Audiobook on,


EXPERIENCE REPORTS, 
1968 - 1970. 
from past life, reported from the other side, recounted spiritual experiences, when they  just entered the afterlife.
here then google translated from German to English: remark this has been found in German language online, and translated here via Google into English, for personal use, and mistakes can certainly be found here, both in the translations, and in Googles perception, interpretation of the language otherwise. At some point in time, these messages will surely be translated and "approved" by the group, glz.org.

Foreword.
The more than 2000 lectures that were given by the deep trance medium
Beatrice Brunner, (1910-1983) through medial means also include 91 experience reports from ascending spirit beings. These are stories from deceased people who report on their earthly life and their first experiences in the world beyond. These accounts are very personal. The reporters show in many different ways what effects their human thoughts and actions had and how individually they were judged and treated after their death. The accounts give a vivid insight into various
levels of the world beyond and into the laws of cause and effect. They show how justice is done to everyone who returns home and how much God's spirit world strives to support everyone in their spiritual development.


Contents last in this file.

Introduction.
In this volume, ascending spirit beings have their say, who report on their past life on earth and their experiences after death. They were all specially selected by the divine world to give an insight into the world beyond through mediator Beatrice Brunner. Spirit teacher Josef explained:
We try to give you such reports of experiences from which you can learn something, i.e. through which you can familiarize yourself with this spiritual world. Therefore, we particularly highlight spirit brothers and sisters who have ascended or are in the process of ascending. They should explain it to you themselves and tell you how it went for them, or I will tell you. Since you are also in the process of ascending, you can draw comparisons; you can see from these reports what needs to be improved in order to enter a higher world and what the obstacles are that hinder the ascension.

Half of the lectures in this volume were given by spirit teacher Joseph himself.
The reason for this is that a person who has returned home is only able to speak [through the medium] once they have reached a certain level of development. We therefore decide whether I must now tell you what happened to the person in question or whether the soul in question can come before you and explain it.

Spirit teacher Joseph explained how he is able to gain insight into the past of a spirit being:
If I tell you about a deceased person who passed over into the spiritual world fifty years ago, let's call it the even number, you will ask yourselves how it is possible that I can now describe the entire experience of this spirit. In this highly technologically advanced time, it should no longer be particularly difficult for you to understand something like this; because you too have the opportunity to see events that may have happened fifty years ago. You have been told again and again that all of man's achievements have long been present in the spiritual world. So this should be quite understandable to you. To clarify this further, I would like to say that I have my helpers at my disposal who are looking for suitable spirit brothers and sisters who you can talk about or who you can ask to talk about themselves. A recurring theme in this volume is the statement that a person's nature does not change when they die. In the first period after their return home, all deceased people still show the same way of thinking and behaving as when they were human on earth. 

Josef explained: In this you will also find confirmation of other teachings that you have received from us. Just as man lived on earth with his own characteristics, his entire mentality, this is also expressed in the world beyond. It is a false notion to think that after laying aside the earthly body, this characteristic and mentality simply disappeared. For this mentality and this characteristic do not lie in the earthly body. This body is destined for transience, and it is impossible for this mentality, this characteristic, to work and develop in the earthly organs. The core of this, the drive or the motor for it, lies in the soul, precisely in what man cannot see. Everything is kept in the soul, the whole being and what man has built up in his thinking in his human life, what has become solidified or, for that matter, cramped when he has followed one-sided paths. The one-sided, the inharmonious, whatever it may be, or the Harmonic: everything, simply the whole way of expressing oneself, is anchored in the soul. And the soul lives on after earthly death, and the soul is part of the entire spiritual being. The spiritual being appears like a human being. The spirit in its fine form is like the outside of a human being, and in it is the soul as a thinking, ruling being, and this self is taken with one into the spiritual world when one dies. If it were not so, there would be no difficulties of any kind for a spiritual being after death. But these spiritual beings create difficulties for themselves through their wrong thinking. Just as humans create difficulties for themselves through their wrong way of life, through their wrong diet, through their wrong thinking - they do many things wrong - the same thing happens in the spiritual world. One should not assume that a spirit being that comes to the world beyond would appear as a purified, elevated, refined being just by staying in the new world. 

From this one should also recognize that everything that has been done wrong requires its compensation and that one must be purified. As you already know, this purification takes place in different ways and some people resist purification. So, from this one must see: There is still something in such a spiritual being that must be purified and every being differs from the other in terms of its personality. 
First  case.

February 7, 1968. 
Richard escaped spiritual poverty through ambition and diligence. 
How a burdened soul in the beyond managed to atone for its guilt through hard work and to advance step by step with good will.
 [The greeting and blessing of the controlling spirit are not preserved.]

Richard: Greetings. My dear brothers and sisters, my name is Richard. I am telling you about the first time after my entry into the spiritual world. On earth I had a family with five children and I had my own house and other things. It seems that people in the spiritual world were not always happy with me. The people who lived with me complained because I often got drunk and became unwilling, dissatisfied and quick-tempered, as is the case when you have such a vice. I did not believe in life after death and I did not believe in God. I imagined that everything would end after death and did not give it any further thought. I had children and so I thought: my property will pass into the hands of my children, so everything is fine and what comes later does not concern me.

Actually, I wasn't ill at all, but I had to leave this earthly world all of a sudden. So I was asked to show you the time after my departure from the earthly world and to describe to you what happened to me and what happens to everyone who passes into the world beyond with as much of a burden as I did. 

When I opened my spiritual eyes, everything was blurry in front of me. I couldn't see anything properly, but I could hear, that is, I heard everything that was being said around me. But there was a flickering in front of my eyes. I couldn't really see the figures that I heard speaking. But I recognized my mother by her voice. She asked me to drink. She had put a vessel to my lips and I drank from it because I was very thirsty. I heard my mother's voice say: "Richard, drink, it will do you good." 

Over time, the image in front of my eyes became clearer and clearer. So, in addition to my mother, I could also recognize my father and other relatives and friends. But I couldn't speak to them because I didn't have the strength to do so. Actually, I could think, and so I thought to myself: "This is all a dream, you're dreaming." Because when I looked at my hands, I had the impression that they were the same as in my human life, and so I was convinced that I was really only dreaming. There was one thing I wasn't quite sure about, namely about all these people present and about everything they were saying, until finally my mother said to me: "Yes, Richard, you've died and are now in another world." That got me thinking, and I started to look a little more closely at my surroundings.
Now I noticed, with some horror, that I had no shoes on my feet. I also immediately looked at my clothes. They were unfamiliar to me, at least I had never worn any in my human life. They were of a completely different kind. I also wore trousers and a jacket that was tied at the side. I had never worn clothes like that. I wondered where I had gotten this robe from. I had to have it from somewhere. I couldn’t remember ever to have acquired such a garment, and gradually I became convinced that something had changed with me. 
Then I heard my mother's voice again saying: "Lie down now, Richard, and sleep." At the same time she gave me another drink. I saw that it was a flat bowl that she was handing me. Then I must have fallen asleep. 
When did I wake up again? I no longer had a concept of time, but it became clear to me that something had changed in me. Now I could see my surroundings clearly. I was lying on a bunk in a garden, it seemed to me, but it did not look particularly well-kept. This area seemed to be wide and large, and as I looked around I saw other bunks like this lying around me. I had a pillow under my head, but my body was uncovered, but I was not cold. I also did not see any blankets on the other bunks that were occupied. The garden looked a bit poor with the few trees and bushes. Some grass and very few flowers were still visible. You could count them.
As I looked at the surroundings a little more closely, a figure suddenly came towards me and offered me something to drink again. It was the same flat bowl that my mother had already offered me. I could still remember that. The figure had a larger vessel with it, a clay jug, it seemed to me. The bowl also seemed to be made of clay. So I got something to drink again. I was very thirsty. It was only water, but I was happy with it. I quickly drank the bowl empty and asked for another drink, but then the figure turned its back on me and walked away with the jug completely indifferently. 
I called after him: "Listen! Come back again, I'm still thirsty. Please tell me where I am too." But the figure did not turn around. So I got up from my bed and wanted to take a closer look at the surroundings. Finally I came to the edge of the garden, that is, there was a gate, and at this gate stood another being. Without a word it opened the gate for me, and only made a sign to let me know that I should now continue on this path and leave the garden.
I had now become somewhat more familiar with the idea that I was alive, but no longer on earth, because here everything was different to what I was used to on earth. I felt my body, and how strange I was, I had hands and feet, and I could think. Everything was similar to how it had been before.
Deep in such thoughts, I set off, but quickly looked back again. I wanted to memorize the place where I had my bed. I wanted to return there for the time being, because I had to be able to lie down somewhere. I had no other home here. I didn't see any houses anywhere, so I had to be able to lie down there again, I thought. 
But when I turned back, I saw another one take my bed and run off with it. I ran after him, but I was not allowed to go through the door. The figure at the gate blocked me and said: "Forward; you must go." 
 I went, because I was also a little curious and consoled myself with the thought that something would come of it. So I went along the narrow path, but immediately noticed that it was Hein and that others were following. But I was still too old to talk to others. Actually I was a little ashamed, because I felt rather pathetic, and I thought quickly about how I could get back to being a man here. I wanted to have my own house again, I followed him as I followed the narrow path. Finally I came to a place full of activity, and I found myself in the middle of this life. More and more people came along. I saw that they were all completely different. So I had no need to be ashamed of my clothes in front of them; they were no better and had no shoes. They were just as poor as I was.
Now I looked around for houses and thought: "There must be houses." Because that was my decision: "I will be concerned that I get to one as quickly as possible." But I was wrong. I will be concerned about it, I didn't have to be. It was like that, because nobody had taken care of me, because when I met my mother and the others, I wouldn't have been able to speak to her or answer her. I couldn't really see any of them, and I had neither the courage nor the strength to speak. Now that I was in the middle of this great hustle and bustle, there were wide streets and side roads where there were places to rest. They were lined up along the streets, and occasionally they were occupied by people of the same kind who were sleeping there. But there were still enough space, and it seemed to me as if they wanted to invite the passers-by to lay down. 

Everything was clean and well-ordered, but everything was so poor. Outside these resting places there were groups of beings. I assumed that they were those who had come here immediately after entering the spiritual world and had perhaps been here for a long time, so that they had already become familiar with the place. Because I noticed that some of them were playing cards together in groups or having indifferent conversations. I had observed them. I had stood still and watched them, and then I was immediately invited to play too. 
But I thought: "I don't want to pass the time here playing games. I have to make sure that I get my own house." But that seemed difficult, because I didn't see any buildings, and these brothers and sisters - I will now call them - only had these open places to lie down at their disposal. Then I plucked up courage and asked: "Can one lie down here, or do you have to ask permission first and ask which place you can take?"
 The answer I received was: "You can lie down wherever there is space. There is enough room here and no one will chase you away."
But then I realized that there were others besides these indifferent brothers and sisters. There was a lot of activity on the streets. I saw brothers and sisters pulling heavily laden wagons. Ten of them were pulling and pushing them, because they seemed very heavy and fully loaded, some with wood, others with stones, and still others seemed to be loaded with paper. They were all fully loaded, these somewhat oddly shaped wagons. I also saw a few spirit brothers and sisters weaving baskets and doing other activities that I had considered primitive in human life. I looked for work because I wanted to earn something, but no matter how far my path took me, I could see nothing else but these brothers and sisters pulling these heavy wagons and those who were doing nothing and playing. I still saw a few people trying to play music on primitive, homemade instruments. 
It really was a very modest world. Somewhat disappointed, I then isolated myself to think about my situation. And then it became clear to me: "Yes, you died for the world in which you lived for decades. You had your property there, and you had to leave it all behind. And what do I have left? Nothing, not even a decent garment or a pair of shoes, nothing at all." 
That's how miserable I was in this world. I made plans. I wanted to improve, because I didn't want to give myself over to this idleness. But pulling such wagons seemed beneath me.
Well, when I had isolated myself like that and was resting on a side road, I received a visit. A being came up to me, greeted me kindly and asked me about my plans. I then said that I would like to leave here; I didn't like this environment and certainly not its inhabitants. 
And the conversation between us became more and more intense, because this other person was a spirit of God. He revealed himself to me and said: "You don't deserve anything else. If we want to look at your life together, you must realize that you don't deserve a better world. You didn't believe in God, and you weren't honest either. You had a possession, but you didn't collect it in a completely honest way. You also had a great vice. You got drunk a lot and caused a lot of suffering to your fellow human beings, both to them and to yourself. Instead of finding the way to a higher life, you chose the path to a lower, reprehensible life and lived it up. In this way, every soul gets where it deserves. Because in human life, it is up to you to do your part to make the future, spiritual life more pleasant, beautiful and wonderful. Or you experience spiritual life in its lower form, exactly as the soul desires. And the desire in you," the higher being said to me, "was the desire for the lower, reprehensible life. What you long for is the external, the comfortable, pleasant and beautiful that you had in life. But you have to earn that, because this is the world of the spirit, and if a person has acquired merit in the spirit, he will be rewarded for these merits here. But you have done nothing for the higher world and your higher life. Your higher self has not spoken through you. You have not inquired about the higher goals in life. You strived for the lower, and now you must work your way out of this lowliness. You have to make up for a lot. You now live in such a miserable world."
The Spirit of God enlightened me further and said: "Look, You  were not punished immediately. You have your free will. You were given a great deal of freedom. You see, you can devote yourself to doing nothing if you want, just like the others do. But if you strive for the higher life, then you have to work your way up step by step."

I could not go back to the earthly realms. This path was closed to me, as it was to all the others who had to live on this plane, level. They could not return to where they had lived as humans. On the other hand, they could not yet decide to live the higher life, I could see that.
And now this higher being said to me: "You still know nothing at all about the order and the laws of God. You must first familiarize yourself with these spiritual laws. When you get to know them, you will see how necessary it is to work diligently towards ascension, and that it is a shame to devote yourself to doing nothing. But you have a lot to make up for, so the ascent will not be made so easy for you." 

The Spirit of God pointed to those who were pulling such heavy wagons and explained to me: "You see, they are on their way up. They want to pay off their debts. They are all deceased, and they have all burdened themselves deeply. They would hardly have stooped to doing such work in life. You see, they are humiliated before those idlers who laugh at them because they do this work. But if you look, you will see that they are not looking to the right or left, but are busy doing their work."
And now the next step for me was to be this path of atonement. I too was to pull one of these heavy wagons. I wanted to know what it was for; I had a different idea of ​​heaven. Since there is a God and a world beyond, I would rather have imagined everything as one big splendor and glory than that one still needs to work. I also expressed my surprise that the same objects were present here in the spiritual realm as on earth.
 Then the spirit of God explained to me: "What you see may seems so heavy to you, here is still those who are very burdened in this lower sphere by the lower forces, which are so condensed and still have a similar effect to earthly matter. They still have so much impurity in them, which is why these objects still seem so heavy. The subtle matter here is still as similar to earthly matter as this plane is still so similar to earthly matter. It is still enveloped by earthly, physical power. But if you could ascend, you would find this subtle matter easier from level to level."
I had everything explained to me in detail, and so I also learned that everything material on earth was also present in the spiritual realm, and that this same material could be worked on here in the same way that people have to work on it; that material things were needed here just as people needed them to live. Everything that made life more pleasant for people could also be produced and owned in this world. Working in these lower levels was arduous, and it became more pleasant and beautiful the higher you could ascend.
So I immediately thought that the wood must have to be transported somewhere to build houses, and I was confirmed. The stones and everything that was stacked on these wagons were also taken somewhere else to be processed. But everything was only pulled up to the edge of this level, where other spirit brothers and sisters were ready and received everything to take over the further transport, but where, as I was told, it was taken from its I had decided to follow the invitation to do such hard work because beyond the border there was a spiritual plane where gravity was already somewhat reduced and where it became more subtle.
I had decided to follow the invitation to do such hard work because I wanted to make progress. I had immediately turned away from these idlers. I wanted to make progress. However, it was not the case that one could have achieved heavenly bliss with this activity, but it was part of working. One was also taught because this was one of the most necessary things because I knew nothing at all about this new world and nothing about the plan of salvation and redemption, nothing at all. I did not know the meaning of earthly life. So I was very interested in hearing so much new information and all of us who were eagerly dragging our wagons listened just as eagerly to these teachings. We had separated ourselves somewhat. There was enough space. We did not want to go among these idlers. We wanted to talk to each other.
But now I would also like to say that I have been in contact with blacks, Indians, Japanese, and even with relatives of such different other races together. So they were not all white people. It seemed as if all races of people were thrown together here. It was difficult to communicate with one another, but we were able to express ourselves clearly enough and we all learned the same language together. This enabled us to communicate better. But we were only able to absorb all these teachings slowly. Our spiritual teachers spoke to each individual in his mother tongue. We could communicate with them in our own language and in this way get even more out of their teachings, because we were taught in the common language. However, it was easy for me to learn this language, because my memory seemed stronger than during my human life. I was then told that this was the will; the energy, the striving upwards would give one this ability to grasp and learn more quickly.
All those who were willing to strive upwards were also led to prayer together, because we should glorify God together in prayer. We learned to sing together. In this way we were able to have a beautiful devotion for our edification. Afterwards we always felt strengthened and strange: the more eagerly we were in our striving upwards, the more strength flowed to us and the better we were able to carry out the work we had to do. So from time to time higher spiritual brothers and sisters took us under their wing and taught us about the meaning and purpose of human life. We were also supposed to get to know the spiritual world, but the way upwards was still blocked to us. We were allowed to experience and see what lay spiritually beneath us, what was even deeper. We were led to these unfortunate brothers and sisters in the spiritual depths. There we could talk to them and encourage them to change their way of thinking; for most of them were quarrelling, were dazed and did not believe that they lived in the spiritual realm, but claimed that they were only dreaming and living as humans because everything around them was so dense and so similar to the wastelands on earth. 
We could give them our support from time to time and make them understand what they needed to know. They believed us more than their higher spirit brothers, but it was not an easy task. But anyone who was willing to earn something in order to strive upwards had to take every opportunity to do so. We had no time to take a siesta. We really had to use our time profitably, because we wanted to strive upwards, because we saw what we had missed in life, that we had lived without faith in God, that we had done so much wrong and harmed others. But this effort alone did not help us to move forward. It was said that we had burdened ourselves so much.
We also had to stay isolated from time to time in a place where it was dark around us. There we could think, there we could ask God to forgive us. We could then focus entirely on him and we could meditate on the lessons we had been taught. But to be so isolated, all alone in the darkness, was not pleasant, but it was to be part of our punishment. We had all encouraged each other. All of us who were willing to strive upwards had spoken to each other.
It was also the case that from time to time we were allowed to say goodbye to someone for whom the time had come to pass on to a more beautiful place. And from there they would come to visit us again and tell us about their much more beautiful life, about the attention that was now being given to them. And so I too had finally reached this transition to this more beautiful place. I was also able to cross the threshold into a more beautiful sphere, where a more pleasant life began for me too and where I no longer had to pull wagons and do such hard work. It was the greatest bliss for me to first be initiated even further into the laws of God. I was so eager to learn, and that was to benefit me, because later it all proved to be of great benefit to me.
Because I had worked so hard for my advancement, I was allowed to take part in building a house. I was allowed to present my own plans, make suggestions, and I remembered so many things that had impressed me in my earthly life. Some things were talked out of me, and some suggestions were improved. We discussed things together, but I was still very happy: I was allowed to build a house, even if it wasn't mine. I was still a long way from owning one. I was supposed to achieve much more, I was supposed to be even more eager, but I was now allowed to live in a house with other siblings, and I was also allowed to meet my relatives. 

I invited them to my place, they were my guests, and they, who had even more beautiful things and lived in even more beautiful places, told me about their world. So I found it simply wonderful to be able to live in this world, which always brought me so much new stuff - this great variety that you can experience everywhere. It awakens an inclination for different arts. What is on offer there! 
So I worked my way up from level to level and I gained insight into the wonderful world of the spirit, but according to your human calculation of time, a long time has passed since my entry into the afterlife until today - it is about two hundred years. And now they are talking to me about a new earthly life that I am to enter when I have mastered the spiritual laws and have become even more familiar with the heavenly world, when I have come into contact with various other spirit brothers and sisters from various worlds and also know their tasks. I am to bring this knowledge into my soul, into my feelings. 
And it was explained to me that with incorporation into human life all memory disappears and that only when one learns this spiritual language again in human life will one become familiar with many things again and that it is easier for those who can familiarize themselves with this language in human life to affirm this world of the spirit, to believe in it and to work for the spirit. It is easier for those who honor and praise God, Christ and the holy spirit world. And one also understands the meaning of life better when one speaks this language.
So I was given the task of telling you this. I entered the spiritual realm with a great burden. I was received and guided, but I was immediately well-intentioned and had the desire to strive upwards, because I became aware that in this world one person exercises dominion over all and that this one is God. So I wanted to submit myself to God and so I began my ascent in this way.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I am returning to my world. May God give you the strength of faith, and may you never forget the spiritual language. Greetings.

[The subsequent answer to the questions was summarized by the then editor of the magazine "Geistige Welt" as follows:] In the following question section, spirit friend Josef clarified some of Richard's statements, which, as Josef said, he was unable to deal with in sufficient detail due to lack of time; on the other hand, it is not the task of such a spirit to explain everything in every detail.

One consequence of his alcoholism was the thirst that always tormented him more or less. The ragged spiritual clothing and barefootness, along with the primitively made, common objects in these lower stages of ascent, are to be understood as a sign of spiritual poverty. No one cares whether someone is barefoot; everyone is equal, and no one needs to be ashamed in front of the other. The higher one climbs, the more importance is placed on one's appearance. Dying people are wrapped in spiritual garments by helpful angelic beings on their deathbed during their twilight state, allowing them to appear in the spiritual world.
The desire for shelter is still there, as in human life. All desires, as well as virtues and vices, are rooted in the soul. Earthbound people from the beyond, who are still used to earthly conditions, take it for granted that they have to live in a house; they simply do not find a loving welcome.
The "do-nothings", as they were called, are not yet capable of higher thoughts and are still too earthbound, and finally make progress with the help of higher beings when they have become insightful; others are prepared for a new earthly life with gentle force. It always depends on the burden and receptiveness of the individual. People try to persuade and advise everyone, but it is like with people: some are willing and obedient, others are unteachable, and then one is prepared for the new human incarnation with gentle force.

Experience report of the ascending spirit being Richard and questions answered by spirit teacher Josef by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. 
Original: First published in the magazine "Geistige Welt".

Next case. 
From www glz: webpage: 
katrin,  Died in a car accident.
What happens to us after death? This question has always preoccupied people. Those who have already crossed the threshold from this world to the next can give an answer. The following experience report comes from a deceased person named Kathrin. She describes through mediation what she experienced in the afterlife after her departure from the earth.

Duration: 51 minutes  audio (german/deutch) link

Lecture by: Kathrin, 6.3.1968.
Published in: Spiritual World, 18/1980.

Kathrin: I have been commissioned to speak to you. I describe my departure from this world and my impressions during the first period of my retreat.

I was called away from this world by a sudden death. My husband drove away with me and both children for the weekend, and the following accident occurred: We were driving on a main road, and not too long had passed since we left home, when a car came at us with great force. I still remember my husband's words, when he said: "Man, what's gotten into you!?" We saw the accident coming towards us in great excitement, because this car was driving towards us at breakneck speed. And we, that is to say my husband, saw no way out - it happened so quickly, and then the collision was there. I didn't know any more, I had heard my husband's last words, which I had just said. Then the following happened: My little daughter, who was also called Kathrin, and I died instantly. The other child was called Lisbeth and my husband was called Wilhelm - my husband was badly injured, Lisbeth was not injured.
Well, first I heard the words that were spoken around us or around me - but I couldn't see anything, I only heard that they said: "The two are dead. The older child is unharmed and the man seems to be badly injured." I heard that and a lot more; but I can't remember these words very well.
But I also heard someone say: "It's best to take them to the morgue straight away." Then I was able to open my eyes - because at first I only heard but I saw nothing. When my eyes opened, I was frightened. I was lying on a stretcher, lifeless, and little Kathrin was lying a little way away. I was still in a crouched position and suddenly I felt hands touching me, trying to get me up. But then I heard and saw who was around us: the police were there and the ambulance, there were cars there, there were people there, and I kept hearing: “The two of them are dead.” And then I said: “No, you don’t mean me, I’m not dead,” and I kept repeating: “I’m here, I’m not dead!”
Then a figure spoke to me that was a stranger to me and that, it seemed to me, did not belong to the people around me, because it did not look as human as the others. This person said to me: “Yes, you died, you perished. You can see your body here, it is dead.” I replied: “That’s not true, I’m here, I’m alive.” And then I saw the child too, and someone said to me: “You see, little Kathrin is dead too.” 
I answered: “It is impossible, that cannot be true, because I am here and I am alive – why are you saying that I am dead?”
But then I saw how they loaded my body into the car, along with little Kathrin, and I was still standing there. I saw the car drive away, and I also saw how they drove my husband away. I stayed at the scene of the accident for a long time. But then the people gradually left and I was still standing there alone. 
Then I realized: “Yes, you did die.” I remembered: a car had come towards us and we were very worried about it. But I could not believe that I could be dead, since I was there, since I could speak. How could I be dead? I could not understand that. Then they explained to me: “Your spirit has left your body. Your body is being given to the earth; but the soul, that which makes you alive, returns to the realm of life.” 
Then I said: “Let me go, I would like to know how my husband is doing, I want to go to my husband.” They answered me: “If you like it and you want to follow your husband, you can do that.” And I explained: “If I am really dead, then I must also worry about my husband’s future,” and I then followed the tracks of the car and found him in the hospital.

