or free decision, stretches forth his hand either to an ethereal friend or foe, or even to vibrations from outside, the case is naturally quite different.

Since he thereby attunes himself to a certain type among the besiegers waiting outside, these can easily assail him with a power ten or a hundred times stronger than his own.

If this power is good he will receive help and blessing!

If it is evil he will reap destruction!

This free choice constitutes an action of his own free will.

Having once made a decision, however, he is irrevocably subject to the consequences, for which his free will is then eliminated.

By his own choice he has incurred good or bad karma, to which he is naturally subject until he changes inwardly.

Generative power has the task and also the ability to send an earthly “glow” through all the spiritual perceptions of the soul.

Only when this happens can the spirit obtain real connection with the entire World of Matter and thereby become of full value on earth!

Not until then can it embrace all that it needs to enable it to assert itself authoritatively in the World of Matter, to stand firmly in it, to influence it effectively, to be protected, and to be so armed as to defend itself victoriously.

There is something stupendous in this union.

That is the principal purpose of this mysterious and immeasurable natural instinct!

It is to help the spirit unfold its full power of action in the World of Matter!

This would be impossible without generative power, because there would be no bridge or means for the animation and control of all matter.

Otherwise the spirit would remain too estranged from matter to work really effectively in it!

Through generative power, however, the human spirit attains to its full power, its warmth and vitality.

Only through this development does the spirit become ready for battle here on earth!

It is just at this stage that responsibility sets in!

A serious turning-point in every man’s existence!

At this important moment in a man’s life the wise Justice of the Creator provides not only the opportunity but also the natural urge to shake off easily and without effort any karma with which he has so far burdened his free will.

If a man misses this time it is his fault!

Consider a moment!

As soon as generative power sets in there is first of all a mighty surge upwards towards all that is ideal, beautiful and pure.

In unspoiled youth of both sexes this can be clearly observed, and produces the enthusiasms of the young so often smiled at by their elders, and also the inexplicable, somewhat melancholy intuitions which beset them in these years.

The moods in which it seems as if the youth or maid were burdened with the sorrows of the whole world, where premonitions of a deep seriousness assail them, are not altogether without cause!

Even their frequent feelings about not being understood contain in reality much that is true.

These periodically arise through a recognition of the perverted conditions of their environment.

Those around them neither wish nor are able to understand such sacred beginnings to a pure soaring upwards.

They are not satisfied until these strong warning intuitions in the maturing soul are dragged down to a sober “reality” which they can understand better, which they consider more suitable for mankind and which, with their one-sided intellectual thinking, they regard as the only normal condition of life!

The inexplicable charm which radiates from an un-spoilt maiden or youth is nothing but the pure soaring upwards of the awakening generative power towards what is high and noble in union with the spiritual power.

This is also sensed by their surroundings.

The Creator has carefully provided that this should not occur until a human being is old enough to be fully conscious of his volition and actions.

The time has then arrived when, in conjunction with the full power vested in him, he could and should easily shake off all that lies behind him.

Indeed it would fall away of its own accord if only a man would keep his volition intent on what is good, which he is unceasingly urged to do during this time.

Then he could, as his intuitions quite rightly indicate, ascend without any trouble to that eminence to which he as a human being belongs.

Observe the day-dreams of un-spoilt youth!

They are nothing but an inward yearning to tear themselves away from all that is base, an ardent longing for what is ideal!

This restless urge, however, is a sign not to miss the opportunity, but energetically to shake off karma and begin with the ascent of the spirit!

It is a wonderful experience to stand in the fullness of this power, to work in it and with it!

But this is only as long as the direction a man chooses is a good one!

On the other hand there is nothing more deplorable than to squander these powers one-sidedly in blind sensual activity, and thus paralyze one’s spirit!

But alas, in most cases man unfortunately does not avail himself of this precious time of transition, but allows himself to be guided by the “wiseacres” around him on to wrong paths, which not only keep him down but lead him still further downwards!

Thereby not only is he unable to throw off the impure vibrations clinging to him, but these receive a reinforcement of power of the same kind.

As a consequence his free will is entangled more and more until it becomes unrecognizable beneath these unnecessary growths.

It is much like the creepers to which a sound tree first lends a helping hand, but which finally choke it to death through their luxuriant growth!

If a man would observe himself and the happenings in the whole of Creation more closely, no karma could prove stronger than his spirit as it comes to full strength when the generative power connects it firmly with the World of Matter to which such karma belongs.

Even if man misses this opportunity, if he entangles himself still more and perhaps even sinks deeply, despite all this a further opportunity to ascend is offered him … through love!

Not the covetous love of the World of Gross Matter, but the sublime, pure love which has no other thought, no other desire, but the welfare of the beloved one!

This love also belongs to the World of Matter and it requires no renunciation, no asceticism, but always and only wills the best for the other.

And this volition, which never thinks of self also offers the best protection against any interference!

The basis of love, even in people of the most advanced age, is always the idealistic yearnings which unspoiled youth feel when generative power begins to exert itself in them.

But it shows itself differently!

A mature person is spurred on to the height of his ability, even to deeds of heroism.

In this no limit is set as to age!

Generative power remains even when the baser sexual instinct is eliminated, for generative power and sexual instinct are not identical.