I also looked after Lisbeth and I thought: “What will happen to Lisbeth now?” Then I realized that my sister was looking after her. My sister took Lisbeth in and they were very sad and crying because I and little Kathrin had died. I went to my sister’s house and wanted to see and hear what was going on. And so I also experienced my own funeral. Now I returned to the hospital for a while, and to my sister’s house for a while.

And I had to keep going to the cemetery where my grave was. Little Kathrin and I had been laid in the same grave. I saw how people visited the graves of their relatives from time to time or regularly. And I waited to see who would come and would now pay a visit to my grave. My sister came, but otherwise only a few. My parents also came now and then, but not so often. So I kept going back to the hospital where my husband was. I was so worried about his future, but I was also tormented by what would happen to my little Lisbeth. And I cried and lamented.

When I was back at the cemetery, a strange being came towards me and asked me to leave this place now; I should now enter the spiritual realm, where I belong. Then I said that I would like to come there with him, but I still had tasks to fulfill on earth. But I was very restless; I didn't really know what to do. Should I now obey this being? I thought: "Yes, I can go with him sometime."
 And so I went with this being. It took me to a place that was completely foreign to me and asked me: “Wouldn’t you like to look after your little Kathrin?” Yes, of course, that was my wish too, I wanted to know how little Kathrin was doing. But I was so restless. One time I said that I wanted to go to Kathrin, another time I wanted to go to my sister, another time to my husband – I was just confused, so restless.
This being saw that and offered to follow me to his house. There I could rest a little and get some strength; in the meantime, many things would calm down and the spiritual world would take care of my husband’s recovery; his injuries were not life-threatening and little Lisbeth would be fine too – I just had to come to terms with the new circumstances. Then I said: “Yes, I want to.” But I kept coming back to my home on earth. I thought I had to go there to see what was going on, even though my husband wasn't at home - he was still in the hospital.
A being who was a stranger to me accompanied me and made it clear to me more and more that it was actually pointless for me to concern myself with these things any more. There were enough higher spiritual beings who would now be concerned about the future lives of my loved ones. So I let myself be persuaded again and this being then led me to my little Kathrin, where she lived.

Now I had expected that little Kathrin, when she saw me again for the first time, would immediately call for me and ask for me. But she just smiled when she saw me and took no further notice of me. I was disappointed. She was my child after all and I expected her to show her full devotion to me. But I also noticed that the house and the surroundings where the child lived were very beautiful and that she and all the others who lived here really lacked nothing. They had so many things to play with, and there were very elegant beings there who talked to all these children. They sang, played and made music with them. The children wore brightly colored dresses and had flower wreaths around their heads, which were often worn when playing. And my little Kathrin was so excited by the huge variety of games and toys that were on offer that she didn't have any particular desire for her mother. She was happy to see these beautiful beings playing with her. These beautiful beings were also dressed in very bright colors. In my opinion, it was too bright, I thought it was a bit tasteless; but it was a different world. Some of these beings also had jewelry on their arms and were decorated with colored ribbons, half of their arms and legs were decorated with them, and they also wore rings around their necks. The little ones who played there had the greatest joy with these playmates or caregivers.

My Kathrin was four years old, but there were also younger children. These creatures, dressed in what I thought were all too colorful clothes, played with these little ones. These carers were completely attuned to them, they were so tender and so loving. And these children - only the smaller ones were allowed to do this - took the ribbons off them, took the rings off their arms and legs and played with them themselves. So I had to realize that this colorful outfit was actually intended as a game for the little ones. Over time, I was able to understand why these little ones no longer longed for their mothers, because they were offered so much variety, so many toys. There were also small animals that were available to them and that even played with them. And so these children seemed to be overjoyed, and it became clear to me that my little Kathrin did not long for her mother.

So I saw that Kathrin was well looked after; she had such a wonderful life in such wonderful company and also enjoyed a good upbringing. This is what particularly struck me: the pleasant atmosphere. There was no rush, no reluctance, everything was so calm, comfortable, so peaceful - it was as if time played no role at all. So these little ones could thrive and grow in peace, they truly had the peace of an angel around them. So I didn't have to worry about Kathrin. But my concern was Lisbeth and my husband.

I now believed that it was my job to find a wife for Wilhelm, because Lisbeth had to have a mother again. And so I really went looking. I remembered my friend - she had a sister, and I thought that this sister could be a wife for Wilhelm. But I found out that this person in question already had a fiancé. And now I believed that I was allowed to separate the two, because I was so selfish. At the time, of course, I didn't see this as a good idea, because I was only concerned about my family, my husband and my child. So I thought that my friend's sister was the right person.

Then I tried to approach this groom. I learned how to do this from other spirit beings. I also went around in this earthly realm, went from one place to another, to my acquaintances, and I looked around the city. I wanted to convince myself whether I had really died by finding out how the others did it - whether they were all as obedient and now lived as spirits in the spiritual realm, or whether they didn't have the same desire as me to see what was happening on earth and to see what was right.

I experienced many things and I wanted to be sure of all these things. So I saw all sorts of things, I saw evil figures with an evil influence on people - they approached them and tried to influence them, to win them over to a malicious idea. I saw how these malicious people wanted to lead people astray from the right path and did so. On the other hand, I also saw the noble beings, the angelic figures, who approached people. They approached them precisely when one of the malicious people had lingered with a person for a long time and had talked to them. Then the angel came and admonished the person and tried to talk him out of his evil thoughts. Then I saw how a person sometimes became uncertain and how he - as it is called in human language - got a bad conscience. Because one time he did what the malicious one whispered to him, then the good one came and told him, and then he didn't know: "Should I do this, should I do that?" He had become uncertain. Then I realized that it really always depends on the person himself. He always had to decide what he wanted to do. It seemed to me just like when people are together and one says this and the other says the opposite, and the third doesn't really know who to believe, what is right and what is wrong, and in the end he has to make the decision himself about what he believes, what is right or what he must do. The spirit beings did the same thing: they spoke to people and influenced them, but the decision always lay with the person themselves.

Then I realized that it always depended on what the person was inclined to, what his nature was like. I had observed this closely because I wanted to learn from it; I wanted to achieve something. So I observed these things and saw that some people were gullible and easily persuaded, while others were weak-willed. But I also saw some who were stubborn. I saw how angels of God spoke to such people and tried to convince them, and how their stubbornness did not allow them to accept what they were told. So one and the same observation could be made throughout the whole course of a person's life. For example, if a person showed a certain generosity in all things, a spirit could count on this generosity - that if he could win this person over to something, he would express generosity in this too. So it always depended on the person's own way, on the true nature of the person. So the spirits tried to speak to them - the good ones did this as well as the bad ones. The good ones tried to distract someone from their opinion, to dissuade them if it was wrong; and the bad ones tried their own when they saw that a person was inclined to do what was good, to promote what was good.

Now, over time, I have discovered how to proceed in order to convince people, to win them over to an idea. But I was not the only one who paid attention to people and learned from them. Others did it too – and the man who did this had something in mind and wanted to use it for his own personal benefit. And so I knew my husband's nature and I believed that he could be influenced.
But first I tried to cause discord between the two bride and groom because I wanted to separate them. My friend's sister was to become my husband's wife and I could not support these two in harmony and love. So I used a forbidden tactic because I believed that it would be for my personal family benefit. 
But then, when I set about filling this man with jealousy and making him reproach his bride, I was warned that this was not appropriate. It was neither fair nor my job to do such a thing and I would be punished if I committed such an injustice. I had no right to use force to separate and influence two people who lived in harmony with each other. If I were a good spirit, I would not do that. If I continued to exert my influence despite the warning, then my way to the children's paradise, to my little Kathrin, would be blocked in the future.
Then I complained and said that I had to find a wife for my husband under all circumstances. But I was told that this was not my concern. My husband would look for a wife himself, without me. I stuck to my opinion, but I said: "Okay, I don't want to bother and influence this fiancé any more." But as often as I could, I stayed near the two of them. I was well aware that I was not allowed to exert my influence on them, but I still believed that there was somehow an opportunity to draw my husband's attention to my friend's sister. And so I then occupied myself with my husband. I influenced his thinking, I repeatedly reminded him that he should think about my friend's sister. I tried it this way and believed that I was doing nothing wrong. But I had to realize that my husband had no interest in my friend's sister at all. He did think of her, thanks to my strength and influence, but not with the intention that I had.
Then the time came when my husband was released from the hospital. He had had to stay there for quite a long time; and what happened in the meantime I have explained to you in detail. So my husband could now go home again, but my daughter stayed with my sister. Now it seemed quite natural for my husband to look for a new wife. He had his acquaintances and friends from before, and so he also came into the company of young girls. But none of them seemed good enough for me, and I kept trying to distract him from that. But now I had to realize that he had formed the firm idea and the firm will to marry a girl he knew. I did not agree with that.

Now I went up to my husband - I was always near him from time to time, I was still tied to him and to the house and to everything that was on earth; I had not been dead for very long. But then I was reprimanded very forcefully and was forbidden to enter my husband's house. I was made to understand clearly that this was the last time I would ever think about this. It was not my business to look for a wife for my former husband. He had to decide according to his own will and was responsible for his choice - it was none of my business. I was a little sad about it, but I had to submit to this strict order, I had to obey, because I was told that this would be the last time I would be warned. If I did not obey, I would be punished by being barred from further entry to the children's paradise. So I thought: "Good, I will now leave it to God and his helpers to find the right path and prepare it." And so I said: "I trust in God and his help, and I will not return until I am allowed to." They seemed to be satisfied with my decision.

These higher spirits could see that I was not really serious and asked me to follow them. I really needed to rest a little, because I had been overcome with a lot of grief - they understood that. Only a short time had passed since the accident and I was still too closely connected to what had happened. I must now try to detach myself from it a little. So they recommended that I go with them and stay in a house for a certain amount of time where I could rest. They would give me a strength
and I would be able to sleep - and after sleep all these things would look different. And so I obeyed, because I felt weak and uncertain. Because I always wanted to go back - I was simply drawn back; and on the other hand I wanted to be obedient. So I went with these angelic beings. They led me into a house, into a large room. There was a pleasant atmosphere in it, and I smelled such a pleasant smell. I was given something to eat, which I gladly accepted, and then I could sleep.

I did not know how long I had slept - after I woke up I no longer cared about the time. I felt completely different, free and happy; I no longer felt bound to what I had left behind. The memory was still in my mind, but I no longer had such a longing as before. I felt truly strengthened by this sleep. When I woke up, I was again offered something to refresh me, and my strength was strengthened even more. And now I wanted to adapt to this new world.

Of course I had not forgotten where my little Kathrin was. I wanted to know if she had needed sleep too. They said yes and said: “But it was not like with you. When she came to us from earth, they also gave her something to refresh and calm her down, but she only slept for a short time. Then she was looked after, as you saw. You could see for yourself that she was feeling quite well. But since she is still so small, she still needs sleep now and then, and so she is laid to rest by the angels of God.”
So I should not worry about her any more. I saw that everything was in perfect order. My concern for my husband and the little one I had left behind on earth was no longer so great. I still felt a great attachment to them, but it was like this: When I woke up from my sleep, my relatives who had already died were standing next to me, greeting me, happy and willing to check on my family and tell me about them now and then. They told me that I should stay calm and feel happy in my current world; I no longer had to worry about everything I had left behind. The angelic beings who were in God's order and would see to it that everything was right were now responsible for that.

So I had confidence, and the joy of welcoming my relatives was great. I invited them to accompany me to the children's paradise to my Kathrin. I told them about the splendor there, how these children are cared for and looked after, and how they have no longing for their earthly parents because they are offered so much variety.
Then an angel spoke to me about my future activities. He said that I would also have to be assigned a job, and since I was a young mother with a child in the children's paradise, I was recommended to work in a children's paradise. They would also have to keep an eye on things, and all the many objects and toys that were needed for the little ones would also have to be made. If I agreed to such a task, I could take on a job there. I immediately asked: "Can I be near my little one then?" To which I was told: "Not very close at the moment, but you will always have the opportunity to watch her playing and also during her lessons. Because she will grow and she will be taught at school. You can't always live in play and joy. When the children grow up and get bigger, you take them to another children's paradise, with bigger children of the same age, to teach and educate them together."

I agreed to all of this. I was happy if I could only see the little one from time to time, how she grew up and how she lived. And it was a great joy for me to make this visit together with my relatives. We talked at length. I was able to find out that my little one was not longing for her mother, but that she was feeling quite well. I was also told that she would not be staying in this paradise for much longer, but would soon be taken to another one and taught there with children her own age. But I was satisfied, I was allowed to see her, and she had truly been carefully brought up.

My relatives told me about their work and the peace they had found in the spiritual world, and that they were very happy to be living here now. We promised to visit each other now and then. And then we had to say goodbye again. But my relatives then brought me news from time to time about what was happening on earth.

 I had certainly let go of all that, but I had always asked that my little Lisbeth, whom I had left behind, would get a good mother. And so it was my relatives on earth, especially my parents, who looked after their granddaughter. And then, later, I was told that my husband had remarried and taken Lisbeth in, that the grandparents were exerting their good influence on the woman. The grandparents also urged my child to remember his mother in heaven, not to forget her.

So I kept getting news of how my family on earth was doing. And so I still do my job, alternating between working in the children's paradise where the very little ones are, and then I am needed in another one where my job is of a slightly different nature. So I have a wonderful job. I still do this job. I don't know what is still waiting for mine.
 A spirit of God told me that the first thing to do now was to fill my whole being with love and a willingness to make sacrifices, and that the children's paradise was particularly suitable for me. There you could adapt your being to the angels who work there. You could learn so much here and be influenced by the great peace, devotion and sacrifice. I should be filled with this, then I would have a corresponding task later on where I could develop what I had grasped in this heaven and what I was permeated with. My whole being should therefore be filled with great devotion and tenderness. And that is what I had to tell you: about the life that I am living now and which impresses me, and how it was for me, how at first I could not believe that I had died.
And if you are interested in knowing how long it has been since I entered the spiritual world through the accident - I personally could not calculate it because I no longer have a measure of time like you do, but I was told that according to your calculations it was only about eight years ago.

So, as I believe and as I was told, an important and beautiful task awaits me that I can fulfill in God's plan of salvation. So I would like to say goodbye to you with a "God bless you".

Kathrin's experience report from March 6, 1968 through mediator 
Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaldenstrasse, Zurich

(German version on https://www.glz.org/de/wissen/mediathek/audio-video/vom-leben-nach-dem-tod/verstorben-bei-einem-autounfall.)


Next case.



May 6, 1970.
Innocently convicted of the consequences of a great injustice.
An innocently convicted person experiences God's balancing justice in the world beyond after his earthly death.

Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend, and I will speak to you. First I would like to remind you of tomorrow: Ascension Day. It would please God if Christianity were aware of the significance of this memorial festival, if it were to grasp that former event in all its truth and greatness. Then these Christians would also be more grateful. But consider the attitude that Christians have today towards this celebration tomorrow: They do not think about the truth content, about the magnitude of what was shown to those people back then and what is still of great importance today. Ascension Day is accepted as an additional holiday and no one thinks about why this day has been made a holiday.
The spiritually oriented person who believes in the spirit knows what this day means for Christianity. The Christian is strengthened anew in his belief in the resurrection. For in the time from Easter until this hour, when Christ ascended to heaven, his followers were able to experience again and again how he appeared here and there and this is something that should be thought about. Christ came to his followers and showed them that he is alive, that there is life after death. And so the Christian should know that he is also alive when he has died; that he will only give his body back to the earth. But in spirit he will rise again, as Christ rose again, and he will be lifted up from this earth by the angels of God. He will flee from this earth with the angels of God, towards the heights. But the relatives will not see this spirit that is fleeing from the earth to the heights. But they should know that he will be released from the earth if it is his will not to return to this earth; that is, if he no longer feels bound in spirit to the past life, but becomes familiar with the new world and submits to the new laws, becomes obedient in the new homeland, in order to be a worthy and zealous servant there. These are a few introductory words that I would like to give you for tomorrow's dinner.
Well, dear brothers and sisters, you will soon understand that I have to tell you the following experience or these events myself. However, I would like to assume that everyone can understand what I have presented. Anyone who has questions should turn to those friends who know these spiritual laws and are familiar with this language.
So I will now talk about a man who was sent to prison at the age of thirty-five, innocent. He was accused of murder and remained in prison for eighteen years until his death, innocent. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis; one morning he was dead in his cell.
At the beginning this man had rebelled against people and against God, because he was innocent. He had been accused, but he could protest his innocence as much as he wanted, but no one believed him. For he had already made some mistakes in his life, for example he drank and was not so strict about honesty. But now he had been accused of murder, and various people in his village also played a role in this. They had accused him because they firmly believed that it was him. Various circumstances made it plausible that he was the murderer.
The real murderer, however, remained undiscovered. The murderer's wife knew about her husband's crime and kept quiet. This family had children, but the children found out nothing; they were not allowed to find out that their father was a murderer. But the whole thing weighed heavily on these two people. But they kept quiet about it their whole lives, even though they knew that one of them was innocently in prison.
They pretended to be religious people. This is not an isolated case; it has happened many times.
Now I would like to give you an insight into what happens in the spiritual world when someone returns who has been innocently in prison for so many years, and what happens to those who are really guilty and who pretend to be innocent in front of people.
This innocent man was the first to return to the world beyond, that is, he died before this couple. When he opened his eyes in the spiritual world, he first had to look around to see if he had really died. All he remembered was his miserable cell, and he still remembered that he had been particularly sick - he knew about his illness. In the first few days after his conviction he had rebelled against people and against God; but over time he had become accustomed to his life in captivity and even began to pray. He had given up his hatred and tried to talk to God by speaking to him in silence and saying to him: "You must know who the real culprit is; it wasn't me."
The angels of God had long known of his impending death, and so they were ready and escaped with him from this cell into the world beyond. Here they stood opposite him, greeted him kindly and explained to him that his life on earth was now over. They greeted him with joy and told him to look around and see where he actually was. And he was amazed to see that he was in a spiritual room with large, open windows through which a lot of light came in.
He was still lying on a couch and one of God's angels was sitting next to him. He was asked to look around further and take a closer look at the room. A few, but well-kept, pieces of furniture were naturally spiritual furniture and there were beautiful vases with flowers everywhere. He couldn't believe it and they said to him: "We have escaped from your world with you, we know the truth." The angels expressed their joy that he had come to terms with his fate as a human being and had stopped struggling. That would now benefit him.
Now he should look at his surroundings. They asked him to come closer to this spiritual window and look out. Then he realized that it was spring where he was. He looked into the gardens and there were blossoming trees and flowers everywhere. "Is it true?" he asked himself, "I can't even remember what a flowering tree is and what a flower is. Now I can experience this. Is it reality?" 
He kept feeling around his spiritual body to see if it was really him and if he was still wearing his prison clothes. No, he wasn't wearing them anymore. He was wearing a light-colored robe and light shoes. And he was surprised at how he looked. Yes, he was concerned that his spiritual body looked similar to his earthly body: "I have hands, I have a body!" Yes, but everything was so delicate. And he felt much younger and well, whereas before he had always felt tired and oppressed and felt that his body was a burden. Now he felt light.
They continued to tell him, noticeably: "You see, everything exists in its spiritual state. You are spirit and live as a spirit, and the spirit has the same form as a human being. Human beings are only wrapped in coarse matter, their spirit carries this coarse matter on itself, and it sometimes becomes a burden to them. Now you are free of this matter and you are no longer tired, you are no longer ill. These illnesses do not exist for the spirit. Only memories can oppress the spirit and give it the impression of feeling something heavy." 
And the angel continued: "We have a surprise for you. The injustice that was done to you in your world, we want to make up for it; that is in the justice of God. And the fact that you have been given this privilege has happened through your will, because you had resigned yourself to your fate." 
And with this explanation a small spirit being, a spirit child, entered the room with a garland of flowers. It was accompanied by a beautifully dressed, delicate angel being. The garland seemed to be too big, too long and too heavy for the spirit child, because it was still dragging it along the spiritual ground. This flower garland was decorated with roses, tulips, carnations and all kinds of other flowers, and the spirit child itself wore a wreath of miller's flowers on its head. It appeared in a colorful, fragrant dress. At the angel's command, it took the garland, placed it around the neck of the returning child and said: "As a greeting and for your joy, I am placing these flowers around your neck."
And the angel of God who accompanied this child said: "You have had much sorrow, we have seen it. We have tried to bear and share the suffering with you. We now want to make amends to you as much as we are allowed and able to. And so you should rejoice in the justice of God. You should rejoice that you have risen in spirit and continue to live in a world of justice. For in our world we can see everything that people do, just or unjust. We observe all actions and record them in an image, and there is no denial, for anyone." But then this child and his companion said goodbye, and he remained behind in the room with the other spirits of God.
Now they said to him: "We grant you some time now to measure heaven in its justice and beauty." But they explained to him: "This is not the whole of heaven, but only a small part. You are now in the heaven of spring, that is where we have brought you, but you will not stay here forever. You should now enjoy yourself here in this heaven. And you should stay in this heaven, in this place, until the last person from your village who knew about your fate has returned. When the last person who was involved in your condemnation has passed over to the spiritual world, a spiritual court will be held." And of course they also meant that they would wait until the guilty party had arrived. Then this court would be held.
In the meantime, like all others who return to the world beyond, he had to be taught. He had no knowledge of God's creation, of his plan of salvation and redemption, and so there was still a lot for him to learn. There are such places of instruction in all levels of ascent in heaven, including in the heaven of spring and up to those heights where it is necessary to teach those who ascend. Now he could measure this atmosphere of peace and justice. Great goodwill was shown to him - love was foreign to him, he only knew accusations and malice.
It took a lot for him to get used to this new environment, this atmosphere, because he himself was not used to these subtle feelings. So he had to be taught in this respect too. But because he was able to experience so much pleasantness, so much friendliness, he quickly forgot what he had experienced in dark hours. And he said to himself: "Actually, I have no hatred towards the real murderer. Because I was in prison for so long, innocent, and had to endure so much humiliation and injustice, I have earned heaven. The earthly world in which I lived was something lost to me; I had lost the world, but I had won heaven." 
And so he could not have hatred towards the real murderer either. Because he had already given up hatred during his lifetime, he had resigned himself to his fate. Of course, his physical suffering also contributed to this. He no longer had the strength to nurture such resentful thoughts. He was physically weakened, and this weakness robbed him of the strength to develop   thoughts of hatred; he had to deal with himself and his suffering.
So he was quite happy in his new world, because he had now gained a beautiful world. He was happy, felt light and happy. He was no longer plagued by pain, and so he was very happy about that. Therefore, he understood it more quickly when he was told about the resurrection of the spirit, because he was now able to experience this resurrection himself.

But now we would also like to talk about the others. Because he was told that a judgement would take place when the last person who had been involved in his fate in some way had returned. When the last person and the murderer had passed over to the world beyond, they were all led to an intermediate heaven; one could also say: to an intermediate level or an intermediate sphere. This is a connecting place between the heights and the depths, where beings from different levels can be led. Those from a higher level have to descend, that is easy; but those who are spiritually lower are also given the opportunity to enter this intermediate level to meet the others there.

You should not think that the real murderer was the last to return. No, he was received beforehand and taken to a suitable place. He was also told that the court would come when the last person from the village who had been involved in the fate of this innocently convicted man had crossed over.
So they were all brought together. Those from the higher levels descended, and those from the depths were allowed to enter this intermediate level. This is where the court took place, and this is where they saw the innocent man enter this heaven. He was the last to enter, and here he was crowned with a garland of flowers. Apart from the real murderer and his wife, none of those who were called to this court knew who the real culprit was. They had been kept in the dark until this court, which was now to take place in the spiritual realm.
When the innocent man entered last, in a light robe and crowned with flowers, there was amazement. Because most of those there thought he was a murderer. He came accompanied by angels of God who led him by the arm, and he was surrounded with the greatest kindness and love. Then it became immediately clear to them: "Something is not right here; a murderer can never appear with such an accompaniment." He was also given a special place in the small group of angels of God who were now to hold court.
Now a very stern angel of God took the floor and said: "Now we hold court in justice, and we accuse of murder" and called the person who committed the murder by name. So he had to step forward. And everyone was amazed. His former partner also had to step forward. The former victim also had to step forward, because she was there too.
Now everyone else had become uncertain, and a great unrest came over them. Those who had accused and given false testimony became uneasy, as did those who had judged. But the Spirit of God said: "Now you shall see the true course of events, what really happened back then," and they all experienced it as if in a film. For what happens here on earth, no matter where and at what time, is captured in the mind as in a film. And so time was turned back for those present, and they could experience the whole event in reality. Then the Spirit of God said: "So you have condemned an innocent man, and the murderer lived among you." 
And now the Spirit of God, who ruled as a judge, asked: "What should happen to him, how should we punish him? What punishment should he receive for the murder and what punishment for his cowardice, for not turning himself in? What punishment does his wife deserve, who knew about it and kept quiet, who was involved in this great guilt? How should we judge?"
 Well, the real murderer was deeply depressed, he could not speak, nor could his former wife. No one wanted to speak. For now it was God's judgment. And there were those men who had once condemned this innocent man; there were those people who once said that it could only have been him and no one else. And the Spirit of God asked: "And what punishment do you deserve?" They could not speak; for they were all involved.
But then one of them said: "We have been washed clean from sin by Christ's blood. He has freed us from this and from every sin. We rely on this redemption of Christ, he has brought it to us, and we are entitled to it. If we have acted wrongly in life, Christ has freed and redeemed us from all sins," said one who was particularly pious in life. 
But then the angel of God had to answer him: "That is not true. No one is redeemed from the sins he has committed. All man commits in his daily life; he himself is responsible for it. He is redeemed and freed from the great sin that is called the mortal sin, from the guilt of apostasy from God."
 They did not know what to do with these words. They insisted that they had been redeemed from all guilt by Christ and that they had relied on and hoped in Christ and his redemption throughout their whole lives. This judgment that was now held did not last just a few hours or a few days according to human concepts of time; this judgment lasted several weeks. For they were now to experience who had redeemed them and what they were redeemed from. They were to experience their own apostasy, their own separation from God. They were shown excerpts of this. For what is happening and has happened in the heavens is also recorded in the breath of God or in the stream of God, in the atmosphere of God or in the breath of God, as you wish to call it. Everything that happens can be recorded, as you people record something in a film. Now they were shown an excerpt of this apostasy and made aware that they themselves were involved in it. They were also shown just a few excerpts of how they had risen from the depths to the heights. And they were shown how people, invisible to them, are persecuted and influenced by a lower spirit world. They were also allowed to experience how Christ negotiated with Lucifer after his victory in those depths and granted him the right to  rule over people on earth, provided they were willing to obey him, but that Christ would take everyone into his care after their earthly death and they would then be responsible to him and his holy spirit world for their actions as humans.
Thus they were given proof when they persisted in the teaching that was given to them on earth, according to which they had been redeemed from all sins. They were to see and experience from which sin they had been redeemed and to recognize that redemption consists in Christ having cleared the way to the Father for them and that everyone now has to prove for themselves how strong they are in spirit; that everyone is enabled to start again from the beginning and return to the Father.
This judgment lasted a long time, as you can imagine. Now there was no more contradiction. And now the angel of God said: "Now I ask the one who was innocently convicted: what punishment do you deserve?" And he answered: "I have no hatred, I leave the decision to the spirits of God. It is not me who decides; I have earned heaven through my difficult life, through the injustice that was done to me."
But now the others began to disagree among themselves. They accused those who had once judged them; they said they should have been asked to examine them more closely. So they started to argue among themselves. And those who had judged became very angry with the murderer because he had not turned himself in.
 Now they were asked: "What punishment does this murderer deserve?" They could not answer, but one and the other said: "I cannot forgive him for being so cowardly and so mean as to let someone else suffer. I cannot forgive that, because it burdened me. He should have turned himself in and admitted his crime. But because he concealed the truth, I am now burdened and will be punished."
The Spirit of God then said to them, except for the murderer: "Yes, you can forgive one another, just as God forgives your sins if you ask. You should forgive one another. For Christ redeemed mankind, he went a difficult way to do so. He was not guilty and took great guilt upon himself and bore great suffering. In Christ's name you should now forgive one another," said the judging angel of God. And then they were released, and it was explained to them that the real murderer would be brought to his just punishment.
So they were all led back to their places and places of work in their distress, where they belonged for further instruction and further amends. They were separated from each other.
Now the Spirit of God imposed punishment on the real culprit and on his wife. This angel of judgment had seen that some of those who had been called together were not prepared to forgive him. He saw that they would persecute this murderer in the future, persecute him into a new life on earth. And so he said to him: "You will atone in the spiritual world and you will be reborn as a human being. They will then pursue you in your life on earth and that will be your punishment."
And so I must now take a big step into the future in this story and speak of reincarnation. This former murderer was reincarnated, and he was to try to move up a level in his human life. He was marked by fate for his misdeed. And then, when he had grown up, those from the spiritual world came who had not forgiven him, because they themselves had come into distress because he had not spoken the truth and had judged too lightly. Now they persecuted this incarnate and harassed him. They wanted him to suffer now for what he had done wrong, not only to them, but also to the victim. The victim could not forgive either and was involved in persecuting him in a new earthly life.
And so it happened: When he was about twenty years old, they came and harassed him, took possession of his body and raged out of him. And he, who had been a murderer in his previous life, came to a mental institution. Now his spirit was degraded and humiliated. His body became a house for these irreconcilable people, here they raged. And his body became a prison for him; he was no longer in control of himself, he was oppressed by others. The spirits of God had not imposed any particular fate on him, for they had seen that fate would be fulfilled through oppression by those irreconcilable ones.
These irreconcilable spirits had indeed been taught on their level in the spiritual world about love and justice and that one must forgive the debtor. But they could not. If people were already able to forgive one another as humans, then no one would be oppressed by spirits and there would be no need for such healing institutions. But these irreconcilable spirits now wanted to make amends for what had happened in their own way. They wanted to oppress this person, to make him bear the guilt. So they took possession of him and believed that in this way they would create justice. And the spirits of God allowed it.
And so it happens, dear brothers and sisters. If all those who were called together for the judgment had agreed to forgive the guilty person, he would have had to bear a different fate in his new human life. But the world of God, in its wisdom and foresight, had already seen what awaited him in the future, and this was punishment enough for him.
The spirits of God have a lot of work to do with such irreconcilable spirits that take possession of a person. They have to enlighten them and call upon them: "Leave man alone, enter into the order of God, and become worthy, honest spirits and instruments in God's plan of salvation. Do not become a burden to people; become their liberators, serve them in order to help them. Do not seek them out to take revenge on them."
But these irreconcilable spirits, of which I have now spoken, had become free [after a certain period of purification]; they had their free will and could find access to that person. They found him through the odic bond that had been formed by the events of the past and still existed. The hatred, the resentment and the discord of these beings still bound them to the soul, to the spirit of the person who had once become guilty. They did not want to understand and comprehend that they were also burdening themselves through their actions and that with this act they were creating an obstacle to their ascent.
I have given you this explanation, dear brothers and sisters, so that you can recognize and understand why people are persecuted here and there. It may be that a person is not even directly persecuted by the person they once wronged. Those who were hindered in their spiritual ascent by the previous misdeed, who burdened themselves in some way at the time and simply cannot forgive, can also be involved in their harassment, so that they persecute such a person together with the former victim. That was the case in this case. The former victim was also not prepared to forgive. But this does not have to be the case in every case. So someone who had a hand in the fate of a person can be so irreconcilable with the person primarily responsible that he pursues him
beyond his life and thus harms him.

Well, dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning I mentioned a few words about tomorrow. If Christians recognized the true content of salvation through Jesus Christ and if they were aware of the meaning and purpose of their own lives, they would not do some things, or they would confess what they have done to pay off part of their guilt while still on earth. In this way, a lot of someone else's great worries and problems could be taken away.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I gave you another insight into the laws of God and into the work of the angels; for many have already thought about such fates. You can now see from all this that it is always important not to live in hatred like the man who was wrongly accused and had to bear the injustice. He had accepted his fate and not quarreled, not lived in hatred. The fact that he managed to do this brought him to heaven. He was able to move on to his further ascent in peace.

Now, dear brothers and sisters, the time has advanced and I am withdrawing into my world. I leave God's blessing to all of you. May you raise your thoughts tomorrow and be filled in your soul with gratitude for the wonderful redemption through Jesus Christ. May you also be grateful for the knowledge you have achieved, that you have the knowledge of the meaning and purpose of your life and how you can strive for further spiritual ascent and that tomorrow is also a day of joy, knowing that you are heading towards heaven. Greetings from God.

Experience report from spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner 
in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording.


Next case


June 3, 1970.
Resi, a fortune teller who was not so strict with the truth.
A person's nature and way of thinking are not simply discarded when they die, because they are part of the soul.

Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, in this hour I will again tell you about an ascending soul, and if I take on this task in their place, there is, as always, a reason for it.

Now, dear brothers and sisters, I would like to say the following: When these experience reports are given to you, it does not necessarily always have to be in a deep or even sad seriousness. Good spirits are cheerful spirits, and I would like to point out that I and all those who help me in this hour are spirits of God. That does not mean that it could harm me personally or my spiritual helpers in any way if I perhaps present something with a certain amount of joy or humor - never. You should recognize from this that we are happy in our world, that we also have our joys. But I do not want to omit to say that when we perform a holy act, we make sure that this devotion, this seriousness, is present and encouraged. So we do not see why we should not present, explain and tell you things as they once happened.
I have the opportunity to gain insight into the life book of these ascending spirits. This means nothing other than that the past is made the present for me. It is like a film - you know it too: you keep something and after many years you can experience it again as it once was. I always point out to you that in the spiritual world we have long since had what people believe they have in terms of achievements today. I would like to explain this to those friends who do not yet know this spiritual teaching very well or not at all and who ask themselves: "How is it possible to look back in such a way?" So, in this way it is possible to have this retrospective look at each person who has returned home, when it becomes necessary and sensible.
And so I would now like to tell you about an ascending spirit sister. On earth she was only called by her first name, she let herself be called Resi. She lived about eighty years ago on the Austro-Hungarian border. This Resi was the mother of a bunch of children, but at that time, when people lived in great poverty, the children were left to fend for themselves quite quickly; the older ones had to look after the little ones quite early on and care for them, while the parents had to go out and earn something, if there was anything to earn at all. The men were mostly at war, and it was left to the women to look after the children.
This Resi was a fortune teller, she earned her money this way. Actually, she had certain abilities, you couldn't deny them, but she wasn't always honest. Resi looked at people first; then she let them shake hands, sometimes both hands, and tried to work out from the life lines what fate these people would face and what she could say to them. And since she was dependent on getting money, she couldn't always tell the truth, because then she wouldn't have gotten anything. So she didn't take the truth too seriously.
 If chance would have it that she was allowed to tell someone the truth because it was pleasing, then of course she did it and embellished it with lots of nice words in order to get as much money for herself as possible. But as I said, not everyone had drawn these life lines so beautifully that one could only think good things of them.
And so she often kept quiet about the truth and said something, got really dreamy and only told them nice things, even though she knew that it would never happen.
So, that was the way she got her money. But fortune-telling was actually second nature to her.
She sometimes said to her closest relatives and also to her children: "I tell people something. I understand something about the lines on the palm of the hand, but I just have a feeling and I hear it too; it feels like someone is standing behind me and telling me what I should say." And so she gave her ear to this voice that was inaudible to the others. So she knew herself that she was actually largely inspired. She actually knew the limits of the truth, but for the reasons mentioned above she only said what she thought would do others a favor. So she read people's palms wherever she could. This is how she earned her money. 

She also had to take care of the children, because her husband was mostly gone. Life there was very meager, and Resi was sometimes given very little for her beautiful prophecies; but she just had to be satisfied with that.Now I have to explain this. It is possible that a person has this ability. For him it is as much as a mediumistic disposition, and this mediumistic disposition can be expressed to a minimal extent, but it can also come together excellently in a person, so that he is able to recognize from these lines on the hand what a person is really like. You can also say that there are many lines in a person's hand and each one has its meaning, but I don't want to draw your attention to this or encourage you to read each other's palms - I don't want to do that. This is just a general instruction that I want to give you, that a person's life is really marked to a certain extent in their hand; and to recognize that, you need an ability. 

The more connected a person is with nature, the more likely it is that they will be able to develop their mediumistic ability even more. People in those days were not influenced by all the fuss like people today, who have neither time nor interest in such supernatural things, who are only interested in a comfortable life and making a lot of money. 

Those people had other worries. They were happy to perhaps have a piece of bread again or to be able to bake one. They were very modest and still so close to nature, and that was what enabled those mediumistic people to do their work. They then focused entirely on this mediumship. Under these circumstances, it is actually possible for mediumistic people to be clairaudient, as Resi said, that she had heard voices and they feel, they sense something; they are simply mediumistic people, receptive to this supernatural matter. In today's rush, many people lose their feeling for the supernatural; they no longer have time for contemplation, for rest. They rush, they have to earn money, they have to work hard so that they can afford this and that.
It was different back then. There was of course no question of travelling around like you are used to and take for granted. If you settled in a place that was only a few kilometres from a village or a town, you never returned. You stayed there and made no more visits, you no longer went home; you felt far away, in a foreign country. That's how it was back then. You had to walk, friends! So this is just so that you can feel back in the old days. Because people today are increasingly losing sight of this old time, and they no longer understand what we have to say to them. Their world has changed, and they can't imagine what it used to be like. And that is why it is necessary that it is explained again and again, so that you can understand that back then one could live and work in such a way as this Resi did in her poverty and with her media skills.

It should also not be forgotten that women in those days, in their poverty, were not so strict with their household chores. They finished quickly because there was not much to clean up. And they still had time to live in nature and to feel, hear and sense - you could still do that. Today this has become almost impossible. Think about your homes, how they look in contrast to those just fifty, seventy, eighty, a hundred years ago. Back then there was a table, a chair, maybe a piece of furniture, if things went well that was all. There wasn't much to tidy up. But even back then, pious people still had time to pray and to commit themselves to God. That committing oneself to God may have had its advantages, but also its disadvantages - that would be a chapter in itself that we could talk about. What could be told and explained to those people back then cannot be expected of people today. In a certain sense, technological advances may also have their advantages - just a side note.

But now back to our Resi. I would now like to tell you about her nature and explain that this nature did not change when she died. In this you will find confirmation of other teachings that you have received from us. Just as people lived on earth - their peculiarities, their entire mentality - this is also expressed in the world beyond. It is a false notion to think that after the earthly body has been laid aside, this mentality and this mentality simply disappear. This mentality  do not lie in the earthly body. This body is destined for transience, and it is impossible for this mentality, this mentality, to work and develop in the earthly organs. The core of this, the drive or the motor for it, lies in the soul, precisely in that which man cannot see. Everything is kept in the soul, the whole being and what the man has built up in his thinking during his human life, what has become solidified or, for that matter, cramped when he has followed one-sided paths. The one-sided, the inharmonious, whatever it may be, or the harmony: everything, simply the whole way of expressing oneself, is anchored in the soul. And the soul lives on after earthly death, and the soul is part of the whole spiritual being. 
The spiritual being appears like a human being. Just as the outside of a person is the spirit in its fine form, and within it is the soul as a thinking, ruling being, and this self is taken with one into the spiritual world when one dies. If it were not so, there would be no difficulties of any kind for a spirit being after death. But these spirit beings create difficulties for themselves through their wrong thinking. Just as humans create difficulties for themselves through their wrong way of life, through their wrong diet, through their wrong thinking - they do many things wrong - the same thing happens in the spiritual world. One should not assume that a spirit being who enters the world beyond would appear as a purified, elevated, purified being simply because of this stay in the new world. 
From this one should also recognize that everything that has been done wrong requires compensation and one must be purified. As you already know, this purification takes place in different ways, and some resist purification. So, from this you have to see: There is still something in such a spiritual being that has to be cleared up, and every being differs from the other in terms of its personality.
But now I'm getting too into philosophizing with you. I would rather return to Resi. You can learn from her experiences, because she also came over to the spiritual world with her nature. I would also like to add that she was a believer, as they called it at the time. But it was not actually a godly or honest belief. It was just something superficial, something that was 'had to'. That's how it was with this Resi. She didn't think about life after death, although she suspected that life goes on after death. But she had no idea about it. During her lifetime, in her fortune-telling, she had told people all kinds of things that she herself did not believe in as a human being.
When she opened her eyes in the afterlife, a spirit of God came to her, greeted her and said that she had now found entry into the divine world and that she still had a lot to make up for, that there was a lot of work waiting for her. The afterlife was of course foreign to her, and these words were foreign to her too, and she didn't know what to do with them. Because in the beginning, hardly anyone can find their way in this new world unless there is a real supportive hand, for example a relative who can quickly explain the way to the person who has returned home and tell them where they are.
 But when none of these relatives are there and you have to focus entirely on such a sublime spirit, you don't really get clear about whether you are actually dreaming or real? How is it that someone so sublime, survived,  is suddenly coming towards me?
 Who was I then that such an exalted being should deign to speak to me?" 
This is very often the thinking of the lower spirit brothers and sisters who ascend from below. It must be made clear to them that they are in the world of God, where there are helpful, good, higher spirits who show them the way. And that is what was done with this Resi too; they had to tell her, because she had not come with any special merits, except that she had had a number of children, which was considered her merit.
The angel of God then spoke to her: "You must now integrate yourself into the order, and life in your new world will take a different course; it is not the same life as you had on earth. It's different here." But Resi didn't really trust this matter, this greeting and meeting, and so she couldn't do anything other than what she had done in her human life. And what do you think she did? She asked this spirit being to show her his hand. Well, the angel of God refused and said: "I don't need that. It's a game you played with people. Sometimes you told them the truth, and sometimes you missed the truth." 
This spirit of God said it with understanding, but Resi could not understand why he refused her hand, and she answered him that even noble people had shaken hands with her. From this you can see that this being was not at all clear about where it was, that it had really died; it does not know it or does not want to admit it, because it can think, can feel, because it has hands, a body and is dressed as a human being. It does not yet perceive this transformation from the earthly material to the subtle spiritual, although the word subtle must be put in quotation marks in the case of such an ascending being. It is no longer this earthly, gross material matter, but the subtle substance in such a case is still very earthbound, dark and solid and not yet luminous. 
So such a being can only assume: "I have not died at all, I am alive." For the idea of ​​a life after death is still very much a part of the human beings, most of the time, completely different from how it actually is.
So this Resi did not want to accept that, and the spirit of God told her that he would just ask her once more whether she was willing to integrate herself into his order; she only had to say yes or no. Then she said no, nothing else was to be expected of her, and the angel of God left. Well, she was free. 
That is the freedom of the spirits that they have in the world beyond, that is, within a certain framework, just as your freedom is also within a framework. The spirit enjoys it within the same framework on its level of ascension.
Now the nobleman had gone, and Resi was left to herself. But it was not long before she met other beings, namely spirit beings who were equal to her in development, who now lived on this level and were partly included in the order. And so she went up to one or the other of these beings without further ado - she still felt like a human being, she wanted to earn money and asked for their hand, she just wanted to see the life lines. Some of them turned her away. Those who took their ascension and their lives a little more seriously would of course know that this is someone who has just come over and is still unclear. They themselves were astonished by such a request and did not say much, but simply waved their hands and walked away, as if to say: "I will not bother with you. You will change your mind." 
These are encounters with spirit brothers and sisters who are seriously striving for their progress. But very many are not so inclined, because in these lower stages of ascension the higher spirit world has a lot of trouble leading these brothers and sisters up a bit; because just as their thinking as a human being was - I must emphasize this again - just as their faith, their peculiarities or their bad habits, for example vices, were, so is their thinking and their peculiarities in the world beyond. These are not simply wiped away when they pass over, but they have become part of their soul, they are anchored in the soul. And to overcome that, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and patience on the part of the helpful spirit beings.
But now and then Resi was lucky and a spirit being gave her a hand when she asked. Then she spoke to the person in question: "I can tell you exactly what the future holds," and began to tell the story, because she also saw in the spiritual hand how the lines run. That may relate to the past, and a future, a near future, may already be marked out. For the past, she had the view and the understanding, but she could not see what was now drawn in her mind for the future. Because it was no longer the case that a spirit stood behind her and inspired her or that she could feel it. She was uncertain anyway. One time she asked herself: "Is it true, have I really died? Or am I still alive?" So she herself was in doubt and tried to pretend and say something. Oh, some people let it happen, listened, laughed and went away again, did not take her seriously. Now she actually saw that there was nothing to be earned because nobody gave her anything.
Then she was overcome by a great longing for the village in which she had lived. She suddenly found: "The people here are simply different, the world here is so foreign to me; nobody is affectionate, nobody is really friendly, nobody is helpful." No, she felt repelled by this new world and she withdrew from it. 
Because her thoughts were still firmly tied to the earthly; her whole mind, her whole soul was still flooded with the same odic currents that the earth and the whole environment gave off. Just as these odic currents and forces had formed in her mind and shaped her whole being, so she continued to feel, and accordingly, when she wanted to return to her former place on earth, she was drawn to her past world like a magnet.
Now, of course, she also experienced surprises in the earthly world. Now it became clear to her that she had died; because she went into her former house, and many things had changed: other people were there, and she heard them talking about Resi's death and so on. So, it became clear to her: she was actually no longer entitled to be on earth. But she still wanted to be useful here. To her great surprise, there were no obstacles for her. She was curious by nature anyway, and now she had the opportunity to penetrate everywhere. And so she first went to an inn where men were sitting at wooden tables drinking.
She sat down with them and drank with them in her mind. And then she patted some of the people she still knew on the shoulder and took their hands to look over - she knew: now she was no longer human, and this person here did not feel her at all, had no idea that Resi was sitting next to him and tracing the lines of his hand. And so, as a spirit, she could then see when he too would cross over. She could see that, and not just from the line of his hand, but it was quite clear in his book of life - so she could see that. 
She also tried to start conversations with the spirits of these people who were sitting there, but it never became a real conversation, because everyone was talking to each other. She spoke to the spirit, and the person spoke, and she couldn't understand anything.
 It's just like when you're with several people and one person speaks and the other interrupts him, and the conversation goes back and forth at the table, and in the end you can't understand anything. 
It was the same with her: there was too much talking and she couldn't understand anything; and when she had taken her drink, she left. She was interested in this new world, seen from her current perspective.
So she went to the parsonage. As a person, she had often spoken to the priest, that is, the priest had sometimes reprimanded and admonished her. Because there had already been various things for which she had been to blame, and the priest had done that. She didn't take it badly. People like her weren't sensitive anyway. So she went to the priest in the parsonage, looked around, and sat down for a while. But then she saw that the priest was always praying, and she didn't like that.
 Now she went to church, because she was very interested in who went to church. Then she noticed that beings of her kind also returned to earth and perhaps sought help in the church. So she went there, not to get help, but rather out of curiosity. Then she saw the sexton, whom she knew from her lifetime and who was doing his work there. She followed him for a while. She didn't really trust him.
 This sexton had a purse, and she had the feeling that this sexton was not entirely honest, so she never let him out of her sight, from morning to evening. So she always stayed close to him to find out, and it was true: this sexton was not honest, he took something now and then when the opportunity arose. Resi now thought: "Yes, not everything is necessarily so honest there, and that too in a church!" she herself had sometimes had to help out a little to get money, but not in a Prayer house!
She then went to the pastor, spoke to him and told him that the sexton was not honest. But the pastor heard nothing. He was also somewhat old, and so Resi thought: "Perhaps I will meet you when you are dead too, and I will tell you and bring it to light." These were her thoughts. They were completely unnecessary, because the wrong that the other person had done was obvious after his earthly death. No one needed to say that, the spirits of God had seen it long ago. And this pastor would then also be told what had been taken away. So there would be no need to talk about it.
Now Resi went away again, because she did not like it here in the church either; she had now seen it and actually wanted to talk now. Now she found her way to a, what do you call it? gambling house, where people played for money, secretly of course. She actually liked it here: there was a lot of drinking and she had the opportunity to talk to these men and even take possession of them. She could laugh, she had the feeling that she could use the mouths and organs of these men to laugh and to talk.
She had entered into these men, now into this one and now into that one, and of course she could see more than these men could with their earthly eyes. She could also read their thoughts and things were not always honest there, but everything was clear to her and so she could also see when someone was planning to cheat. And so she had the opportunity to intervene and she did so, but in favor of a player she liked who would then win. So she played her game and she liked it very much. And so she found herself there regularly, for a long time.
In between she made further visits here and there. She went in and out of private houses and lay down to rest, just where she thought it was most comfortable. And so she did not ask for a higher order. She simply liked life as it was. She was free, thought nothing more and believed that it would continue like this. In this life she found her heavenly bliss, because her thoughts were as follows: "If there were a high heaven, then it would have to take me in. But there isn't any, this high heaven. This is my bliss, the one I live in now, and I like it." That was her modest thought. She just wanted to be able to live without worries and have a good life; her demands were quickly satisfied, she did not make great demands. And it was a small thing for her to get away a hundred kilometers in a very short time and settle down in a nice house. If there wasn't a guard there who grabbed her hard and sent her out again straight away, she could settle down here or there for a while.
Just a hint: Human homes can be protected and guarded by the spirit world of God; but homes can also be of no interest to it. She is indifferent to them when the people who live there are indifferent [to the divine world]. 
Then spirits of a lower kind come and go and use these earthly dwellings as their homes and as a piece of heaven. But all of this is only for a short time, temporary.
Well, this Resi felt happy in this life. Now and then she had met acquaintances who had also died and who had made her aware that she should strive for a higher, better life. But she did not want to know anything about it. She just laughed because she was content. She did not want anything more. She said: "I have heaven. What more do you want? What is there that is more beautiful than what I have? I feel neither hunger nor thirst. I do not need clothes. What I have is enough for me." She was modest - she had never been used to anything else - and her greatest pleasure was to ask a passing spirit brother for his hand and to say something about his future. Over time she was content with that, even without payment; she had long since noticed that this no longer existed.
But now, over time, the higher spiritual world has taken care of this Resi. She had been given freedom for long enough, so she could do what she wanted. And when she was once again with these gambling men and was playing with them as before, a noble higher spiritual being suddenly came, took her by the hand and led her away from this environment. This Resi naturally resisted and said: "You have no right to do this! Who are you then? I am free and I can do what I want!" 
"Oh no," was the energetic response, "now what you have done is enough! Now you must start a different life! Because you yourself cannot come to the conclusion that you can do other things, how you  should live. Why do you think the heavenly world is so small? You are a lowly spirit who is on the rise, with whom we have a lot of patience and understanding. But when the time comes, we must get him, and now it is time for you."
Actually, she did not have much to object to. Because if she really thought about the whole matter, then it might well be true that there was certainly a better and higher world than the one she was actually still experiencing. 
And then the angel of God said: "As a human being, you went to church and prayed. You also knew about Christ. You celebrated Christmas and the other Christian holidays with your children. Well, what do you think, after death everything is gone, there is nothing true about it? Don't you think that we have reason to celebrate here too? Have you forgotten the Christmas celebration, have you forgotten Easter?" 
"Oh yes," she had to admit, "but I thought that was now superfluous." 
"Oh no," replied the angel, "these are times of remembering the life of the Savior. You must now allow yourself to be taught."
And so she finally allowed herself to be led back into the spiritual world. This spirit of God had to take her to a house where there were many other spirit brothers and sisters like her, and they had to learn, learn, nothing but learn. Resi could not write, could not read, could not do arithmetic, but that is not the main thing. She was now to learn the basic rules of the Christian faith. She was also to be taught the meaning and purpose of human life, including her own life, what meaning the life she had lived had and what she had done for her progress. Such a being must be taught according to its spiritual abilities.
I must make another comment here. One should not simply believe that all wisdom will be revealed to every soul when it has laid aside its earthly body and is in the other world. If you were stupid or uneducated as a human being, then you will still be stupid or uneducated when you enter the spiritual world; if you were clever, this skill will also be there. 
I would like to make one restriction: special abilities can be temporarily taken away from a spirit being, temporarily so that it does not hinder its ascent - one knows how to intervene in one case or another. It can also be possible for a sibling who has already ascended spiritually to be denied a special, pronounced intelligence - but this is also done so that its ascension is not hindered. Because one knows the nature of such an ascending spirit sibling, sister or brother, one can look back into previous lives and therefore know how to integrate such an ascending being. In this way, something of one person's special intelligence can be temporarily taken away from him in a human life. This is part of the special intervention. I would like to emphasize this expressly so that one does not say that one time it was said this way and another time that way. So that is this intervention. 
But usually it is as I mentioned: if a person tries to educate himself, to refine his nature, to ennoble his thoughts and will, then this is a precious property of the soul. These are treasures that do not dissolve, that cannot perish; so the person benefits from them after his earthly death. But if, as I already mentioned at the beginning, his nature, his thinking, is primitive, of a low nature, hateful, mean and so on, then that is also his nature, which cannot do otherwise. It is precisely the personality that develops.
And now back to our Resi. So she had to go to school and in this way be taught in the most modest way possible. She made the effort for this. And of course she was also required to join the spiritual brothers and sisters of her level in order to go with them to worship and to venerate, to honor God, as is natural in the world of God. Led by one or more higher spirit brothers and sisters, these ascenders are either led into a hall that is specially decorated, even if it is on a lower level, or they may gather somewhere in an open space to give glory to God. 
So they do not neglect to pray, even if this is not always specifically emphasized in our reports. For all these brothers and sisters are made aware of who their real father is, who the creator of all life is, and that he must be revered and prayed to; they must greet him through prayer, ask him for forgiveness in prayer, implore him for help,  because the Creator is the giver. He also gives the lower, ascending spirit brothers and sisters the opportunity to return home and the support that they can ascend to the heights again. God is the giver, the good one, the loving one. You can turn to him in your worries; you can do so in your thoughts, in conversations with the angels, who pass on these needs, these requests of the petitioners, in order to give them the help they deserve.
This is how our Resi learned. She learned something about God's plan of salvation, she learned to pray, and she also had to learn to read and write.
This may seem a little strange to many of you, or especially to those who do not know the spiritual language, but it is true: what the spirit does not possess, it does not have, as I have emphasized.
Now Resi had slowly moved from one class to another at school until she had reached the stage of development where something else could be expected of her. She had now made an effort. She had not returned to the earthly world. She allowed herself to be completely influenced and taught by the higher world, because she was not evil in her nature - I have already indicated this to you. She was not sensitive; those people back then were not at all like that, their nature was different in this respect. People also had understanding for other people's clumsiness, and they simply lived differently than they do today.
Well, because of her good will and because she was not evil - she was actually rather clever, she had been pushed to do what she did by the hardship in her family, which was taken into account by the divine world because she was not bad or malicious in her nature - she had paved the way for her own ascension and could now be taught and guided further by the higher world. It was made clear to her what the law is in the divine world and what needs to be learned.
Now it was made clear to her that she had another job to do on the side, and that she could also contribute something to alleviating the hardship of her spiritual brothers and sisters who were even lower down. It was explained to her that they liked to go down into the depths with spirit brothers and sisters of her kind to the unfortunate, to those who were evil in their nature, who had even killed people, slandered people, simply done people injustice and who were now banished. These people were also allowed to receive some comfort and support from other, somewhat higher-ranking spirit brothers and sisters, and she was now to give her support to such beings. So she had been taught at school and now she was to show what she had learned.
A higher spirit accompanied her; but he remained invisible to those beings in the depths, so this sister was allowed to step forward. She was now to start a conversation with these spiritually suffering brothers and sisters and bring them comfort. 
This Resi was actually very suitable for this. She told them a lot about the life she had lived, about her hardship and her fortune-telling. She also did not hide from them how she herself had not been able to fit into God's order for quite a long time, but that she had never been banished. And she told them that they should finally look within themselves and become repentant, that they should change their way of thinking and start to be interested in the future, in the higher life.
In this way she was able to give some of them comfort. And in doing so she had resorted to a means that was simply tailored to them, and that was palmistry. This was simple in her nature, she had not forgotten it, and so she even asked these unfortunate people: "Give me your hand, I can tell you approximately when you will be freed. I can tell you how long you still have to wait and how you will fare afterwards." She did not necessarily have to take their hand, because the angel of God had already told her how long this or that person would have to remain in exile. He had taught her how to give these suffering souls some hope, some comfort and confidence. In this way Resi was also able to tell them that it would not be long before they were freed, or that they would have to hold out for this time. And so she simply used her hand as a tool and explained: "I can see it clearly, because the lines are still exactly the same as in your human life. I see that liberation is not far away; now you just have to hold out until this liberation comes. I see it coming very soon." And when Resi then told about her life, how she had read the palms of so many people and guessed many things, they believed her when she said: "I can see the light coming soon." These beings are still at a low level and still think humanly; they are not yet able to go to any higher thinking. And how happy they are when it actually happens, when Resi comes and says: "Now you're being taken away. I was right." But this palm reading was just a tool that she used, which came naturally to her. Like someone who is musical and can sing, she could work in this way.
So she had conquered her ascent. Through her willingness to help, through a certain kindness, she was able to do her part to comfort these unfortunate people. And that is something additional that ascending spirit brothers and sisters can do for those who are lower down. And so she tried hard. They taught her, they explained to her: "You see, your past earthly life is not the last one you lived." They taught her to understand that reincarnation does happen, and that one is reincarnated several times and thus ascends step by step. And when she had come to this realization and this knowledge had settled in her, she made up her mind: "I want to have a better life in my future. I want to learn and I want to be able to earn my bread in a different way." And the angels of God support her. For when such spiritual brothers and sisters make an effort to be taught - and this applies not only to this Resi, but in general - then they are taught and thereby promote their own advancement. And so Resi is still on her way. She is helpful and good. So I only need to call her and say: "Come and offer your help here and there," and she does it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I tried to give you insight into the laws of God. In this way you can enrich your knowledge and can see what life is like in the spiritual world - that the spirits of God descend deep down and are ready to take everyone by the hand and give everyone the opportunity to move forward. Such returnees are allowed to remain free for a certain time, but this freedom must also be led into a higher order.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, the time is up and I leave God's blessing to you all. May He protect and watch over you on all your paths. May you who are sick recover in body and soul. God bless you.
Report of the experience of spirit teacher Joseph through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording.
Next case. 