As soon as a man gives room to pure love, whether it be the love of a man for a woman or the reverse, love for a man or a woman friend, for parents or for children, it is all the same!

So long as it is truly pure it will bring as a first gift the opportunity for casting off karma, which can be redeemed very quickly in a “symbolical” manner.

It “dries up” because it no longer finds any affinity with him, receives no further nourishment within him.

Thus he is set free and can begin his ascent through redemption from the unworthy fetters that hold him down!

The first intuition this love awakens is the feeling of being unworthy of the one beloved.

One can call this the beginning of modesty and humility, thus the acquiring of two great virtues!

This is followed by the urge to hold one’s hands protectingly above the other so that no harm may befall him from any side.

This desire to “wait hand and foot on the other” is no empty saying, but signifies the rising intuitions quite correctly.

This, however, means renouncing one’s personality and feeling a strong desire to serve, which alone would suffice to cast off all karma within a short time, provided this volition remains constant and does not give way to purely sensual instinct!

Finally pure love engenders the ardent wish to do something really great and noble for the loved one, never to hurt or offend him by thought or word, much less by an unfair action, thus always showing him the most delicate consideration!

The purity of this intuition must then be preserved at all costs, and placed above and before all else.

No one will ever think or do any evil in such circumstances!

He simply cannot do so!

On the contrary, through these intuitions he has the best protection, the greatest strength and the most benevolent adviser and helper!

The Creator in His Wisdom has thereby thrown out a lifebelt to mankind, and offers each human being during his time on earth more than one opportunity to grasp and lift himself up by it.

This help is available to all!

It makes no distinction as to age or sex, whether a person be rich or poor, of high or lowly birth!

Hence love is the greatest of all God’s gifts!

He who grasps it is sure of salvation from every sorrow, every depth!

Like a whirlwind love can seize and uplift him to the Light, to God, Who is Love Himself!

As soon as love stirs in a man’s heart, inspiring him to bring light and joy to another, rather than to drag him down through impure thoughts, but to protect and uplift him, he thus serves the other without being conscious of it, for he thereby becomes a selfless and joyful giver.

And through such serving he frees himself!

To find the right way in these matters it is only necessary to observe one thing!

All men have one great and strong desire in common – really to be in their own eyes what they are considered to be in the eyes of those who love them!

Such a desire is along the right lines!

It leads directly upwards!

Many opportunities are offered to men to pull themselves together and soar upwards, but they do not grasp them!

The man of today is just like a man to whom a kingdom is given, but who prefers to fritter away his time with a child’s toy!

It is quite understandable, and hardly to be expected otherwise, that the mighty powers which are given to man must smash him if he does not know how to master them!

Thus also generative power must destroy individual human beings and entire nations wherever its principal function is misused!

The purpose of procreation is only of secondary importance.

And what help the generative power gives to every man, so that he may recognize and live this principal function!

One need only think of the feeling of physical shame!

It awakens along with generative power and is given as a protection.

Here, too, as everywhere in Creation, there is a triad, and in the process of descending one can observe that things become ever coarser.

The feeling of shame which develops as the first consequence of generative power is intended to form an impediment to sexual instinct, so that man should not descend from his height and yield to sexual indulgence in an animal-like manner.

Woe to the people who disregard this!

A strong feeling of shame provides against the possibility of a man ever succumbing to sexual indulgence!

It protects him from physical passion, for in the natural course of events it will never permit him an opportunity to forget himself even for a fraction of a second!

Only forcibly and willfully can man push aside this precious gift in order to behave in a bestial manner!

But such forcible interference in the Creator’s cosmic order must bring a curse upon him, for the thus unleashed power of the physical sexual instinct in its uncontrolled state no longer accords with what is natural.

Wherever the feeling of shame is lacking man becomes the slave instead of being the master.

He is hurled from man’s estate to below the level of an animal!

Man should realize that a strong feeling of shame alone precludes all possibility of falling.

It is thus his surest defense!

The more intense this feeling of shame the nobler is the instinct and therefore the higher man stands spiritually.

Indeed this is the best measure of his inner spiritual worth!

This standard is infallible and can easily be recognized by everybody.

In suppressing or pushing aside this outward feeling of shame the finer and most valuable psychic qualities are also simultaneously suppressed, as a result of which the inner man is rendered worthless.

It is an unmistakable sign of a deep fall and certain decay when, under the pretext of progress, mankind want to set themselves “above” the feeling of shame, this precious jewel that brings them nothing but benefit!

Whether it is under the guise of sports, of hygiene, of fashion, of children’s education, or many another welcome excuse, the decline and fall cannot then be prevented, and only horrors of the worst kind can still bring a few individuals back to their senses!

And yet it is made so easy for man on earth to follow the path leading upwards!

All he needs to do is to become more “natural”!

To be natural, however, does not mean to go about half-naked or to disport himself barefoot in eccentric clothing!

To be natural means to listen attentively to one’s inner voice and not forcibly to disregard its warnings!

Unfortunately more than half of all the people today have fallen so far and become so dull that they can no longer understand these natural intuitions.

Through their own actions they have become much too narrow-minded to do so!

A great cry of horror and dismay will be the end!

Happy is he who can then re-awaken the feeling of shame!

It will be his shield and support when all else crumbles!

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