October 7, 1970.
Elisabeth and Jakob's close bond through the bond of spiritual kinship.
Common happiness and fulfillment in their work as servants of God's angels.

Joseph: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, I have the task of telling you about two spirit brothers and sisters. They asked me to do so, and so they let me look into their book of life; for the life of man is recorded [in the soul] like in a picture book. You have the opportunity to pick it up at any time, leaf through it and look back, as I was able to do with these two spirit brothers and sisters. So they asked me to take it on for them, and they have now opened their book of life to me. I leafed through it, and now I want to tell you about them, something about their past earthly life and their entry into the spiritual world. I would like to assume that these explanations will also help you a little with your spiritual insights.

They were a mother and son who were allowed to live together. The son was called Jacob, the mother Elisabeth. Jacob's father died early, and the two had to provide for their own living. Jacob had to start working early in order to earn money - the life of the two of them dates back about a hundred years. Jacob had started working in the forest; he was a forest worker and also worked for a forester for a time. He worked in the forest in all seasons. When he came home tired in the evening, his mother had already prepared a meal for him and they sat together for a while and talked. But Jacob always wanted to go to bed early because he had to get up very early.

For many years, Jacob was allowed to be with his mother because his good mother was very old. In the last years of her life, she could no longer contribute to her livelihood and so everything was in Jacob's hands. But the two had a close bond. They got on very well and lived a truly harmonious life together. One worked and lived for the other and felt and suffered with the other. So they got on very well with each other in their hearts and souls and also felt a close spiritual bond. The elderly mother always made sure that Jacob took his food with him into the forest because he went early in the morning and then came back home late in the evening. So he actually had, most of the time  had a backpack or a bag slung over his shoulder, and in it he had the necessary provisions and sometimes also some bandages or something similar. In case of an accident he had the most necessary things in his bag or backpack.
Well, I don't really want to say anything more about that and will just tell you about his mother's passing. She was led into the spiritual world by the angels. She was - I would like to emphasize this again - a kind woman who always helped her fellow human beings in need as best she could and who gave her fellow human beings a lot of understanding and love. So the mother and her son were respected people in the village in which they lived. Even though they were very modest people and did not have an abundance of earthly goods, they had earned the respect of their fellow human beings through their noble lives.
The mother was now led home by the angels and they said to her: "You can now take up a beautiful position in the divine world." But the angels did not really trust that Elisabeth would accept this wonderful position, and so it was. The mother asked to return to her room to wait for her son when he came home from work. And so, even as a spirit, she had the desire to prepare and have his meals ready. So she did it for a while and always waited for her son. And when he came back in the evening, she sat very close to him and began to talk to him.
But this son was plagued by longing for his mother; he really longed for her. He was also a pious, helpful and kind person. Of course he could not see or hear his mother, and yet he felt as if she was near him, and so he spoke to himself in his mind. Without actually seeing his mother, he told her everything that had happened during the day, what he had experienced in the forest with people and animals; he told all of this as he had been used to doing when she was alive. So he acted as if she were there and listening to him. But he did not see her and had no idea that she was now actually next to him and really listening to him. She was very pleased that her son was telling her everything, but she was a little depressed because he could not see her. She also spoke to him, she also made her comments, but he could not perceive them. And so it went on for a long time.
But when Jacob lay down to rest and his spirit separated from his body, then his mother was also next to his spirit and they could talk to each other. The mother gave her son advice on how he should do things without her in the future, and Jacob answered. They discussed the things that they believed were necessary to discuss. Because this mother soul - and this must be said - still felt so earthbound and was not able to elevate her son's spirit; instead they remained on this level of the earth and discussed human things with each other. But it was not to continue like this forever, it was only temporary, as long as this mother was still tied to her son and to the place of residence.
The angel world observed everything and regretted that this mother soul could not immediately decide to start her new path. And when these two were together again and Jacob was talking to himself about everything that had happened during the day and believed that his mother was listening to him - he believed it in his mind, but actually didn't think at all about whether it was actually so, but was simply compelled from within to talk to himself like this, because he felt liberated by it, just talking out loud to his mother - when he was once again talking to his mother in his mind, an angel came along. But the angel could only be seen by the mother, because she was a spirit, while the son was embodied. The angel then asked the mother to leave her son and to make preparations for him in the spiritual world, because he too would enter the spiritual world one day, and he would certainly be very happy if his mother had also made provisions for him in the world beyond. This made an impression on the mother, who was so closely connected to her son. She saw that it was actually pointless to sit there and listen to him. She then decided to go away with this angel, but asked that the angel world keep a watchful eye on Jacob and that it would look after and protect him.
 This was promised, and she was also told that she could also check on him from time to time. She was also told how long her son would have to live in this world; he would not live as long as she did, he could enter the spiritual world sooner. And so it was time she should make the preparations for him. Then she decided to do so and escaped with this angel from the earth into the higher spiritual planes.
It is a heaven that this mother was allowed to enter. The angelic world praised her for the goodness and love that she was able to express during her lifetime, and she also praised the noble life of her son. But she was also told that she had to undergo purification for a temporary period in order to completely abandon human thinking; after that a wonderful task would await her.
At first she could only marvel at the glory of this new world. Everything was new to her; as a human being she had not been taught about the reality of this other world. Now they did it, and it soon seemed to this mother soul as if everything was actually familiar to her. It did not seem so strange to her. 
As a human being she had believed or suspected that the heavenly world must be a world of glory. For during her lifetime she was pious; but she had her own idea of ​​heaven. She had not suspected that she would continue to live as a spiritual being as she did now; but she had assumed that heaven must appear in splendor.
Well, there was a reason why these feelings were expressed in this way. She was an elevated being in spirit and had been led to these heights in spirit even when she was sleeping or when her body was resting and had already had some experiences there, but these could not penetrate into her consciousness.
The angelic world now explained to her that some things still had to be cleared up and that the best thing to do would be if she went to a quiet place during the time that had been set aside for her; that is, she could go to a house and hear beautiful heavenly music there. And while she heard this music, she should try to completely detach herself from earthly things in her thoughts and only realize the spiritual. She should absorb this spiritual music and experience it. All the beauty that she heard through this music and that refreshed her soul was supposed to give her a spiritually elevated mood and peace.
And so it happened. By allowing this music to work its full effect on her, she felt elevated as a spiritual being, and it seemed to her as if this sublime music could make her forget all memories of the human life she had lived.
 It seemed to her as if this music was leading her into a familiar, familiar world where she was now supposed to fulfil her tasks. This wonderful music, which served to make her forget thoughts of her lived life and to resonate with the high and noble, really did that. 
During this time of purification she felt like a new or different being. One cannot speak of a birth, because she had already experienced this spiritual birth when she laid aside her earthly body, but she felt strengthened and elevated because she had been in this purification for a time predetermined for her. And this purification was not a distress for her soul, that is, for her thinking, but rather this purification meant elevation, strengthening, power, joy, confidence, hope for her. This wonderful time of purification under this sublime music gave her all of this.
The angel then fetched her again and noted the change with joy. Now she was to start her new task. The angel revealed to her: "You shall become a servant of the angels of God." She was happy about this, but actually took it for granted, because the lower spiritual world was foreign to her, purification in distress was foreign to her, spiritual suffering and pain were foreign to her. 
So she considered her task of being a servant of the angels to be a matter of course. The angel said to her: "You will preside over this house," and he named the house in which she was to preside as the servant of those angels. Her task was to see that everything was in order in that whole house. Furthermore, she was to take care of the garden and the forest that bordered the house. There, too, she had to ensure that everything was in order.
She was introduced to her work by another servant, who was then allowed to move up after the mother soul had taken up her new work. She was informed about her occupations and work, about everything that had to be done in the house and where everything had to be in order. She was informed th task at she had to take care of sending out invitations to other angels and that she should also ensure that the table was always well-stocked. She also had to take care of the flower decorations inside and outside the house. She was also to ensure that the flower beds in the garden were constantly being changed and she also had to work in the forest. To cope with all of this, however, she had a number of servants at her disposal who would carry out the respective tasks.
This mother soul was delighted by this, and so her son Jacob was actually forgotten more and more, because this task and life in this world made her happy. It was a wonderful world, and she thought it was wonderful to be a servant of God's angels. Because she was also allowed to accompany these angels to festivals herself, and she was always allowed to be there as a servant when they invited her. So she had a beautiful and varied job to do, and she found herself content and happy.
Then the hour came when she was told that her son Jacob would now also pass over into the spiritual world, and she was asked to fetch this spirit. And so she stood there at her son's deathbed and was now able to receive the spirit. When Jacob had laid aside his earthly body, he was delighted and pleased to see his mother so beautifully dressed. The mother was able to receive her son. What joy there was for both of them! Jacob was happy and proud that his mother was so beautiful, and his mother was happy that she could take Jacob to her heaven. She didn't yet know any other connections. She was very happy with the task she was carrying out and now hoped to be able to share this activity with Jacob.
Just as she had, Jacob also had to undergo purification; for he too had to forget earthly memories and overcome human thinking. He therefore had to adapt to this higher atmosphere. He too was led to this place, where this sublime, wonderful music was supposed to do its part to lift this newly arrived spirit into this sphere, to make him happy, to erase his memories of human life as best as possible. And so Jacob also stayed there in a room and heard this beautiful music, which made him happy.
The mother had been able to say to him beforehand: "I was there too." In just a few words she could tell him how wonderful heaven was, how wonderful it was to be near God, and that one could be happy even as a servant of the angelic beings and could always go to the most beautiful festivals and be present at the most lofty invitations; one could experience the highest spirits and princes of heaven, and talk to them. Even if one was only a servant of the angelic world, one was valued, respected and loved by the high spirits. She could only quickly communicate this to her son.
It was much less difficult for him to adapt to the new circumstances and this new world; for nothing bound him to the earthly realm; it had been different with his mother. And since he
could break away much more quickly, this was a certain advantage for him. He had no desire to think back to earthly life, to reflect on those memories, but he had only one desire: to be happy and content in this heaven, in this heavenly world. But in one respect he did have some inhibitions. His mother had quickly adapted to this new world, while he, who had raised his mind and only longed to live in such a glorious world, asked himself: "Do I really deserve this? Am I not too humble and simple a spirit? Am I not too ignorant to live in this sublime world?"

So he thought about it, but these thoughts only came when he was taken out of purification. This purification was - it must be noted in passing - not a purification of distress, as is the case in the lower planes; rather, this purification under this sublime music serves the spirit to adapt to this new world in order to be able to better overcome memories of earthly life, as already mentioned. Jacob succeeded in this; but he could not overcome his excessive modesty. He felt too low, he felt too ignorant to serve in this glorious world. And when the angelic world wanted to take him to his mother, he asked that they not take him into such a high world, because he felt too ignorant and was worried that he would not be able to fulfil his tasks. The angel had to explain this to him and say: "If you feel so ignorant, then we will have you taught first. You should go to a school where you can absorb the most necessary knowledge; and later, over time, you will be taught more and more about everything worth knowing, about everything that will be necessary for you." He agreed to this.
So he attended spiritual schools that could give him a little more knowledge, and this knowledge also gave him greater security. The fact that he initially had such inhibitions was due to his earthly life; for it was still in his soul, it was still in his memory, that he had not received any significant, great education as a human being. He had only attended modest classes, and so he had not felt very clever in his human life and had a certain shyness towards people. These feelings remained in his soul, and so he believed that he was ignorant in the spiritual world too and that this could be a hindrance to him.
In the spiritual schools he learned quickly and easily, for he too suddenly felt as if everything was so familiar and known to him. He was not only taught about the necessary order of the spiritual world, about those laws and tasks, about the plan of salvation and redemption, but there was also much more that one had to be taught about as an elevated spirit.
When this time was over and he had now been able to absorb a good amount of knowledge, he felt much more secure, and so he could now fulfil the tasks together with his mother. He too was to be a servant of God; He was also given the task of keeping the house in order and of seeing to it that the spiritual possessions of these angels were in order. 
They now did this together. But now they were entrusted with further work. Elizabeth and Jacob now had several houses in which exalted angels of God lived, and here they now had to see to it that everything was in order. There was truly a lot to do. 
There were always invitations; they always had guests, and they were also invited back. They had to bring invitations here and there, they had orders to give - the two of them certainly did not lack work. They were very satisfied with the work they were allowed to do, and their mutual bond actually became ever closer.
In their lifetime they had been mother and son, but they were also related in spirit. However, the two of them had no knowledge of this; they only felt this special connection. And so they allowed a high angel to instruct them in their own matter. As servants of these high angels, they had more opportunity and possibilities than other working spirit brothers and sisters to talk to them, and they could also learn more about their own spiritual life. One's position therefore gave one a certain advantage, and such a spirit of God endeavored to explain their true connections to the two. It was now indicated to them that they were also mother and son in spirit, that they belonged to the same spiritual family. 
The angel of God also explained to them that they could now carry out their tasks together for a period of time determined by the spirit world of God; when this specific period was over, they had to separate and each would take up their own, independent work. It was also indicated to them that a new earthly life awaited them, although they had reached such a spiritual height through their meritorious, patient life. In their new earthly existence they were to provide confirmation that they were capable of later carrying out even higher, further tasks than just being servants of the angels; but that was still a certain distance away.
Now that these two felt this connection and knew that they belonged to the same spiritual family and were bound together by the bond of togetherness, they wanted this connection, this spiritual togetherness with all the associated sublime feelings of helpfulness, courtesy and mutual attention, that everything that happened with them should make an impression on the other spirit brothers and sisters and be an example. For there were also other spirit beings active who could not be specifically described as spiritual servants, but who had to perform a lower work; for even in the elevated heavens there are various activities that must be carried out. These activities are assigned to the spirit beings according to their spiritual merits. There are also spirit beings active in these heights who are not perfect and who still have to learn. Although they have entered a higher plane, one may lack understanding, another lacks kindness, another lacks compassion, another is not generous enough. 
So vices are still there, and so these beings should be able to learn from their superiors in order to overcome the inferior. These superiors should be shining examples for them, for their further ascent. Elisabeth and Jakob were such shining examples for the other active spirit brothers and sisters, who also had to fulfil their tasks in the houses of the angelic beings.
In general, you were told that the spirits are  of ascension, and that they stand and live in lower or higher levels depending on their spiritual achievements and wait for their further elevation. Anyone who has reached this spiritual greatness in human life, but is still afflicted with certain vices, can indeed take on such an elevated level, but he still has to overcome the necessary things there. And that is what happens with these working spirit brothers and sisters.

Now the time came when Elisabeth and Jakob were separated again in the spiritual world. For each of them was now to take on his own task independently. The new earthly life awaited them, and they were now to be prepared for this. The higher a spirit can ascend in the spiritual world and the more he settles into this elevated spiritual world and allows that atmosphere of spiritual sublimity to work on him, the more difficult it can be for him when he has to enter an earthly life again and assume humanity. There is a great difference between life and work in an elevated spiritual state and life in this earthly world.

The earthly world has a completely different influence on people; it surrounds them with its laws and with everything that is usual in this world, and it influences them. And when an elevated, exalted spirit takes on this incarnation, sometimes a soul does not really find its way in its earthly body. It may be that this person, through his - one cannot say "fall", through his incarnation, cultivates a dreamy existence; he is not yet fully connected with this world, which is so very different from the spiritual world from which he comes. So it very often happens that such spiritual beings who have to take on human existence simply cannot find their way in their lives. 
They may have great artistic gifts, they may be intelligent, but otherwise they cannot find their way in the world. This is because the spirit simply cannot familiarize itself with this new atmosphere, that it finds it difficult to accept and understand this new world, just as it is the other way round: that a spirit that is so connected to the earthly world, that has a materialistic way of thinking and only lives for the transience of the world, when it comes over to the spiritual world, cannot find its way in this new world either. It does not feel comfortable here and it wants to go back to its old home; it wants to do and live again as it lived as a human being. It cannot accept the new.
The same can happen to a sublime spirit that has to start a new human life. It simply cannot find its way here for its entire life. But it must be said that these are people who have a spiritual greatness, who do no harm to anyone, who are not materialistic, who are prepared to give everything to others and to face nothing. They have no greed or desire for possessions, they are always ready to give everything at any time. Such people are very often embodied spirits who once occupied a sublime position in the spiritual world and can no longer find their way in the earthly world. 
This is just an explanation. And basically it should actually come to this: If man is to become spiritual, then he must be able to detach himself more and more from this earthly possession, as was explained to you recently [at the meditation week 1970]. He must be less and less interested in it, he must attach less and less importance to earthly things. He must be able to detach himself from earthly things and should not have any desire or addiction to possessions; he should not give away any of his possessions and not begrudge others anything. All of this is not spiritual and is not a sign of spiritual sublimity.

What I have now told you about these two should give you something to think about. This should enable you to judge your fellow human beings better and to judge less those who are not attached to earthly goods and cannot cope with them and who, if they have something, often simply give it back. What a sublimity of a person when he gives what he owns to another! This is a spiritual virtue: it is better to give up possessions yourself and give to those who have nothing. Because you should think about what the world beyond will look like, which you conquer through such a human life. You will be raised to heights in the spiritual world if you showed modesty in your earthly life, if you did not harm or deceive people in any way. These are things that count for a lot in the spirit.
It all depends on how you live and lived in this world. Anyone who raises himself to a high level in his life - whether apparently spiritually or in materialism - will certainly be brought down and degraded in the spiritual world. He will no longer possess what he once possessed, and it will be difficult for him to erase the memory of his former possessions from his mind, to lose the memory of them. 
Then he will suffer the same fate as many others: he will want to return to earth and live there and possess what he possessed in his human life. Anyone who can detach himself from all things as a human being and at the same time lives spiritually will one day be carried to the heights by the spiritual world. But it is not enough to simply say: "I can detach myself from all these things, they mean nothing to me," while on the other hand you want to possess them and do not detach yourself from them. Empty words alone do not help. It is like a prayer that you say without connecting it with actions. Everything has to be coordinated if it is to be noticed in the spiritual world.
And so I was able to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, about these two people. When I said that they lived about a hundred years ago, you can perhaps imagine how modest the world was then, how little could be offered to people. But even in such a time, one had to have a good heart and understanding of the environment. Those two proved that they had it.
When they entered the spiritual world, they reached these heights, these magnificent heavens, and became servants of heavenly beings. But even though they have become so refined and elevated in spirit, they cannot avoid assuming human incarnation again in order to prove their virtues again in a world that has become so different, that offers many more opportunities for error and greater temptations than before.
Elevated spiritual beings must also be born into such a world in order to prove themselves again. The divine world hopes that those spirit brothers and sisters who were so permeated by everything divine in the world beyond will not succumb too much to materialism when they have to accept the incarnation again; that as human beings they will be able to distance themselves somewhat from this materialistic way of thinking and from everything that today's modern world has to offer a human being.

Perhaps you can imagine in your mind how difficult it must be for a sublime spirit when it has to accept the incarnation again. It does not know how great the temptations will be and whether it will pass its tests. If it does not pass them, people will be sad about it when it returns. It will be sad itself and cry that it has not achieved what it had in mind because it has not passed the test. And so the spirit world of God knows where you, dear friends, stand in your world and what temptations it brings you; but the world of God also knows what teachings are being offered to you on the other hand, that you are being told how important it is not to become slaves to materialism.

Now, dear brothers and sisters, I will withdraw and would like to emphasize that these two spirit beings, Jacob and Elizabeth, are at my side and listened to what I said to you. They would like me to send you greetings and tell you that you should not forget the spiritual world. That you should never forget these many stories and teachings that are always being given to you, this look into the other world as it is, what it demands of you and what awaits you; that you should spread your hands out to the higher and nobler. For then your soul will be happy and look forward to returning home. May God's blessing accompany you all. God's greetings.

Experience report by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording

Next case. 


November 4, 1970
Heavenly training for beings with the simplest of minds and humble dispositions.
Insights into the life of a family on earth who lived without schooling and in poor conditions.

Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend, and I will speak to you this evening; for it is not possible to let all the ascending spirit beings that we select for these experience reports speak for themselves. I have the opportunity to leaf through the life book of these returned people, to get my bearings. I look back at their lives and how they fared when they passed over into the spiritual world. 
And so I would like to tell you in this hour about a couple of parents and their son. I will try to explain it to you as I did in those days, as was able to experience the retrospective. I also want to reproduce certain conversations that took place in your language.
So a couple with a large number of children lived in great poverty, and these parents had difficulty supporting their children; but it always worked, they got the bare necessities to eat, they simply created the opportunity to do so. Nor were they too strict about domestic order. Nevertheless, they still had time to sit on the bench in front of the house for hours. When these two parents became old and their children had grown up, the children had to support their parents. They all lived together in a modest house, and the old parents sat on this bench in front of the house whenever possible. They talked to the neighbors and also had to look after the small children. And so the time came for these two when they had to say goodbye to the world.

I would not like to omit to say that they both believed that they had lived piously - piously in quotation marks. They went to church and they prayed; they prayed exactly as they were told. They worshipped the saints, exactly as they had been taught. They had no particular idea about life after death, but they expected that after death one would go to heaven. They both had great reverence for the Madonna and also for Christ, but the Madonna came first.
First the old mother died. She was carried into her new world by the spirit world of God. Everything was prepared for her. She was allowed to live in a house with a small garden. There were no other buildings in the immediate vicinity, but there were large fields. The mother now took her place in this house. 
Then spirits of God came to her and informed her that it would not be long before her husband came to her too. Until her former life partner returned home, spirits of God came to her and told her about her relatives who also lived in the spirit world, but who were actually far away from her. Some were more deeply (low-) developed in their spiritual development and were unable to visit their relatives who had returned home; others were, in part, very advanced and had ascended, and would visit them when the opportunity arose.
Well, this mother soul had the desire to pray to the Madonna. She also asked when the Madonna would take her home. By this home she naturally meant entering the splendor and glory of heaven. She was told that she was now in a pre-heaven and would first stay here for a while. Then she would be able to experience the heavenly glory, but it would still be a while before that. First she had to get together with her husband and they would live together for a while. When they had both reached a point where their souls and thoughts had been somewhat elevated, they would be allowed to leave this place.

Well, this mother soul, her name was Maria, was very happy; the house was very tidy, everything was clean. She had never known such cleanliness in her human life. What particularly surprised her was that there was also a bench in front of the house. And so she sat there exactly as she had sat on her earthly bench in front of the house when she was alive. In general, she had the impression that everything was so similar to what was on earth. She had a garden, and in this garden there were only a few bushes. There were no flowers, but there were vines. And so she was happy and content about that, because she had the feeling that she would never have to be hungry or thirsty, because to her admiration there were the most beautiful grapes.

She had been told that it would not be long before her husband, his name was Alberto, would also come, and then they could be together for a while to adjust to the new world and settle in. She was of course very happy that she had been told this, because she had already been worried that Alberto would not be able to find his way without her and that she would have to look after things. 
And so it happened: Alberto was brought to her and she received him with great enthusiasm. He seemed a little tired and sleepy. The house was very simple with everything in it, but it had three beds. So Alberto could lie down and rest. She did not leave his side. The beings who brought him said to her: "You can stay next to Alberto until he opens his eyes. But you can continue to do as you please. You can sit on the bench and watch everything that is happening and then check on Alberto again from time to time."
 So she did. First she knelt down in front of his bed and thought that this sleep would  only last a short time, and so she did not want to miss the moment when he would open his eyes. But it took too long for her, so she sat down on the bench in front of her house again.
She saw that various beings were walking past, always nodding and smiling at her in a friendly way. They were also dressed very elegantly and had a very special, friendly, loving smile for her. Maria had gotten used to it, because they regularly walked past her house. And when she saw them coming, she would wave to them, and these noble beings - that's what we will call them now - also waved to Maria and went on their way.
But now the moment came when Alberto woke up, and Maria was next to him. So she had to explain to him and say: "We can now live together for a while. We are in heaven, but actually we are in a pre-heaven." And she explained to him that they had to wait there until the Madonna would come and take them both to heaven. Alberto listened and found this environment very pleasant. He said: "It's just like on earth. But here we have enough space, a house for both of us." And it seemed to him to be quite good and nice. Alberto also sat down on the bench and so they watched what was going on.
Their house stood alone, so to speak. Wherever they looked, they only saw fields, but they knew that there was a village not far away and that these beings who were passing by were going to this village. Now these noble beings passed by again and smiled and waved to the two of them. Then Maria said to Alberto: "They are very noble beings and they are very well disposed towards me. And so I believe: If they are well disposed towards me, they will be well disposed towards you too." 
But Alberto was not at all enthusiastic about the friendliness of these supposedly beautiful or noble beings, because he still had a lot of human thinking and many memories from his past life in his soul - unpleasant memories of people who acted noble. He still had this feeling, and he said to Maria that one could not trust these nobles here either; it would be better to avoid them, because he spoke from experience; in his entire human life he had not had good experiences with such nobles. 
And so he told about his life, who had deceived and betrayed him, and by such nobles. And so Alberto thought he knew better, that it was probably no different in the new world. So he said: "There is so much that is similar to the world in which we lived, even if the matter here is a little less condensed." He could see that, but it was too similar to what was on earth for him. And so he asked Maria to go into the house with him when these nobles came back; one had to avoid them, because that is how they started: first they would smile at them in a friendly way, and very soon they would come and possibly send them away from this house, or they would have to pay God knows how much for this house. 
Maria said to him: "Alberto, we don't have to pay anything." But Alberto didn't trust this, and when these nobles actually passed by again and Alberto saw them, he took Maria by the hand and walked quickly into the house with her, so he was full of mistrust. Maria didn't like that, but she had been used to obeying Alberto.
Then they sat down again on the bench and found life heavenly, since they were in the pre-heaven. But Maria said: "I'm interested in what's going on in the village. I'd like to go to the village sometime. I see so many people who are always passing by and I'd like to know where they're going."
 Alberto said: "Good, you can go." But he warned her not to have any conversations with such nobles that she might meet; she had to hold back, because they couldn't be trusted.
And so Maria went into the village. Of course she had to admire everything. In this village there were many buildings and gardens, and she even saw some animals. She began to be interested in them, and she stopped there on the spiritual road and asked someone who was passing by. She was very careful not to speak to anyone of ‘distinction or nobility’, but only to speak to a very humble being. Then she asked this stranger, and he answered her: "You certainly haven't been here long enough to not know anything about it." 
"Yes," she said, "I live nearby with Alberto. But I'm interested in what's going on here." And he replied: "We have to work and we have to go to school." And then he asked Maria: "Don't you go to school?" 
And Maria answered: "No. Why should I go to school?"
 "Yes,  could  you write and read when you were human?"
 "Not write," she said, "read - very little. I could write my name. But we got through life anyway."
 "And are you alone?" he asked. "No, I told you, I'm with my husband Alberto." 
"Oh yes, and he, could he write? Could he do arithmetic, could he read?" 
"Oh no, you didn't need that. You got by with what little you knew." 
"Then it's time for you to make an effort to go to school with your husband, because you have to learn to write, read, do arithmetic and a lot more besides." 
Maria didn't like that and asked. "And what else do people do here in this village? It doesn't look like there's school next to school."
 "No, we have to work too. There are all kinds of crafts that you have to do and you have to learn to work." He patted her on the shoulder and said: "People like us haven't worked all that much, Maria." 
And he was gone. So she stood there and wondered. She was, as she had been told, in the pre-heaven, and so she thought: "In the pre-heaven, you don't work and you don't go to school; the Madonna will come and then she will raise you up and everything will go its right way."
 And then she met these nobles again. They went from one house to the other and it seemed to her as if they were in a hurry. These nobles smiled at Maria again, but now she didn't dare wave back or even smile; Alberto had forbidden her to do so. Now she was very uncertain. She didn't like the school things and so she thought: "Perhaps they're smiling at me so that they can take me and Alberto with them after all. And what would Alberto say if he still had to go to school!" 
Then she went back and told him everything she had experienced and that there were schools there for adults like Alberto and her; there were no children, she hadn't seen any children; she had seen a few animals, but: "The adults have to go to school. Don't you think it's good if we go to school too? Shouldn't we sign up to go to school too?"
Alberto did not agree. "No, now I'm in heaven," he said, "and I want to measure the kingdom of heaven." 
So he was content on his bench, just like in human life. He had never worked much, and he didn't want to know anything about learning, oh no! He was afraid he would embarrass himself. He couldn't write his name, yes, but nothing more, and he couldn't read either. 
So he said to Mary: "No. It could be that the Madonna simply makes it possible for us. The Madonna can come and in one word she can declare: 'You should be able to write and read, you should know everything and be able to do everything.' The Madonna can do that," Alberto claimed, "and so we are waiting for the Madonna. She will save us. The Madonna will give us what we need."
Maria was a little skeptical and said: "You know, we actually pray far too little. In the Kingdom of Heaven you have to pray. And the Madonna will never come to us if we don't pray. We must also pray to Christ and we must ask God to take care of us." 
Alberto did not think that was necessary, he said: "We are in the Kingdom of Heaven and we could not have it any better than here. Nobody bothers us, we're not really hungry, and when we feel like having something to eat, the grapes are there." He was so used to sitting on the bench and sunbathing in his life, and so the idea of ​​not being allowed or able to do that anymore was difficult for him. And so they always sat on that bench, and there was always some kind of conversation. But when these noble figures passed by, they walked quickly into the house.

Now they thought they were safe in the house. But they were wrong. Because now the two noblemen who always walked past and always smiled at them so kindly came into the house and greeted them. Maria was actually delighted because she thought they were so beautiful, but Alberto was not. These two beings were friendly, greeted them and said that they should also decide to come to the village to find out which school they were going to and where they could find a place. Maria looked at Alberto. He was not enthusiastic and said that it was not necessary for them to go to school; they were happy as it was. They had been used to poverty and modesty all their lives and wanted to continue to be that way. But the angels did not seem to agree and said: "Yes, we ask you to come with us sometime when we pass by. Then we will show you the schools and then you must start learning." They  said their goodbyes in a friendly manner and left again.
Alberto didn't like that at all. He thought that there should be no coercion in heaven and that one should be able to live as one wants - only then would life be heavenly; but under no circumstances should there be any kind of coercion. That was what Alberto thought. But Mary prayed that the Madonna would show her the way she had to go and that the Madonna would come to her if it wasn't too much to ask.
The Madonna didn't come, but the two noble beings came again. Alberto refused to go because he was simply afraid that he would embarrass himself and he simply didn't want that. He was content and happy with the little, the modest things that were there. And so he said: "Please let me go. I don't need to become so intelligent and I don't need to go to school. I'm happy as it is." And the angels said: "Yes, it won't be long before one of your sons comes. There are three beds in your house, so he can use one of them when he comes."

It was the eldest son who was to come, his name was Carlo. The angels of God brought him to his parents' house. At first he too was very dazed, sleepy, tired, and the angels laid him on this bed. He was to rest, and so they said to Maria and Alberto: "You can keep watch over him, and when he wakes up, he should stay here in this house for a while, look at the surroundings and try to settle into the new world. Then we will have tasks for him too, and then all three of you can go to school together."
Well, that's what happened: they brought them this Carlo, and at first he was tired and not really able to realize his surroundings. They let him sleep for a while. Alberto and Maria watched over him and were there when he woke up from this sleep and opened his eyes. 
They told him: "You can stay with us. We are in a pre-heaven. Our life here is heavenly." And they were happy to have at least this Carlo with them, of their many children. It took him a while to get used to this environment. Then he looked around and walked back and forth outside the house and saw this beautiful surroundings, the garden, the grapes, the bench in front of the house. But then he was taken aback and asked: "Are you all alone here in the house? And is this really heaven where you live? Where are the angels of heaven? Is there no music here?" And Alberto and Maria said: "Yes, we are only in the pre-heaven. There is music in heaven, but we have to wait until the Madonna comes to get us." Carlo understood that too. But the parents did not say anything about the village or the school, because Carlo had not been educated either. 
So they stayed together for a while and were particularly happy to be able to have at least one son with them. Of the many children they had on earth, Carlo was now the only one who was allowed to stay with them.
Carlo actually adapted quickly to this environment, because he thought it was all too similar to earth. He had had his own household and children, some of whom had already grown up. As he walked back and forth in front of the house, he saw these large fields and probably recognized the village in the distance, and he asked Maria: "What does this village look like?" She answered: "You can go and find out for yourself." Carlo claimed that he had plans: there was so much space here, and his children and his wife would also go to heaven one day, and so he would now build a house for them. There was enough space, and he wanted to get ahead of others, he wanted to build a house for his family. Maria said: "Yes, I don't think you can do that." Alberto also expressed his concerns, but Carlo was not convinced: "There is enough space here, and if I don't claim this space, others will. That's how it was on earth, that's how it is: the first to come takes first." And his parents, Maria and Alberto, could only be amazed: "Perhaps Carlo is right," they thought, "perhaps we should have shown more enthusiasm." They had done nothing else but sit on the bench. But Carlo now took action; he wanted to build a house and chose a place. He said: "Since there is no one to claim this land, I will do it. And I will take as much as I want, because I want to take advantage of the opportunity. I want to get rich. That's how it's done. I will build one house after another - there is so much space - and I will be paid for it; my work must be paid for." Carlo spoke, without considering where he would get the materials to build it from. Then he also wanted to go to the village and he asked: "Are there no donkeys here that one can ride? Do I have to walk to the village?" 
"Yes," said the two, "there are no animals here. We haven't seen any donkeys." And Alberto said: "If you are interested in the village, you just have to make an effort and go there on foot."
 "Of course I'm going to the village," he replied, "because I have to find out about the material. I want to buy it." Maria had reservations and said: "How are you going to buy material? We are poor. How are you going to pay?"
 "Yes, I'll give them a piece of land and in return they'll give me the material." Alberto and Maria began to think: "Actually, the land doesn't belong to anyone. There's no one to claim it. So much land, and it's all empty! You could certainly build a house there, and the hardworking should be rewarded." 
They were just a bit simple-minded in their thinking, they had been that way as humans, and they remained so even after death.
Now Carlo set off and went to the village. First of all he wanted a donkey, because he would have had to use it to transport materials. But it seemed to him that there were no traders who offered such donkeys. There were animals, there were dogs, cats, birds and all sorts of other small animals; but they all seemed to have their owners; and no matter who he asked who this or that animal belonged to, he never got a proper answer, no one knew. So he couldn't do anything. He saw the creatures walking back and forth in this village, and he also saw the schools; he saw them sitting in the rooms and saw the teachers talking to the students. Yes, that made him a bit suspicious, but
he thought that going to school like that wasn't necessary for him. But he didn't dare to have a closer conversation with anyone. He just wanted to check it out first and see what the village looked like. He noticed that there were quite nice houses there. They were all on one level, so to speak, one storey, simple, everything very simple, and there were modest gardens. But he didn't make any demands, he wasn't used to anything better. So he was content and didn't worry about the fact that heaven should actually be in all its glory. 
	His thoughts were still too tied to the earthly, and he had only one plan: to build a house, after all he had lived in a half-ruined hut on earth. Now he had enough land at his disposal, and he thought that somehow he would manage to build such a one-storey house. That didn't seem to be difficult to him. But he went home empty-handed, so he couldn't have a closer conversation with anyone. Maria asked: "Didn't you bring anything with you? Don't you have a donkey?" 
"No, not yet, but that will come." While Maria and Alberto always had the insecure feeling that they would be called up for school, these appointments did not come for the time being. The two were quite happy about this, because Carlo did have plans, he wanted to build a house, and they thought that they should not deny him this; it would be understandable that the other relatives would come here too.
Carlo then went back to the village, and this time he had enough courage to ask someone who crossed his path: "Could you get me some materials? I want to build a house." The man looked at him in surprise and asked him: "You want to build a house? You want to build a house? You have not been here long. Are you a stranger here?"
 "I live with my parents, I am not a stranger here; I am just a stranger in this village, but I live very close by."
 "Well, why do you want to build a house if you live with your parents?" asked the other. "Yes, I have to build a house for my relatives who are still to come. And then I want to become a respected man. I want to work hard here, because there is enough land here." 
"Ah, you think you can just build a house?" asked the man in astonishment. "Yes, why not?" 
"Yes, I'm sorry, I can't give you anything because I don't have anything. And I don't know where to get materials for a house. And anyway, you can never build a house, it's built by the others." 
"By the others? By which others?" asked Carlo. And he was answered: "Oh, by which others, by those above, of course." But Carlo did not understand this language, he did not understand who was meant by "those above". And so he went home again, disappointed that he had achieved nothing. He slowly came to the realization that it was not so easy to get hold of this material and that there was enough space in the house where he lived with his parents; on earth, people were used to many people living together in a small space. Slowly he gave up the plan, but he was unsure and thought: "I will wait, wait, the opportunity will surely come." And one thing was clear to him: No one else was allowed to build, because he and his parents had been here first, or so he thought.

And then they came again, these nobles, and asked all three of them to come with them to the village. There were three of them, so to speak, to be a support for each of them, and they were so friendly and so loving. But their friendliness did not succeed in persuading these three to come with them. And so these nobles left again without having accomplished anything, because they were not strict. But things turned out differently, because these three nobles naturally passed on the news that there were three unruly beings in the house who did not want to go to school or obey anything. And then they had to send other beings over, who were less friendly but much more serious. And so three others came into the house, also a support for each of them, so that they could accompany each one individually. They went into the house and here they were not at all enthusiastic, after all they believed that they were living in heaven with this freedom and not being bothered. The serious beings came and took the three of them with them without further ado, and there was no argument,
nothing. They were led into the village, and there was not much to talk about on the way, because these three Alberto, Maria and Carlo suddenly became quiet and shy. The severity of these nobles - they were also noble - had impressed them, and they had immediately understood that there was no argument here. So they went with them, and Carlo now saw his plans for his house fading more and more.

And so they were led into a school. There they were greeted by the students and the teacher. They were asked to sit down and they had to start learning. They had to learn to read and write, in the language they had spoken in their human lives. All the students who were there spoke the same language they had once spoken. Now there was no turning back, they had to start learning. But these strict people left again, and there were friendly, loving teachers there. And so they had to go to these schools and just start learning: writing, reading, arithmetic and much more besides. 
First they were taught the bare essentials, because there was so much they had to be taught about: where they were, how long they had been staying here, what spiritual level they were at, what they had missed, what they had done wrong - there was so much they had to be taught about. And now they suddenly found it very interesting that they were being taught and instructed in this way, and so they became diligent. 
They also realized that they did not have to be embarrassed in front of the others, that the others did not know much more than they did. They were also taught about God's creation and about the saints of heaven. Now they heard who the Madonna was, and they heard about Christ, about his task, and they heard about the necessity of human life, about the meaning and purpose of life. And they heard about the influence that both the good and the evil spirit world has on people. They also heard that you have to work in the spiritual world. And so they were promised that if they studied hard, they would one day be able to pursue a good profession in the spiritual world.
So these three kept going back to their house and back to the village, and Carlo, who had believed that he could claim land on his own, now had to experience and see that a higher power controls everything and that in the divine realm everything is God's property and that it must first be earned and acquired if you want to come into possession of an object or anything else. 
And so he was able to experience how beings came and started to work and build very close to the house in which he lived with his parents. But they were unknown and strange beings to him. He started talking to them, and now he saw where this spiritual material came from, with which a house could be built, and he saw how work had to be done: exactly as the people did who worked hard on earth. 
Now he came to the realization that work must be done in the kingdom of heaven and that this pre-heaven, where he was with his parents, was nothing other than a place of work and learning for those who were still spiritually low, who were not malicious in nature and not too guilty, but who had retained a certain simple disposition from their earthly life. These are brothers and sisters who rise from below and to whom one must show a great deal of patience and kindness; one teaches them to work and to be obedient, and they must also be initiated into the virtues.
These three did not stay together permanently. They had to separate again and come to a community house to prove that they are capable of living together with others who are strangers to them, of sharing with them and of dealing with their peculiarities and their own will, which everyone has, and of living side by side in peace. 
This task still lay ahead of these three. In this way they had the opportunity to take a big step forward in the spiritual world. Later on, the path to their new earthly life was to be smoothed for them in such a way that something of what they had been taught in the spiritual world would still remain in the depths of their souls.
In this way, the spirit world of God takes care of those who return, who are on the ascent, who live modestly, who feel happy in poverty. In this way they will get to know many things in the divine world that they did not know and did not want to know on earth. They will be taught with a lot of patience and with a lot of kindness. And those who come from a modest earthly life are quickly satisfied with life in the spiritual world; they make no demands, they are quickly satisfied. And the spiritual world takes all of that into account. It is different with those who come from a spoiled life; they have to be treated very differently.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I gave you a detailed report about these spiritual brothers and sisters and their ascent, that it is also difficult for them to settle into the spiritual world and to be obedient, and that only as much is demanded of each person who returns as one can demand of them. 
Not so much can be demanded of those who were so simple and modest in spirit. But the further one ascends, the greater one is obliged to spiritual merits and achievements, and one will be tested on all of that. And so one can progress and advance.
This heavenly world, this new world, should also be a world of joy for those modest and poor people. For they have no demands, they are quickly satisfied and sometimes happier in spirit than someone who is several steps above them, but who experiences great disappointment on his return home and does not find his way around in the new world so quickly and delays his own ascent through his personal attitude, through his dissatisfaction, through his opinion that he has, but also through his vices, through his immodesty, through the demands that he makes, through his need for recognition that he has. 
For many come and believe that he is a respected spiritual being and that he deserves to be received by the high spirit world of God and that he will be granted a very special, glorious heaven. So disappointments are experienced by some and surprises by others.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I have given you an insight into the life in the afterlife of those who have lived a modest existence on earth and who are on the ascent. So may you, dear brothers and sisters, be blessed, and may your thoughts and your will for good be blessed, so that you can work under the blessing of God. God bless you.

Experience report from spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich Template: tape recording.



Next case. herhit
December 2nd, 1970.
Paula, a sustainable belief in God is of great importance.
How an unbelieving woman became aware after her death that life goes on.

Control spirit: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, a sister by the name of Paula is speaking to you. She speaks of her retreat and her ascent. May God's blessing penetrate you in this hour. May you be able to raise your hearts and souls and expand your knowledge. God bless you.

Paula: I greet you with your greeting: God bless you. My name was Paula, I say: was Paula. I will tell you about my earthly life. I will only touch on it briefly, but will then explain my retreat into the spiritual world in more detail.
As a human being, I could not believe in God; Of course, I could not believe in life after death or that there was a spiritual world. So I did not believe in ghosts. For me, there was no God. I always mocked and laughed at my fellow human beings when they spoke about God or religion. Based on my knowledge, I explained to them that there could not be a God at all. 
But I tried to be fair in life. I tried to live right and sometimes did something good for a poor person. I supported poor people, I loved justice and peace. So I did everything I could to lead a better and higher life. I was not poor in earthly goods. But I simply could not believe, because so many terrible things had already happened in the world,  and still happening, and that seemed to me to be an obstacle to believing in a God.
Well, I don't want to dwell on that any more, I would just like to mention the following: I had a painful sickbed for a few weeks before I was allowed to leave this world. When I was on my sickbed in the last hours of my earthly life, I could see things that seemed strange to me. I could still think clearly, and so I imagined that what I saw was fantasy or a dream. I was ill, I was in pain, I was getting injections, and so I could think that I was no longer in complete control of myself and that such images were appearing before me. I also heard people talking. I saw my deceased mother, and she seemed to be pleading for me. She always said: "My child was good and tried to live a right life. The fact that my daughter couldn't believe can't be her fault alone. One should be a little lenient with her in this regard."
 That's how I always heard them talk.
Now and then I saw what seemed to me to be strange figures. They were dressed very elegantly, but they were dressed in the way you often see in plays in the theater, where the actors are dressed in long, wide, flowing robes from an old time. So sometimes when I was looking I thought to myself: "Am I actually in the theater, am I watching a play? What is it?" I didn't believe in life after death, and as I mentioned I didn't believe that there are invisible beings that can make themselves visible to the dying. But the way they were dressed didn't seem to me like people you usually see walking around on the street and in houses. They had such long, wide, flowing robes, and they seemed quite elegant. I couldn't really understand them either. It seemed to me as if they were far away, as if I had to listen from a distance to what was being said.

But then they were gone again and I no longer saw or heard them. I only saw my relatives who were around me. But I was too tired and too weak to speak. But this looking, this seeing came again and again. Again and again these beings were there and again and again I heard my mother praying for me. 
And so the moment came when I could separate myself from the body. Then I clearly heard my mother's voice saying: "Now it has happened, the separation has taken place." I also saw my mother very clearly, but then I saw her disappear. I had the feeling as if I was being lifted out of my bed by a gust of wind and as if the wind was carrying me away - that's what I felt. But I suddenly felt light, I was no longer in pain. It was a pleasant feeling to be lifted and carried like that. But I didn't see anyone and didn't hear anyone speaking. The only thing I thought I heard was a very specific noise in a specific tone; and I assumed it was the wind that had the strength to carry me away. So I escaped, I fled from the house where I had lived. So they carried me out, and it happened so quickly. But then I felt myself sitting down. Suddenly it became a little dark around me, I could no longer see any light, it was twilight.

Now I had the strength to get up, I was lying there in a forest. I got up and looked around. Then I was frightened, because I thought: "At this time of day I am still in the forest! But now it is high time that I leave the forest and go home." I must say that when I was alive I loved the forest so much and spent a lot of time in the forest. That was how I thought humanly, I didn't even know that I had died. On the one hand it was like a dream for me, on the other hand I felt it was a great liberation and release. I felt that something had happened, but I couldn't explain it. I could think just as I had when I was alive, and because I was an unbeliever, it was difficult for me to change my mind; because I did not believe that there was life after death. I did not believe that there was a world invisible to mankind. I was full of disbelief, and so I thought in a human way: "I am in the forest, and now it is time for me to go home." But everything seemed strange to me. I knew the paths I had taken exactly, yes, I even knew the trees, very specific bushes and the forest clearings, I knew everything, and now I ran away and looked for my familiar paths. But I could not find them, everything was strange.

Now I thought about how long I had been here and whether I had somehow got lost. I could not really get my mind right, everything was strange to me. And so I just went on, I just kept running. I might have been standing in your human terms. And what I found strange: the twilight always remained. I was afraid of night, because then I could have lost the way completely. But it didn't become night; it was always the case that I could still see the way. The twilight, the atmosphere, was such that you could always have expected night. And so I became uncertain and began to be afraid. Then I called my husband's name, and I called the names of my children, who were probably already grown up but who came and went a lot. None of my relatives answered me. I could call as loudly as I wanted. And yet, the closer I listened, when I stood still and paid attention, I had the feeling that there were others near me: I heard a rustling, I heard talking. That then prompted me to call out even more, but no one answered me; it seemed as if they didn't hear me. With all the strength I had at my disposal, I called out the names. But nothing, absolutely nothing came near me. Then I had the idea that I could still call the dog. We had a dog who loved me and was always so attentive. His name was Nero. And so I called his name out loud, as loud as I could. It wasn't long before a dog came to me - Nero. But it wasn't the Nero who still lived with us, but the dog who had died years before; it was our old dog, who I had also loved very much and who was so devoted to me. He was also called Nero. When he became old, sick and blind, he had to be killed. We were extremely sad about this and it hurt me so much that to overcome our pain we got a new dog as quickly as possible, and gave him the same name in memory of our Nero. And so I was quite astonished: the old Nero was there, who had long been dead to me! He jumped up at me and showed his joy at meeting me. He even licked my hands and didn't want to leave me; he showed his great joy at having found me, jumped away a little and came back to me, circling me and showing his joy. Then I thought: "Yes, this Nero is dead! That isn't the Nero who is alive now, that isn't the same dog. This one is the old Nero." I knew him well, and he knew me. Well, in my desperation I said to him: "Now listen, lead me out of this forest at last. Lead me home, you know the way, lead me away from here." And Nero seemed to understand that; he walked ahead of me and I followed him. We had to cover a long way before it started to get a little lighter and I had the feeling that we were soon reaching the end of the forest.

So we came to the end of the forest. Nero walked further with me. There were now large fields in front of us. But they seemed a little desolate to me and completely foreign to me; it was an unknown country for me. But I felt a little safer now; Nero was with me and he was supposed to lead me. He kept going forward and I followed him. So we came to a pasture or an enclosure and I noticed that there were countless dogs in it. This enclosure was quite large. Nero was still standing next to me, but then he left me and went in to the other dogs.

Yes, on the one hand I was just amazed and on the other hand I asked myself: "Where am I actually?" I couldn't remember ever having seen a kennel with so many animals. This wasn't a kennel in the usual sense, it was a large area, just surrounded by a hedge. There these animals were together, and they were peaceful together, they were playing with each other and doing what dogs do. So I stood there and thought. A little way away from me I saw two beings - that's what I have to call them today, but at the time they were people to me, because they looked like people. They also seemed to enjoy these animals and admire them. So I spoke to them. But I was a little unsure, and my uncertainty was evident. These two, who were standing there admiring the animals, said to me: "It is wonderful to see and know that they are alive." 
"Yes, that they are alive," I repeated after them; and what they were saying together was actually strange to me: "It is a satisfaction and a joy to know that they are alive." I didn't know what else to say: "Yes, it is nice that they are alive, it is nice." And then they asked me: "Do you have anyone here that you know?"
 "Yes, of course, he fetched me from the forest," I said to them, "I had strayed from the path and so I called him and he fetched me and brought me here." 
"Ah," they said, somewhat surprised, "then you haven't been here long?"
 "No," I replied,
 "everything is strange to me; but perhaps you can tell me where I am. What is the name of this country, this village? What is it called, where am I? I have no idea." I said this half-desperately.
The two of them could see how uncertain and uneasy I was. Then one of them said: "Don't you know that you've died?" 
"Died? Impossible!" I answered, "I can't possibly have died, I'm still alive." Then they laughed: "Yes, your body died, you left it behind for the world. But you had an immortal soul in your body - the soul is immortal. The soul also has a body, a spiritual body, because you are in the spiritual world." 
"In the spiritual world? Strange. Do you live there like a human being?"
 "Oh yes," they said, "you see: you can talk, you can think, reflect, call out, you can scream, cry, laugh. You see, that's it: the immortal soul carries so much power within itself and brings back everything that was present in human life. You have freed yourself from the earthly, perishable body that clothed the soul. But now you have your spiritual body and you are alive." 
Then I said: "But I am a complete stranger here; and I am surprised that there are not more such spiritual beings here." 
Then they said: "Oh yes, there are many here. You will probably meet them, perhaps not exactly where you are standing now; but if you go a little further, you will meet them. You will find a busy and varied life and activity here, similar to that of humans. Only here you are under a higher rule. Here it is not humans who command, here it is God and those who are on God's behalf and carry out his orders." 
They had spoken of God, and I thought about it and asked: "You are talking about God, is there a God here, have you seen God?"
 "Oh no," they answered, "we have not seen God, we still have a long way to go to him; but we are on the way to him. And that is what will happen to you too: before you come to God, you will meet many other spirits, also high and exalted, to whom you must obey; for they are the ones who then rule over you, lead you and decide over you." So I naturally wanted to know more: "What happens to those who did not believe in God during their earthly life?" 
They answered: "Yes, that is one of the worst things about not believing in God. Then it will be difficult to get close to him. You will still have a long way to go," they said somewhat dismissively and acted as if they were no longer particularly interested in me. 
And so they said goodbye and said: "You just walk along this path here now and someone will take care of you from time to time." So they no longer felt the need to continue talking to me. "What a pity," I thought, "now I have found someone who could have taken care of me." Because I did not dare to speak to each one of them straight away. On top of that, I was becoming more and more afraid.
I started to think about it. I looked at all these animals for a while and thought about the sentence: "It is a joy to know that they are alive." Then I thought to myself: "Isn't it a joy to know that you yourself are still alive? If these animals are alive and so am I, then there is nothing that can be dead. Once it has been filled with life, then everything, everything, lives on, in a world that is called the invisible world, which is only invisible to humans. So there is a world where God lives and where he rules." 
So I thought: "Then I have neglected a lot in my life. What can I do to look a little better?"
 I looked at my appearance as best I could. I didn't feel as well dressed as I had when I was alive. I was no longer in pain, I felt light and comfortable, but I was wearing shoes that I had never worn in my life. 
Then I thought: "Where do these shoes come from? These shoes look like a beggar's. I should be ashamed to walk around here in shoes like these." It was only now that I noticed it. Up until then I had not had time to look at myself and think about what I looked like. I was too preoccupied with the question of where I was, because I still felt like I was in a dream. Now I was sure that everything I saw was real. I looked at the shoes properly. The sole was worn through and the upper leather had holes in it too, so these shoes did not look good at all. I did not like them, so I immediately tried to take them off. I thought: "I would rather go barefoot than with shoes like that." But strangely enough, I could not take them off.
 It was as if they were sticking to my feet; I couldn't take them off. I sat down and spent a long time trying to get these shoes off - it just didn't work. 
"A strange world," I thought, "I'm alive, here with shoes that I've never seen or worn in my life; I should be ashamed." 
Then I looked at myself and what else I looked like: I was wearing a skirt made of the coarsest material there is, and the shape was probably impossible. I didn't know what my face looked like; I had no mirror, I couldn't see myself. But I saw that I wasn't doing very well. And I was actually surprised that the two who had spoken to me had paid any attention to me, because they were much better dressed than I was. But then I also thought: "That's why they left so quickly, because they don't want anything to do with me," because I really didn't look particularly good. I thought: "Should I go on now? Now my true attitude is revealed; everyone can see who you have been in life." Now it was clear to me: it was not about the fine clothes you had in life that mattered. No. It was about something that I simply did not have: faith. But I had also done good things, I had not despised people, I tried to help them too; and I loved truth and justice - that was something that could speak for me, I thought. And I thought: "Perhaps I can still get rid of them, my shoes; perhaps it is true that one can buy something else here." But I was penniless; I had nothing, not even any companions, I was completely on my own. What should I do now? Should I retreat into the forest? Should I call my dog ​​again and stay in the forest for a while? Perhaps someone would come and take pity on me. Should I go into the forest and try to ask the God I never knew in life to help and support me? Or should I stand by what I stood for in life? Should I admit everywhere that I lived without faith and laughed at people when they talked about God and faith and religion? What should I do? I thought about it. And so I thought to myself: "There is nothing else, you have to stand by what you were. Only the truth can move you forward. So I will go as I am. I will no longer make an effort to take off my shoes; I cannot take off my clothes either. So I stand by it: I was a sinner, I was a poor person who came to eternity and who was blinded by the world and could not believe what was being proclaimed. So I have to stand by it." That was my thought.

So I wandered off and met other spirit beings. Now it was clear to me: They were all spirits with me. Some were better dressed than I was; others didn't look much better, and so I felt I had nothing to be ashamed of. But sometimes I saw people who were well-dressed, and I wondered if I should approach one of them. But I thought: "Not right away, I have to deal with myself first."

When I came to this village, I also had the opportunity to withdraw a little. There was also a small garden. It didn't look particularly well-kept or beautiful; there were bushes and flowers, but they seemed to be wilted, dead. But I could hide in this garden for a while. There were bushes, and I got down on my knees there and wanted to deal with myself, to talk to myself. That's how I imagined my past life, how it had been. I had done good things, but it seemed to me that this didn't count for much here, otherwise I wouldn't be in this state. I thought: "I have caused people pain because I laughed at them, humiliated them; they had believed." How to envy them, those who could believe without seeing, who could simply believe, how to envy them! Well, what should I do? "Can I now ask God to have mercy on me and forgive me for never having believed in him?" I wanted to try.
They spoke of a merciful God, and this world must have someone who shows mercy, I thought. "For if there is an eternal life, then there must also be a good God; there must be a God who is interested in eternity. There must be a God who takes pleasure in beauty and who takes pleasure in love, in mercy and in justice. If there is an immortal soul and a God, then this immortal soul must attain the bliss of the Godhead - that must be the case! So I will try it."

And I began to ask and pray.
Yes, at first I only did it with my thoughts - I could think like a human being. I silently asked God to forgive me. I asked him to impose a punishment on me, and I would accept it; because I wanted to believe in him too, and whatever the future might bring me, I would never be an unbeliever again. I promised myself that. So I began to pray: "You kind and merciful God, who exists, who lives, who works, who has mercy on the poor, have mercy on me too, listen to me and send someone to me who will take me into his house, who lives with me, with whom I can live in peace. Make it possible for me to live in peace here. Give me a task, I will do anything." That's what I thought, and it was still so quiet around me.
I was already satisfied that at least it wasn't dark. When I left the forest, it had become lighter and it remained bright; it did not become dark, it did not become night. But I had no one, I was abandoned. And it was clear to me: "If you deny God in life and abandon him, you are also abandoned by him; you do not immediately find a loving welcome - that cannot be possible. But I will ask." I did this in my thoughts at first. But when it remained quiet around me, I began to call out. I wanted everyone to hear it, I did not want to carry any secrets with me. I called out everything I could and knew, what I had done unjustly and what friends and acquaintances I had offended. I asked them as a spirit: "Forgive me, forgive me. When you return to eternity, I will serve you. You may ask everything of me, I will do it, but God should forgive me for not being able to believe in him." I did not know how long I knelt and cried and called out, I did not know, I did not know time. And so I prayed in my own way, confessing what I had done wrong. I was willing to do better and to submit to whatever came. But it seemed to me that I would be left alone forever - it seemed so. I was very angry about it. And I had the impression that I deserved to look the way I did.

When I was so deeply contrite, salvation came. Someone touched my shoulders, very gently, and said to me: "Paula, get up and follow me." I stood up and asked: "May I give you the thing so that you can lead me?" because I was afraid that I would be left alone again, just as the other two had said goodbye. This being was ready to give me his hand. He took my hand and I held his tightly so that I would not be left alone again. The being seemed very distinguished; he was dressed so distinguished. I followed and I didn't know where to turn my thoughts. I asked myself: "Is that an angel? Who could it be? Has God heard me? Has he sent me someone? How is that possible?" And yet a joy came over me. It seemed as if this being could read my silent thoughts. It asked me: "Just be calm, be completely calm and full of confidence. The world you have entered is a world of justice. But it is also a world full of love and full of mercy."

How good these words did me! I didn't look left or right, I didn't want to see where I was being led; I felt safe, led by this being.

So we suddenly stood in front of a house and the being asked me to come in. The house seemed to be of simple construction, but there was a garden around it in which the flowers did not wilt. There were also bushes and trees. I saw birds; they flew around and sang. And I suddenly liked the world. On the way here, I had the feeling that the surroundings had become more and more 'worldly', and yet it was not the world; but it became more and more beautiful, and I felt more and more secure. We went into the house. Everything was simple, but very well-kept. Everything was permeated by a strange light. I did not know where this light came from; it seemed to me that it was coming from the walls of the house, from the ceiling; there was simply light there. I thought to myself, in accordance with my still human way of thinking, that it was artificial lighting; and yet it could not be like that. And I thought: "This world must be completely different, impossible things are possible here." Inside the house it was so beautiful that one would not have expected it to be from outside. From the outside it was simple to look at, and it was simple inside too, but the light created a special atmosphere, a warmth. That helped me to feel relieved.

There I was standing in a room with this being. It had a table, a large book on it, and there were chairs around the table. Then I saw them, these angels of God, and now it became clear to me: These are angels of God. And how I imagined myself in my worn, rough clothes and my shoes with holes in them! They could see who I was. They didn't need to spend a long time leafing through the book and searching. I wanted to tell them that, but I couldn't. Now I noticed that these beings who were there and had been waiting for me didn't seem to have such a stern face. They were serious, but I had the feeling that a certain kindness and sweetness radiated from them. But I was still desperate, uncertain about standing there in front of so many sublime and shining angels of God.

 I didn't know what else to do, I fell to my knees and started to cry. Then someone lifted me up and said: "You don't need to cry here. If only you had cried in your world about your unbelief! You don't need to cry here. Sit down, we want to talk to you." Yes, they wanted to talk to me, that frightened me. "What do they have to ask me? What do they want to talk to me about?" I thought. "They can see who is standing in front of them." Then one of them spoke up and said: "Why couldn't you believe? Wasn't the world you lived in beautiful? Couldn't you believe that there was also a master who created the things you benefited from? Have you never considered that there must be a master for everything and that there must also be a master for the world as it was created, with everything that lives and thrives in it?"
 "Oh yes," I replied, "everything is clear to me. You see, there is a great sinner standing before you. I have realized what I did wrong. I will never be an unbeliever again." And one of them said: "You never want to be an unbeliever again?" I looked at him in astonishment, because I was really serious. I noticed that they looked at each other questioningly, as if they wanted to say: "She never wants to be an unbeliever again, do you believe that?", or so it seemed to me. But another said: "She is full of good will. Oh, she has stumbled because of her unbelief. What could she have achieved! She had a good heart and she had a good will. She loved people, she had done a lot of good. Of course she hurt people because she laughed at them because of their faith. This did not make her a shining example for those around her. If she had believed, if she had had an inner piety, a piety of heart and soul, what an impression that would have made on those around her, and how many would have been strengthened in their faith through her! Yes, it is a pity; much has been left undone." I said: "I admit everything"; for it had become clear to me that I had gone down the wrong path.

So they were actually much friendlier to me than I had expected. They spoke together about my life, and one of them took the book and leafed through it. But he did this in passing, as if he had already read it all a long time ago. He said: "I don't need to look into this book of life, because you carry the truth on you." Of course I looked down at myself, ashamed. And one of these angels said: "It can soon get better. You can get rid of your shoes if you want to." He acted as if he had seen it or knew that I would like to get rid of them, these shoes. "Yes," the other said to me, "you can get rid of them, and you can also change your clothes. But first you must be purified a little more. You have judged yourself. We have seen and heard that, and we are pleased that you are serious. 

That is why we are taking care of you too; because it could have happened that only an angel of God would stand next to you and inflict punishment on you. And look, there are seven of us who are in front of you and talking to you. Just look at us." Yes, I looked at them; they were all so beautiful. They were dressed as I had seen them in the hours of departure from this world, when I had thought I was in the theater: they wore these flowing clothes. These beings had actually been with me then, I was not mistaken if they were not even the same ones who were sitting in front of me now. They did not respond to these thoughts, but said: "We want to move forward with you. You now have a time of purification ahead of you, and you must now go into solitude. There you must learn to pray and rethink your life. You must choose a job and we will tell you what you can do. You can choose one or the other, and you must think about it; for good must come from your work. Now you can prove that you are of good will and you can prove that you want to keep your faith."
 "Oh yes," added one of them, "we will tell her straight away, she only wants to focus on one thing.: When the purification is over, then she can go to people, accompanied by another spirits and  should then  try to influence their thinking and guide them into higher thinking." He explained that this was not so easy, because people have all kinds of thoughts and it is not so easy to take control of people's thoughts. It is therefore a matter of directing people's thinking towards higher things; one should also try to put good words into their mouths. I should try to help in this way. 

But I must also take up the fight with the others; because I would not be alone with these people and would not simply become master in my efforts to lead them to good. Because where the good spirits are, there are also those others who want to lead people to evil. And so there is also a need for a fight. One must try to prevent evil; it is a matter of winning people over to the higher life, influencing and inspiring them and leading them so that they do good, so that they pray and align oneself with God's laws. So one must always admonish people when it becomes necessary, but one can also be a comforter to them, one should take up residence with people and thus work for God.
These were beautiful words that were spoken. I wanted to do that and I said: "I am going into purification; then call me if you like, I will come, I will fulfill my task." 
"Oh, that's good." And then a servant came, I must say, and accompanied me out of this house. I had said goodbye to the angels of God. I was a little dazed and let this simply dressed servant lead me, into purification. I was led into a room and there I experienced the twilight again, like back then in the forest. But that couldn't be bad for me, my thoughts and my will were set. And so I wanted to wait. Then the time came when I was fetched and led to the tasks.

But when I left this room of solitude, I would like to say this, a being stood there and offered me other clothes. Now I could easily take my shoes off my feet. Yes, it was as if they fell off of their own accord, and I put on good, beautiful shoes. I was also given a decent dress, and I was happy with it. It was simple, but I had the feeling that it was beautiful, it was beautiful for me. And then they said to me: "You can earn more later. These are not your last garments and your last shoes. You must rise up, move forward step by step and find the way to God. You still have a long way to go. And you must prove what you promised: that you always want to believe." Later they explained to me what was meant by the fact that I had to prove this: I was to prove this faith in a new human life.

But I was taken in by the angels of heaven, and I am fulfilling my task as I am commanded. I take up the fight with those spirit beings among people who do not want to take the higher path, who are still far removed from God. I do everything for God, for the holy spirit world and for the King of God's spirit world. I have been taught all of this. And so I am in the service of God, and my services can also be performed for you.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I say goodbye to you and ask you: direct your thoughts upwards and let yourself be guided so that when you enter the spiritual world you can be shown a beautiful world and that you do not end up like me and are initially surrounded by twilight. Let yourselves be embraced by your acquaintances, by those who have passed away, by those spirit beings who look after you in life. May God's blessing fill you and accompany you. God's greetings.

Experience report of the ascending spirit being Paula by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich
Template: tape recording.
 
Note.

In addition to the experience reports of ascending spirit beings, Beatrice Brunner ,(1910-1983) , gave over 2000 lectures in deep trance in the 35 years of her work. They were given by two teachers from the otherworldly world who taught the listeners the Christian spiritual teachings. These two spirits of God, named Josef and Lene, gave comprehensive instruction in the teachings of Christ, about God's creation and the origin and meaning of all life. These lectures are published by GL Zurich in various book series and in the magazine "Geistige Welt", which has been published since 1948. The speeches, each lasting around an hour, preserved on video and tape, are played in a teaching facility specially built for this purpose, a hall with 500 seats, in Zurich.

More information:
You can find information about the literature and events of GL Zurich on their website www.glz.org.
GL ZÜRICH. Letzigraben 117, CH8047 Zurich.
Telephone 044 383 60 10
info@glz.org
www.glz.org.

This was on the purpose of human life. We were also supposed to get to know the spiritual world, but the way up was still blocked for us. We were allowed to experience and see what lay spiritually beneath us, what was even deeper. We were led to these unfortunate brothers and sisters in the spiritual depths. There we could talk to them and encourage them to change their way of thinking; for most of them struggled, were dazed and did not believe that they lived in the spiritual realm, but claimed that they were only dreaming and living as humans because everything around them was so condensed and so similar to the wastelands on earth. We were able to give them our support from time to time and make them understand what they needed to know. They believed us more than the higher spirit brothers, but it was not an easy task. But anyone who was willing to earn something in order to strive upwards had to really take every opportunity to do so. We had no time to take a siesta. We really had to use our time profitably, because we wanted to strive upwards, because we saw what we had missed in life, that we had lived without faith in God, that we had done so much wrong and harmed others. But this effort alone did not help us to move forward. It was said that we had burdened ourselves so much.

We also had to stay isolated from time to time in a place where it was dark around us. There we could think, there we could ask God to forgive us. We could then focus entirely on him, and we could meditate on the lessons we had been taught. But to be isolated like that, to remain all alone in the darkness, was not pleasant, but it was part of our punishment. We had all encouraged each other. All of us who were willing to strive upwards had spoken to each other.

It was also the case that from time to time we were allowed to say goodbye to someone for whom the time had come to move on to a more beautiful place. And from there they would come back to visit us and tell us about their much more beautiful life, about the attention that was now being given to them. And so I too had finally reached this transition to this more beautiful place. I was also able to cross the threshold to a more beautiful sphere, where a more pleasant life began for me too and where I no longer had to pull wagons and do such hard work. It was the greatest bliss for me to first be initiated even further into the laws of God. I was so eager to learn, and that was to benefit me, because later on it all proved to be of great use to me.

Since I had tried so hard to advance, I was allowed to take part in building a house. I was allowed to present my own plans, make suggestions, and I remembered so many things that had impressed me in my earthly life. Some things were talked out of me, and some suggestions were improved. We discussed things together, but I was still very happy: I was allowed to build a house, even if it wasn't mine. I was still a long way from owning one. I was supposed to do a lot more, I was supposed to be even more diligent, but I was now allowed to live in a house with other siblings, and I was also allowed to meet my relatives. I was allowed to invite them to my place, they were my guests, and they, who owned even nicer things and lived in even nicer places, told me about their world. So I found it simply wonderful to be allowed to live in this world, which always brought me so much new stuff - this great variety that you can experience everywhere. It awakens an interest in various arts. What is on offer there! 
So I worked my way up from level to level and I gained insight into the wonderful world of the spirit, but according to your human calculation of time, a long time has passed since my entry into the afterlife until today - around two hundred years. And now they are talking to me about a new earthly life that I am to enter when I have mastered the spiritual laws and have become even more familiar with the heavenly world, when I have come into contact with various other spirit brothers and sisters from various worlds and also have knowledge of their tasks. I should bring this knowledge into my soul, into my feelings. And they explained to me that with the incorporation into human life all memory disappears and that only when one learns this spiritual language again in human life will many things become familiar to one again and that it would be easier for those who could familiarize themselves with this language in human life to affirm this world of the spirit, to believe in it and to work for the spirit. It would be easier for those who would honor and praise God, Christ and the holy spirit world. And one would also understand the meaning of life better if one spoke this language.

So I was commissioned to tell you this. I had entered the spiritual realm under great burden. I was received and guided, but I was immediately well-intentioned and had the desire to strive upwards, for I became aware that in this world one exercises dominion over all and that this one is God. So I wanted to submit myself to God, and so I began my ascent in this way.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I am returning to my world. May God give you the strength of faith, and may you never forget the spiritual language. Greetings from God.

[The subsequent answer to the questions was summarized by the then editor of the magazine "Geistige Welt" as follows:] In the following question section, spirit friend Josef clarified some of Richard's statements, which, as Josef said, he was unable to deal with in sufficient detail due to lack of time; on the other hand, it is not the task of such a spirit to explain everything in every detail.

One consequence of his alcoholism was the thirst that always tormented him more or less. The ragged spiritual clothing and barefootness, along with the primitively made, common objects in these lower stages of ascent, are to be understood as a sign of spiritual poverty. No one cares whether someone is barefoot; everyone is equal and no one needs to be ashamed in front of the other. The higher one climbs, the more importance is placed on one's appearance. Dying people are sometimes wrapped in spiritual garments by helpful angelic beings on their deathbed during their twilight state, allowing them to appear in the spiritual world.

The desire for shelter is still there, as it is in human life. All desires, as well as virtues and vices, are rooted in the soul. Earthbound people from the beyond who are still used to earthly conditions take it for granted that they have to live in a house; they simply do not find a loving welcome.
The "do-nothings", as they were called, are not yet capable of higher thoughts and are still too earthbound, and finally make progress with the help of higher beings when they have become insightful; others are prepared for a new earthly life with gentle force. It always depends on the burden and receptiveness of the individual. People try to persuade and advise everyone, but it is like with people: some are willing and obedient, others are incorrigible, and then one is prepared for the new human incarnation with gentle force.




Report of the ascending spirit being Richard and answers to questions from spirit teacher Josef by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich 
Original: First published in the magazine "Geistige Welt".



Next case. 







April 3, 1968.
On the deeper causes of an addiction.
The afterlife of a contentious cobbler. When memories of a difficult time are deeply rooted in the soul and one is not prepared to strive for a higher mindset.

Josef: Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, Brother Josef.1 footnote. 
Footnote1. Spirit teacher Josef points out in his greeting that he himself will be reporting on an experience and not an ascending spirit being, as was customary on the first Wednesday of the month.
I am now going to tell you a story, a report of an experience. From time to time, on special holidays, I give you messages from deceased relatives. You will often be told that the person who entered the spiritual world was not able to find his way at first, but later found his way into God's order. If you have lived with people who had particular faults and with whom you had trouble in life, then you can understand when it is said: "At first it was difficult for him, but later he found his way into God's order." This is easier to understand if you have been close to such a person and lived with him. In such a case it is much easier to understand if it is explained that he has now found his way into God's order, whereas these reports that are always given to you are foreign to some people because they have no connection with these spiritual beings or their fate. What I am telling you this evening is intended to awaken your understanding. It is only one fate that has been picked out from the infinite number of fates that are constantly repeated.

So, This evening I would like to tell you about two people, that is to say, mainly about a man. It was a family with four children. The father and the mother, or rather his partner, had always argued throughout their entire life together. They did not get along. When the children grew up and were able to leave their parents' house, they did so. They did not feel comfortable with this constant arguing, and so they left home early and did not return. There were two daughters and two sons. The eldest was the first to set up a household, and it was she who opened the doors of her house and invited her siblings to her. So they went to their eldest sister and spent holidays and some days of rest there. When you had worries and problems, you did not go to your parents' house, you went to your sister. This sister was lucky to have a partner who had the same understanding and goodwill and was prepared to take these relatives in for short or long periods of time. They often spoke of the arguments that took place at home and were ashamed of their parents. They were mainly ashamed of their father. And so they resolved not to live in such a quarrelsome life and to do everything they could to live in peace.

The father was a cobbler by trade and unfortunately he drank a lot. He soon spent what he earned on alcohol. He was often drunk and it was understandable that there were always arguments between these two partners, because they did not have the money they needed to live. Every opportunity was taken to spend the smallest amount of money on alcohol. The woman herself did not have the strength or understanding to lead her husband, but they argued constantly and the four children had to grow up in this argument. It was understandable that they could not have any respect or consideration for their father when he was always drunk and abusive and when even the children had to flee from their father to avoid being hit by him. So the spirit world of God did not hold it against these children that they later no longer looked after their parents and did not go home, because they could not help them. I would like to add as an explanation that drinking was much more common in the past than it is today.

Now I would like to stop describing the human life of this married couple and explain what happened to this soul when it entered the spiritual world. The man died first; in fact, he fell down the stairs while drunk and had a fatal accident. Of course, the spirit of such a person is also heavily burdened by the evil of alcoholism. You can understand that a lower spirit is in such a weak-willed person. When this spirit, which had to leave the world in this way, opened its eyes in the afterlife, it could not understand what had happened. Spirits of God were also present during this accident, because they had to guide this spirit. They carried him to the place where he was to live in the future and laid him on the spiritual ground in front of a very modest hut, for the spirit of this person was still quite dazed. While this was happening, the inhabitants of this village approached, and some expressed their indignation, and others simply took note of it, for such things were experienced again and again in a similar way, because all who were in this village were burdened in the most similar way. Well, the angels of God simply laid this spirit down on the spiritual ground, as I have said, and went away. So it could sleep for a while.

In contrast, an elevated, ascending spirit is accompanied to rest when it enters the spiritual world, so that it can rest and be strengthened. In order to adapt better to the new world, it is lovingly cared for. A spirit of God or even a relative or a friend can keep watch nearby until the being in question has rested. Then it is greeted, can possibly receive some strengthening, and its return to eternity is explained to it. It is explained that earthly life is over, that it has only laid aside the outer body and that the spirit has returned to the spiritual world. In this way, an elevated being who has returned home finds its explanations, support and consolation.

On the other hand, a burdened, unwilling, quarrelsome spirit like the one I am reporting on cannot count on support of this kind. This person who had returned home was simply left lying there. He then opened his eyes and once saw the his new surroundings. He also saw that many people were standing there, looking at him and talking all sorts of things at once. Some wanted to give advice and others made accusations. He got angry straight away and wanted to send those present away. He stood up and asked for his wife. He realized that he was not at home but in a completely new place. He called his wife's name but no one answered him; his wife was not there. There were some spirit brothers and sisters who were helpful, came up to him and said: "You must now accept that: you are no longer in the world but you are now in the spiritual realm. You have laid aside your body." He did not want to believe that, called them liars and wanted to start arguing right away. And so the others withdrew from him. They knew this kind of behavior from such homecomers, and so those who had already worked their way up a bit did not want to have anything to do with such a person. They simply left him.

So he wandered around. He saw that people were working and he also saw the modest dwellings or huts. But he also had to realize that there was a certain order, and he did not want to be included in that order. Since he was so addicted to alcohol, this addiction did not end when he left his earthly body, but he still had the same desire for alcohol. So he went from one to the other and asked if there was anything to drink - he meant, of course, the drink he had consumed during his life. Those he went to and asked for something knew what he meant, but pretended not to understand and told him that there was a well in the middle of the village; there he could drink as much as he wanted if he was thirsty. Then he made it clear to them that he did not mean water, but some other drink. But he had nothing to offer them, he could not pay for anything; In the spiritual realm, you don't have any money, you can't pay in the same way as in earthly life.

He would be lucky to come among spirit brothers and sisters who had the hardest time of their own purification behind them, but still had to stay in this place. They were left there because they, who had already improved in their behavior and thinking, had to give support and explanations to those who kept coming. For all those who were also inhabitants of this village were aware that they had died. But they still had a great longing for all their former activities and all of human life; they wanted to possess it again and go among people. But this was denied to all of them. They had no opportunity to return to earth, as is otherwise possible for other spirit brothers and sisters who, through their passions and their deep desires, can return to their old place and continue to indulge in their vices. But they could not. There was an intervention by God in this regard. Their path had to be blocked so that they could find their way to order more quickly, because they still had a long road of ascent ahead of them.

So this spirit had the opportunity to talk to the others and ask for that drink. But nothing was given to him, because there was none at all, and he was told that he should free himself of this vice and report to order; then things would go better for him. But he complained that he was thirsty and that he was not willing to work like the others. And so he was further told that he would have to live in his misfortune and would only find freedom when he could break away from his past and was willing to adapt to the new laws. There were also spirit teachers there to give him the necessary instruction that he needed. He did not want to know anything about that. In his human life he had had no piety and no faith in God. So he was forced to

recognize that there is an omnipotence and a ruler over him. But he did not want to submit to this ruler, not yet. So he wandered around the village and began to take an interest in work. He suffered because he no longer had what he had loved so much as a human being and what had satisfied him, this drink that he believed would make him forget everything. So he felt oppressed and suffered because of it. He now had to overcome the fact that he no longer had this drink.
If you now have concerns and believe: "Yes, a spirit should also be freed from these addictions when it leaves its earthly body," that is not the case. As you are repeatedly told, this desire lies in the nature of the person concerned. 
It is not only in the external person, it is not only superficial, but has a deep basis. This desire and need to get intoxicated lies in the soul of the person concerned. The fact that this brother had resorted to alcohol as a human being was the most obvious thing at the time. The spirit desires intoxication because certain previous experiences from a time of distress lie on the surface within it, and it wants to get rid of these experiences, to forget them completely.
This spirit had taken this desire for intoxication with it into its new life on earth, and it was expressed through its weakness of will. Before it was prepared for reincarnation, it had had experiences in the world in which it lived that had impressed it. It had risen from the depths and had already lived through several human lives that had always ended with great stress and had required its purification in the world beyond. These experiences from the time of its purification were only partially erased. As a human being he knew nothing about it - as a human being one knows nothing about previous lives and previous existence in the spiritual world - but such experiences are deeply rooted in the spirit. If they go back to a time when one was in pain and torment, then at that time, at every time of experience, there was a desire for liberation, for redemption. If such a soul was then able to rise a little, it was happy about it. But if it is condemned for a certain period of time, all kinds of thoughts arise in its inner being and all kinds of desires build up - precisely the desire to forget, to be intoxicated. It leaves its mark when one remains in lower thoughts and desires and does not have the strength to find the higher meaning in the life that one lives in the spiritual world, and is not prepared to accept punishment in order to purify oneself internally and prepare oneself for something better. But if one says yes to fate, one has an easier time in the future. Then the kind of desires that did with that spirit cannot emerge, namely to be intoxicated and not to fit into the order. So it depends very much on the level of inner development.
In this case, it was like this: he had risen from the depths and gone through various purifications that had been unpleasant for him. He still had that in his consciousness, or it was still on the surface. The desire for intoxication, this addiction, can degenerate and will manifest itself in human life in one way or another, wherever the best opportunity presents itself. For such a cobbler, alcohol was probably the most obvious choice, whereas for a person who lives in better circumstances, let us say, it does not necessarily have to be alcohol. Such a person can indulge in other vices, other addictions or vices, depending on the circumstances of the environment in which he lives, depending on what is available.
Well, this brother also had to find his way back into God's order, but it was difficult for him. The fact that it was difficult for him is shown by the explanation I have given you: how he wandered around, how he was unwilling to work and how he suffered from his addiction. He wanted to forget; he was looking for peace and quiet, but he could not understand the true peace that was being offered to him - it was too simple or perhaps too difficult for him. So the spiritual world has no choice but to wait. So this brother was simply left to his own devices, he had to find his own way. Now and then he received advice from his fellow brothers and sisters, the inhabitants who lived in this village, but he could not listen to them; he was still looking for his happiness, as he imagined it.
Well, in the meantime the time had come for his former life companion to pass away. She was led into exactly the same world, into the same village where her former husband was. They met. Now the woman was disappointed and indignant, because she did not want to know anything about her husband. When they explained to her that earthly life was over, that she had to live in the world beyond and that life would go on, she was disappointed that she would now have to be with this man again. Now a spirit of God came, took this woman, after she had been granted a time of rest and sleep, led her to this man and explained to the two of them: "You have not understood each other in your life. You have burdened each other. Now you must try to find peace with each other here. As people you could not live in peace. It can only be for the salvation of your souls if you learn to understand each other here." The spirit of God assigned them an apartment and then recommended to this man that he must start his work, namely his his future activity would be similar to that in his human life. The Spirit of God spoke to both of them and said that neither of them should reproach the other, but that each of them was now given the task of contributing enough to enable the other to live in peace. That would mean that they would find peace and understand each other, that they would no longer entertain evil thoughts and would try to be well-disposed towards one another. They had a lot to do.
The man, who had already been in this world beyond for some time, had already begun to change his opinion. The others had spoken to him and he now wanted to adapt to them. He was ashamed that things were not actually going better for him and that an angel of God had rebuked him in front of his former wife, with whom he had lived. He was ashamed of this rebuke and was now willing to obey.
Now they were both to work in the same way as before and share the work with each other. The work was assigned to them. But they were not to work all the time, because when a spirit has come so far and is ready to enter into God's order and to be taught, the higher spiritual beings come and give it instruction. They explain the spiritual laws to such beings in a way that they can understand. They are also told that the Christian holidays that people celebrate in remembrance of Christ, the Redeemer, are also celebrated in the spiritual world. In this way they are also made aware of when the time comes when people are again reminded of redemption through Jesus Christ, and that such a time will be blessed for people if they can really connect internally with the spiritual world of God and with the spirit of truth. The closer their relationship to the kingdom of God, the greater the blessing that will be poured out on them on such holidays. For not only people should remember this work of redemption with joy, there should also be rejoicing in the world beyond.
And so these two were reminded that the time had just come again when this festival in remembrance of redemption through Christ would also be celebrated in the spiritual realm. This message was announced to them, and so they were all allowed to take part in a teaching. They were given the opportunity to enter a temple that had been built in this village, where they could come together and sing and pray together. They were thus allowed to step out of their miserable huts and come together in a better, more beautiful room, so that they could also take part in the praise and thanksgiving. When such a time approaches and the spirits are called upon, those who are of good will go. There are only a few who turn away and who are not prepared to accept such an invitation. They are usually those who have not lived in this new world for very long and who have no connection to this new environment and to everything that is happening there. They feel more like a human being than a spirit. They then stay outside and do not take part in these festivities.
This man and this woman had the opportunity to take part in such a festival for a joint prayer of thanks.

This temple, which is at such a low stage of development or ascension, is of a modest nature. But it is filled with a wonderful atmosphere, because angels of God have sanctified this room, filled it with this holy power; they have thus radiated their fine od. It fills those present with bliss to be in this room, even if only temporarily. They then hear the teachings that are given to them and the encouragement to do everything for their ascension. They pray and sing together.
When such celebrations can be experienced, it gives many of these ascending spirit brothers and sisters greater courage, and they do their work more conscientiously and beg God for grace, for mercy, that they might be freed from their distress, that is, that they might be redeemed and led away from the village where they have lived up to now and to a more beautiful place. That means an infinite amount; for this is ascension, relief, bliss for both, and that is what it is all about. So these higher spirit brothers and sisters will also come to these lower levels of ascension to prepare a dwelling or a temple so that their brothers and sisters can feel happy there for the time being, so that it gives them courage and confidence again to prepare themselves for the better world, the higher world. After such celebrations, those who have made the most progress can
also be led away.
Thus these two, who had always quarrelled in human life, were able to recognize the real spiritual life. The man's desire for intoxication has gone. He has turned to the higher and taken another step upwards. So the two are told, and both have to spend their purification together and practice mutual understanding and goodwill. They have to stay together until the spirit world of God finds that both have learned something in this respect and have been partially purified. Then they are freed and they can separate, and each is given a new task. At first it consists of better work. Later the further laws are explained to them, the necessity of their ascent and thus of the future new earthly life, which plays an important role in the ascent. All this is explained to them, and if they are willing to move forward, then the way to this ascent is also cleared. So these two are on the way upwards. They were separated when they understood each other and promised to do everything for spiritual ascent and not to abandon God's order.

So you can understand when the [greeting] messages given to you here [by your deceased relatives or friends] say: "At first they had great difficulty adjusting to this new world. But afterwards they became happy, content with their surroundings and with the support they were given." For they are not abandoned, they are not left to themselves. If they are willing to ascend, they, each of them, will be given a hand to ascend. Then each will go their own way again. They remain bound together by a bond of former togetherness. They can occasionally come together again if they express this wish. But if the spiritual world of God considers it better for each to go their own way, then it will also do its part to ensure that the paths remain separate. But the memory of the time spent together is not erased. If a spirit being has the desire to see and experience how it has ascended, this can be explained and shown to it again. But the advice can also be given that one should not live in such a desire, that is, not be interested in the past, but rather concern oneself with the future, with ascension, with making things better, and that there is so much for each individual to do and to achieve for this ascension, for this better life. And the spirits of God always agree to give the individual the support to accelerate this ascension. Don't look back, but look forward and do everything you can to understand the meaning of life, to be reunited as a family, to regain the happiness that once was.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I was commissioned to give you this report. I am withdrawing back into my world. May God's blessing accompany and protect you. Greetings.

Experience report by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. 
Original: tape recording



Next case. 

October 2nd, 1968.
A couple of parents and their great love for the child left behind on earth.
Every person prepares their own future heavenly home.

Joseph: Greetings. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend. Many of you have had a very contemplative week [the meditation week with spirit teacher Lene]. Interesting facts were also added, and so you were able to enrich your knowledge anew. Dear brothers and sisters, in this hour I will tell you about ascending human brothers and sisters. This should also serve to enrich you. If it is possible or necessary, I will give explanations.

There was a married couple who had to leave this earthly world quite early. They left behind a daughter. Relatives did not take care of this daughter, and so she was taken to an orphanage. This couple, who died shortly after one another, were allowed to live together in the world beyond, work together and share an apartment. They were happy, but something still bothered them: it was their child that they had to leave behind and that grew up in an orphanage. So they took every opportunity to go to their child. Once they did this together, another time the mother went first and then later the father. Each wanted to help the child. They warned it when it was necessary. They also tried to guide it in such a way that it was obedient. They even helped it at school by influencing it. They did it out of pity and compassion, because they did not want their child to be punished as severely as was usual at the time. So they took turns and supported their child whenever possible.

They themselves were actually very happy in the spiritual world. They were undemanding. They lived in an oblong house that had two storeys. On the ground floor there were spiritual workshops, and on the upper floor there was one apartment after the other for the spirit brothers and sisters who worked there. Some of these spirit brothers and sisters were alone and were allowed to live in an apartment for themselves, others were in pairs, like this couple of parents who had been together in human life. This oblong house was free-standing, that is, there were no other houses in the immediate vicinity. In front of and behind the house these spirit brothers and sisters were given the opportunity to tend their own garden. They could cultivate and plant it according to their own taste. In return, certain bushes and flowers and the like were made available to them. But anyone who wanted something special to decorate their garden - be it more beautiful flowers or certain objects - had to buy these additional things and in return they had to perform a service. Through this special service, a wish could be expressed and then it was considered what could be given in return or how much the person in question still had to do in order to receive what was desired. The services that had to be performed consisted mainly of serving others.
The level that these spirit brothers and sisters occupied was not one of the lowest, but also did not exceed the middle of the ladder of ascension. So they did their work together and the angelic world was satisfied with their work. I have already emphasized that they were actually undemanding. On earth, that is, where they grew up, nothing special had been offered to them. They had a simple life. It was no comparison with a life today, because it was very modest. So even after death, this modesty was still present in one's feelings and in all one's thoughts. One did not desire precious things or a varied life. One was not used to such things and had no memory of them and was therefore content with what one had.
Now there was garden after garden, and everyone planted their garden according to their own taste and the effort they could make to acquire additional things and thereby make their garden even more beautiful and richer. But it was not everyone's job to do additional things. The two spirit brothers were very modest and immediately satisfied with what they had.
Now, this couple had always observed their daughter who had been left behind on earth. She grew up, later got married, and the new family had children again. So these spiritual grandparents now had new tasks with their grandchildren. There was also a lot to prevent, look after and protect. And so they took turns again and enjoyed the new tasks that had fallen to them through their grandchildren. All their love was primarily for their daughter and these grandchildren, and they also occupied themselves with the thought that their daughter would also one day pass over into the world of God. They thought and talked about how their daughter would certainly end up like them; in life, no one had been particularly interested in what would happen afterwards, and so they wanted to do some preparatory work and prepare a home for her; when she did pass over, she would already have a well-prepared, beautiful apartment, and they wanted to make the garden particularly beautiful for her. Now all they were concerned about was acquiring this garden and this apartment. They were used to spirit brothers and sisters moving in and out of the neighboring apartments. They didn't think about why some kept leaving and others coming. 
There was a reason for that: those who were able to leave this level were allowed to move up; and so new spirit brothers and sisters were given the opportunity to live there, do their work and do something pleasant and enjoyable at the same time, work in the garden. Now the two of them had long been waiting for the moment when the apartment next to them and the garden that went with it would become free. They had agreed among themselves that they would occupy the adjacent apartment for their daughter as soon as someone moved out. Occasionally someone from the higher spiritual world would come to check whether everything was in order, but they never really had any problems. The work they did was always appreciated and they didn't get any special compliments for it. In the meantime, they also went to the teaching sessions and had their devotional time. They went to the temple together, where they gave honor to God and where the angelic world was also present. The life they lived reminded them so much of their human life that they believed they had the full right to occupy the adjoining apartment. When they finally moved out, one of them went over, took items from their own apartment, sat down in the other apartment and pretended to live there. They did the same with the garden: They soon redesigned the garden and simply considered it their property.

The spirit world of God saw this, of course, but at first they did not intervene. They let the two of them do as they pleased for a while. In their spiritual teachings they had long been taught about the laws and order of God, so they should have realized from these teachings that they were not allowed to do this. So the world of God looked on for a while. But then the time had come for the angelic beings to intervene. They went into the house and confronted this spirit brother, pointing out to him that he had appropriated something that did not belong to him. But he said that he only wanted to have his daughter close to him when she came home, and that this was not important if he had prepared the house a little earlier and had it ready. He was of the opinion that this was now his right. The angel told him that this was not permitted and that the daughter would take care of herself; she would decide for herself where she would go after her earthly death. By this the angel wanted to say: According to her merits, according to the life she had lived, she would take her place, and this does not necessarily have to be near her parents. But the two did not want to hear that. After the angel had brought this to their attention, he asked them to vacate the apartment and to prepare the garden again as was usual for a new arrival. The apartment was also to be put back in this state.

Well, the two of them did not do it. Together they had all sorts of excuses ready. One time they both lived in this other apartment, the other time only one part, and since they were allowed this free will in the meantime and no intervention was made, they believed that they had simply received the concession from the higher world for it. Since they conscientiously fulfilled their task in their work and also gave no other reason,  they should have reprimanded, the spirit world of God simply had a different decision for them.
	So an angel of God came to them quite unexpectedly when they were once again in this adjoining apartment and were talking about how happy they would be to welcome their daughter, how they would then be able to work and live together, how beautiful life together would be and how they would then be able to experience what they had not been able to experience in human life, namely this togetherness, and how they would like to fully enjoy it in the spiritual world. So they were together in this strange apartment, having a wonderful conversation, when the angel of God came to them and said that they should leave this place as quickly as possible; another apartment had been prepared for them, which was much nicer than the one they had lived in up to now. They should now get ready as quickly as possible to move into this new apartment. The preparations had been made there. They were expected and they would be surprised and very pleased. This angel of God said this very lovingly and said goodbye, saying: "Someone else is coming to fetch you and accompany you there."

And now the two of them: On the one hand they were disappointed, on the other hand they were of course also happy and full of anticipation for their new home, which was supposed to be nicer. For they had already heard similar things, that there were levels and homes that were much nicer, and a life that had much more to offer than theirs. This new life in the Kingdom of God actually interested them very much, but now all their plans were suddenly shattered - they had prepared the home for their daughter and left the garden as it was despite instructions to the contrary, for they had brought the most beautiful of what they had earned extra over to this garden to make their daughter happy with it. Now they had to hurry and they were supposed to restore the garden to its usual state. That was what they were told, and of course they wanted to take the extra, the beautiful things that they had earned with them. So they prepared all their personal belongings. This spiritual property, this possession, was actually very small.

Now this angel came, who had the task of fetching them. He saw that the two had prepared the things they wanted to take with them, and he had no objections. He looked at the apartments they had to leave behind and the gardens and said: "Yes, some things will have to be changed, because you did not do what you were told." But this was not meant as a complaint, rather it was just a matter of being easily blamed, because they had changed things in the apartments, which they should not have done without the permission of God's spirit world.

So they went over to a higher level with the little spiritual wealth they had - it was very small. A new world awaited them here - for them it was of course new. They came to another village, but this one looked completely different to the one they had left behind. There was no longer a factory building like the one they had lived in, which reminded them of their human days; instead, there were beautiful houses in large gardens, at greater distances from each other. It seemed to the two of them that everything was much more colorful. But there was also a much busier hustle and bustle. So they were excited to see what was to come.

The angels led them into a house that was actually more of a small house, because it was only on one level. But it was surrounded by a magnificent garden. Spirit brothers and sisters were there to welcome them. They also met relatives and other acquaintances from their previous earthly life, who introduced themselves to them. So there was a small reception, and everyone was happy for each other; some were happy that they could ascend, and others that they could greet these long-awaited relatives and spirit brothers and sisters. So there was a small celebration.

The work that had to be carried out here was of a completely different kind: whereas previously they had to work in a workshop, they now had to carry out their work among other spiritual brothers and sisters. This work was actually much more about serving others, that is, it consisted of helping others in their distress. It was therefore a personal, spiritual and mental task that now came to them. The two of them needed some time to familiarise themselves with this new world, and they were also given the opportunity to make friends with it. They did not have to start their work straight away, but first of all they had to get to know their new surrondings.
They were allowed to be measured against the surroundings. And they did. They walked around the area, greeted their neighbors and were very happy. They were therefore very happy about their ascent.

But then an angel of God came to them and explained that they could probably stay together for a while, but that they would then have to prepare for separation. They had had the joy of sharing work with each other for a while and also attending school together; but now the separation had to begin and each had to go their own way. This hurt both of them a little, because they asked that they be allowed to be together, and the spirits of God showed leniency and explained: "Yes, we will let you be together until your daughter comes." But they were made aware that the daughter was not allowed to live with them, nor would she move into the apartment they had prepared. Neither of these was the case, but the daughter would have her own apartment, and she had chosen this apartment herself through her achievements in life. The angel explained that they would then have the opportunity to be together with their daughter. He made them aware of the new activity they had to do and of the preparation for their separation. For these two were still connected by the bond of human, earthly affiliation. Now this bond should not be torn, but should be severed. 

So they stayed together and fulfilled their tasks together until the time when their daughter passed over into the spiritual world. They were allowed to be there to welcome her, they visited her, gave her advice and were delighted to discover that their daughter actually had a much nicer home than they had had at first. The daughter had had a life of merit and so she occupied a beautiful level in the spiritual world and a beautiful home too. So this couple could now be happy about it and nothing in their souls and in their thoughts should prevent them from separating from each other. It is painful for one or the other of those who have returned home when they are still bound by the bond of togetherness and see how the other has to suffer because of the separation or because of their own burden. This makes the spirit brothers and sisters in the world beyond uncomfortable, just as they are unhappy when they realize that their relatives who are still living on earth are not living according to God's will. In the spiritual world they are also disappointed when their relationships are not harmonious.

So the separation should be easier for this couple. And so it was. The spirit of God came and explained: "The bond of earthly togetherness has been loosened. Now you must go your own spiritual ways. Each must give his all from his own strength to accelerate his ascent." Up until now they had shown consideration for one another: if one had found it difficult to fulfill his tasks, the other had simply gone to meet him and helped to bear the difficult or to fulfill the more difficult task. They had simply walked the path to the top together. All of this is permitted in the lower stages of ascent, that one supports one another in the ascent, that one helps one another. But when a certain spiritual level of development is reached, one wants to demand the utmost from each individual, without having to take into account the backwardness of the next person with whom one lives, because this would hinder the ascent of the stronger part. Consequently, the separation should now give each the opportunity to undertake further ascent using his own strength. They should have the opportunity to come together again, because the bond was not torn, it was only loosened. Now there should be competition in spiritual ascent. There should be no jealousy on the part of one or the other, but joy should fill each one when they see that the other has achieved great achievements. It should be a joy such as one feels in the family when a member of the family has achieved respect in his human life, has a corresponding position in life and one is proud and takes joy in it and knows no jealousy. This feeling must also be present in the spiritual world in these families that are still somewhat connected. And so each one, the daughter as well as the father and the mother, had the opportunity to put themselves at the service of their neighbour.
In the kingdom of heaven, in the spiritual world, where the ascent of souls takes place, there is an infinite amount of work to be done. In human terms, it is difficult to understand all the work that has to be done and how much work is constantly waiting to be completed. If you look at a
But once you have reached these higher levels, the work of the ascended spirit brothers and sisters is in a different proportion than in the lower levels. In these higher levels, great importance is placed on doing very responsible work. The higher you climb, the greater the responsibility and the more conscientious you must be. You must therefore have a very specific knowledge of the spiritual order and its laws. This is the prerequisite for carrying out further work.
This is how these spirit brothers and sisters are sent out, once into the spirit world itself. There is so much to do, taking care of spirit brothers and sisters who simply cannot find their way in their new world because this new world is so foreign to them, because they did not believe in it in their human life; because some arrive in this world in despair, because they have lost their earthly possessions, because they have become propertyless; others because they have been called away from their duties and tasks and were unable to complete their task; others because they were separated from their family members, had to leave behind small children and therefore cannot find their way in this new world because there are too many problems in their souls. They are still too closely connected to the thinking power of earthly people because they have not been in the spiritual world for very long and this new world is foreign to them because they know nothing about the spiritual laws, nothing about the order, nothing about God, nothing about his plan of salvation. They are truly strangers in this world. There are very many who are unhappy about this. They are unhappy about this because they previously lived in a world that could offer them everything, with which they were completely familiar, and now suddenly all of this has been taken away from them and they are standing in a foreign world with nothing.
It takes a lot of devotion, a lot of sacrifice to look after such spiritual brothers and sisters. You can perhaps imagine how it can feel for those who have lived a life full of pleasure and comfort, and suddenly they are nobody, strangers, have no reputation and are no longer favored by anyone. So they are lost and unhappy and have only one wish: to go back, back to the world they came from. They don't want to believe that they have died. And so there are all kinds of scenes, truly scenes. Untrained spirit brothers and sisters or those who have familiarized themselves with the new world but do not yet have the power of persuasion themselves and only have modest spiritual knowledge cannot help them. They cannot be used for such a task. So further ascended spirit brothers and sisters must teach these unfortunate ones. They must look after them. They go to these spirit brothers and sisters and now share this very modest apartment with them. This is their new task now, because their reputation has risen, their appearance is particularly marked. They are seen and addressed as higher spiritual beings, and now they are supposed to be able to give something of their acquired knowledge and their knowledge to these others.
It is not enough to simply say to these unfortunate people: "You must now accept your new situation, and you must now simply pray and believe in God." It does not happen so quickly. You cannot impress and convince one person or another with such words. You need to grow into it slowly, to accept the new situation and the new world, and also to personally admit the mistakes you made in the world, the burdens you have brought upon yourself, the disbelief you had because you did not believe in life after death, and you mocked those who spoke of spirits of God and of life after death. So you need to admit what you have done and said, and that is not something you can get from everyone straight away. Because such beings take their time. They have the opportunity to repeatedly enter their former world and live there. And then they are again made aware of their spiritual tasks by these ascended spirit brothers and sisters and called upon to return to their real, spiritual life and to obey there.
So a great deal of activity is required from the spirits of God who have nothing else to do than to constantly ascend and descend and to make these spirit brothers and sisters aware of the absurdity of their life on this earth and their attempts to be active here and to influence people, and to explain to them that they should rather train themselves and then, after this spiritual school, they would have the opportunity to influence these people in the world.
Now among these deceased, are also  spirit brothers and sisters who are not only unbelievers, but very malicious. They are disappointed in themselves that they did not profess any faith on earth, and they are disappointed in their own troubled lives. However, they do not want to admit it. They have the same disposition as they had in their human life. Just as there are people who do not admit their mistakes and who are uncomprehending, they are also uncomprehending in spirit. They do not want to admit it, and so it simply takes much longer for such people to begin the ascension, and the spirit brothers and sisters who help them have a much harder time with them. There are some very malicious deceased people.
 These can of course be banished to a place somewhere by the power and the word of God, i.e. by the orders of the angels. They are simply left there until they have come to the realization that they must surrender, until they have acquired the knowledge to obey the words of the higher spiritual world. The kind of evil spirit brothers and sisters that must also be received are then led to a place that is set aside for them, and this place is also a kind of exile. During this time of exile, however, they are not willing to change their thoughts due to their evilness. And then the spirit world of God intervenes and puts them into a deeper sleep with a spiritual remedy. It is common for brothers and sisters who have returned home to be led into a sleep for a while and then to awaken from this sleep somewhat strengthened. But that does not mean that the views that one had before are now completely different. For the most part, one is simply spiritually strengthened, but for most people the views are still the same as in earthly life, because they have taken these with them.

These evil spirit brothers and sisters are led into a longer, deep sleep with gentle force, so to speak. A spiritual remedy or a spiritual medication is used for this. According to your human concepts, this sleep can even last two to three years or even longer. This spiritual sleep takes away from a spirit brother certain memories of his past life, of the burdens he has brought upon himself. The spirit world of God awakens him from this sleep, and the burdens then of course still lie in his soul, but his wickedness in the way he showed it has gone. He no longer has any memory of his previous life and of all that he had done. Depending on the individual's case, a spirit of God will draw his attention to this: "You slept for a long time. But now you have also come back from life very burdened." And if the person concerned does not want to believe this, then his previous life or his misdeeds are brought before his spiritual eye, and he experiences it in this way as proof. And in most cases he is then willing to take on everything that is beneficial for him and good for his ascent. Through this deep, gentle intervention of the spirit world, this personal wickedness was removed, but the burdens he carried were not taken away. He has to make amends for all of this, except for this part, which is forgiven when he enters the spiritual world, as is to everyone's benefit. Even then, there is still enough burden to carry with him and inconsistencies that still need to be put right.

So those ascended spirit brothers and sisters must be assigned to such an activity from their heights. They are taught and instructed for this and can now fulfill their tasks. This type of work makes God's spirit world happy, because these spirit brothers and sisters are aware of the elevated spiritual level they occupy; but they also know that it is not always easy to fulfill their tasks, especially with those deceased who come over and are very malicious. So tasks of all kinds are distributed. For example, a mother has to be cared for because she was suddenly called away from the earthly world and left behind underage children - you have already received these explanations. If such a spirit brother or sister does not carry any malice within them, but is deeply moved in their innermost being because of what has happened and simply cannot find the way because they believe that too much misfortune has come upon them and their loved ones, then they are led to a special house and there they receive their care and sleep. Each one receives the care that is intended for them by the spiritual world of God.
In this way, one rises up, and one's personal achievements also increase, which then for the most part bring even more joy than what one has done so far. The Angels of God, also praise those spirit brothers and sisters who carry out such activities, and they are always in contact with them. It is then a great joy for those spirit brothers and sisters to be in the company of exalted angels of God, to be personally taught by them and to receive instructions from them. Because people usually do not just talk about their personal activities, but also have conversations of a completely different kind. The high spirit brothers and sisters talk about their experiences in their high heavens, and so a beautiful mutual friendship and a mutual dependency prevail. The very high spirit of God is dependent on the ascended one who helps, and the ascended one is dependent on the one above him. Everything is put together like a chain.

Now, dear brothers and sisters, I have once again been able to give you a report of experiences in a special way and at the same time some teachings that should enrich your knowledge. So I would now like to withdraw into my world again and not answer any more questions this evening. May you be guarded and protected and guided by the helpful spirits of God, so that your life becomes a blessed life and you can meet us one day as trusted friends. God bless you.

Report of the experience of spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording.



Next case. 


November 6, 1968.
Hermann an intensive lesson on the love of God
How an ascending spirit learns to treat his fellow creatures lovingly.

Control spirit: God bless you. I am the control. Dear brothers and sisters, a spirit brother named Hermann is speaking to you. May this hour be blessed for you. God bless you.

Hermann: God bless you. My dear brothers and sisters, my name is Hermann. I have the task of telling you something about my ascension. I would like to describe my life on this earth only briefly, but rather talk to you about the consequences of living the wrong way. Because what I have to say to you should also be a hint to you; you should learn from it.
So I lived as a human being on this earth without faith in God. I did not believe in God or in life after death, not in a spirit world, nothing like that. I had no faith at all and imagined that everything would be over after earthly death. Now the disappointment was great when I woke up and realized that life continued - I had only laid aside my body. So a sublime spirit stood before me and he did not treat me particularly gently. He did not have friendly words of greeting, but he invited me to come with him straight away. It all seemed a bit strange to me and I was actually living in great amazement. This spirit of God now led me to a place. It happened so quickly that I could not look at the surroundings, especially since, I remember well, I was not even able to look to the right or left or forwards or backwards, but I was lost in myself. Now everything was completely different and I wanted to think about how I could still
improve my situation. But even the excuses I had were of no use.

So I suddenly found myself in a somewhat gloomy environment. The ground I was standing on was full of mud. (reminds of this film on this theme. Rø-rem.) I sank into this mud while my companion walked lightly over it. I thought quickly and thought to myself: "That may well be possible because I am much stronger and my weight is much greater; so I just have to sink in, while this delicate spirit next to me has it much easier." He walked lightly over this mud and it was very difficult for me to walk. He asked me to walk a little way through this mud; he wanted to go with me up a small hill. There was a hut there, or rather, there were huts one after the other. I couldn't count them, there were so many. While I was having trouble wading through this mud, this sublime spirit made no attempt to help me. He walked lightly in front of me and I followed with great effort and even with moaning and cries for help. It was all to no avail, he hardly looked back. So I finally reached this hill. I had become very tired from this walking. I really had a lot to think about. I suddenly found myself in a new world that I knew nothing about, that I hadn't wanted to know anything about and that was anything but beautiful.
The sublime spirit then asked me to enter one of the huts. When I reached the slope, I could walk a little better. I went into this hut with him. Of course, I was not at all pleased with this environment and I had only one wish: to do everything

in order to be able to get away from this environment as soon as possible. But I soon realized that I could not leave here. But now I was supposed to listen to what this sublime spirit had to say to me. He accused me of living without faith in God. I didn't really hear any reproaches about my life, what I had done wrong, although I knew full well that I had done some things wrong and incorrectly in this case. I was only accused of my lack of faith. Since I didn't believe in God, I didn't have love either. And I had to listen to what love meant. In human terms, I would have to say that this conversation, in which they only spoke to me about love, what love meant, lasted for months.

What I heard there had finally stirred up my innermost being, and I now began to accept it and believe it to be true; because I had to hear the same thing over and over again. The sublime spirit explained to me that the love that man has for his family cannot be compared to the love of God, that the love of God is something much more significant. God's love for his creatures is infinitely great, and so his creatures must strive to get to know the love that God gives to his creatures. "The love that God has for his creatures means security, peace, happiness. Love that God gives is the highest good, encompassing all virtues. If you believe in God, you should love him," I was told.

In this way, my mistakes were also brought about, and it was made clear to me that these mistakes were only possible because I did not know God and did not love him. It was explained to me: "God's love means security. God loves his creatures and wants to draw them close to him. He wants his creatures to come close to him and live with him in glory and to enjoy glory. God's love for his creatures means compassion, understanding, mercy, goodness, justice and so on - all of this is contained in the true love of God for his creatures." And the sublime spirit told me: "Whoever confesses his faith in God believes he can claim that he loves God." But there are relatively few people on earth who love God in the true sense of the word; for one lacks modesty, another lacks humility, another is dissatisfied and domineering. So it is the vices in man that prevent him from really loving God. It would be only deception to assume that one loves God because one believes in him; but love for God would be love if man acted as God acts towards his creatures.

How much I heard there! If I tell you that this conversation lasted months, you can imagine all the things I heard about what love means. Love means: a man should live in understanding, benevolence and goodness; love of man means not possessing his heavenly Father for himself alone as a loving God; love means, if one believes one feels it for God, that in this love there is great harmony, great peace, that in this love, in this love of God, there is also respect for others, that one must show respect for others. If one values, values ​​and respects others, one cannot attack them in any way; one is just as noble in one's nature and as harmonious as God is. God is love. People only understand this love as something superficial; they only have shadows of the love that God has for his creatures. So if a person believes in God and believes that he loves him, he must also love his fellow human beings, because it is his fellow human beings that he is most guilty of and burdened with, it is the human beings towards whom he is most inconsiderate. And that is far from love.
Well, now I have only had a very short conversation about this love, so I had to hear what love is. So I could actually think about it; I did not need to work during the time when these conversations were taking place. These conversations took place in my hut, which had been assigned to me. However, it was not always the same angel standing in front of me, but they alternated; when one left, the other came in, and the same conversation continued in the same way. So I was deeply touched and penetrated by this conversation and by this love. I believed that these conversations were so important for me, because I could truly learn something from them; it was certainly much more fruitful for me to listen like this than if I had had to go through the worst purification. Always being awake and listening was not easy either; but the strength to be awake was given to me, and so I learned what God's love is. But it was still far from certain that I would be able to pass on what had been hammered into me at the given time.

When they decided that this instruction about love, how to behave towards others when you love God, was enough, they also wanted to strengthen my faith in God. They didn't just want to teach me faith, but love must also be rooted in faith; because too many people believe in God and don't love him. And that was why they had spoken to me so forcefully. Then it was made clear to me: "Now you have some ideas about love and faith in God." Now I should also prove in the company of others how my faith and my love were.

I was then led out of the hut and had to wade through the mud again with this spirit of God. This was a great effort for me, and I received no help from the companion. But I immediately realized that I was not alone. There were other huts there, and they also came out of these huts with a companion. They had to make the same effort to walk through the mud as I did. In their case, too, the companion did not care about the arduous path that his protégé now had to take. That seemed to be a punishment. And it was.

I was not supposed to be idle; the work was going to be hard. I was led to a mountain, and I was now able to step into the interior of this mountain, with my companion always at my side. There the work was waiting for me. There was really hard work inside this mountain. I do not want to go into the type of work now, because you people do not have the necessary understanding of the relationship in the spiritual world with regard to the work of the spirits rising from below. It should be enough for you if I say: I had to do my work inside this mountain, and it was very hard. I was expected to work continuously, just like the others. You could not put your tools aside and rest.

 That's what the guards were there for, and we wouldn't have dared. We also realized that it was a hard life, a strict regime that you couldn't contradict. So we did our work. It was strictly regulated according to spiritual time. Then we were allowed to put down our tools and return to our huts. But after hard work, we still had the arduous journey ahead of us. When we got to the hut, or when I got there (if I want to apply it to myself), I felt tired, really tired from the work. So I was allowed to rest for a while. But then the Spirit of God came again and gave lessons. He spoke again about the love of God, repeated everything he had already said to me, and also explained God's creation and the plan of salvation. In this way, I and everyone else were taught. We had relatively little opportunity to talk to each other while we were working. But there was still an opportunity now and then; and so you could immediately determine how deeply rooted the love was in the other person, which was also talked about so much, or whether he had no thoughts of love, whether he lived and struggled with feelings of discord. You would meet such people now and then, and they would make their comments accordingly, believing that what was said had not been heard. I had now thought to myself: "If I live on and have been led to such a place that I simply deserve, I must accept fate and I must try to bring out the best in myself." So I wanted to be willing to live this love. I tried to be friendly with the others, to give them proof that what I had been told was bearing fruit. I wanted to be an example to them.

I could never determine how long the work went on inside that mountain. Because there is no one time like that of people. There is indeed a spiritual time calculation, but the ascending spirits have no insight into this time calculation; they can concern themselves with it and can ask about time, but they don't know what to do with it, so they live without time. So I did my work as best I could. And so I occasionally started conversations with the spirit who taught me. I asked him to pray to God with me, I wanted to express my reverence, I wanted to prove that I honor him and ask for his grace and his strength, and I wanted to practice love so that I could learn to love this God who was so foreign to me. I had to try to learn and understand that God really was my Father.

He is the one who means well for me and that I have to go through these difficult trials and that it is for the salvation of my soul - so I imagined that an earthly father also punishes his children. This was my attitude and it was of great benefit to me.

Soon the good news came to me that I could change my job; I would then no longer have to wade through this mud, but I would still remain on the same level. This was good news for me. If it was already suggested to me that my work would be a little less difficult in the future, I was already satisfied with that. So the Spirit of God led me to another place, but also into a mountain. There he showed me what other spirit brothers had worked on up to that point. But then he led me to another place and this was a great surprise and joy for me: no more mud, the earth resembled the earth as it was in human life. And what did I discover? A little way away from this mountain there were rows of horses, and I was now to lead these horses. I had to carry out my future work with these horses. What the others had worked on did not remain inside this mountain. It was spiritual material that had to be broken out, I must say. This spiritual material, which is in the lower stages of development, is not of subtle spiritual matter, as it is in the upper spiritual stages. That is why these objects are heavy; they remind us of the loads that horses have to drag on earth. So I had to carry out my task with these horses.

I had a few horses assigned to me in turn, which were chosen to drag these loads away. I loved these animals very much, I was good with them. It should be said that it is quite natural: if one had to hear so much about the love of God, how God's creatures are filled with love, it was quite natural for me that

not only a spirit brother had to be given this attention and care, but also the animals. I was also informed about this and warned from the outset that I had to be very careful and not express any impatience with these animals. It was fine with me, I could practice this love in this way, as it had been hammered into me: to have understanding, consideration, respect for everything that God created, whether of a lower or higher development. This was how I should be able to practice love. I had the feeling that the animals also had affection for me. I never had a reason to act against an animal. They were, it seemed to me, extremely docile and intelligent. So I led the animals, and that gave me great joy.

I also had my quiet time again. I was now allowed to live in a house together with other spirit brothers. It was no longer a hut like it had been before, but the house was not particularly well-kept. It was quite loud and a mess, and it seemed quite clear to me that all these spirit brothers and sisters were burdened in their own way and now had to do their work and be taught, and that their nature was anything but noble. So I had another opportunity to prove to those with whom I had to live what was explained to me. So I tried to show a lot of understanding and never became impatient, always listening as long as the next person wanted. Because most of the time the conversations were only about what one had once been in one's previous life and how regrettable it was that one was now in such a sober world and had no spiritual possessions at all. They talked about everything they had experienced and possessed in life. So you had to listen to them. But now and then I had the opportunity to point out to them that they should forget the past and now be interested in the new life. It was not as easy for everyone as it was for me. I quickly got used to the new circumstances, while others couldn't stop complaining. The many admonitions and the words about the love of God really made an impression on me, and I wanted to escape this lower world. But it was also made clear to me that I could not determine when the time for this work that I was doing was up, when I could ascend. I was made to understand that it would still take quite a lot before I could be led into a somewhat harmonious life. And so I thought: "All of this, all of this, I am now experiencing because I did not believe in God and because I did not have love." Well, that was my spiritual life. 	So I wanted to persevere and tried to explain something about the love of God in conversations with the others. But it was not always so that
I was welcomed warmly. Others were so marked and offended by their impatience that nothing could be done with them. So I had no choice but to worry about myself alone, and that meant that I lived the love that was expected of me with everything I came into contact with. And so I did.

I cannot say how long I had been working with the horses; it is or was not important to me. I loved the horses very much, but less the work that had to be done on the side. I did not like the surroundings, and I did not like the brothers and sisters I had to live with either. So I just had to hold out, and I wanted to earn something better. So I did it, and then the spirit of God came to me again and said: "I think you have probably got through the worst of your purification." I breathed a sigh of relief. But I thought to myself that the next step would certainly not bring me complete happiness; I had learned so much from the plan of creation that progress can only be made step by step. But I wanted to be grateful if I could take just one step forward. So I was now allowed to leave this environment. I had to say goodbye to my animals. However, the sublime spirit allowed me to visit these animals again later.

So he fled with me to another plane, and this other plane was like a paradise for me. There were green meadows, beautiful trees, gardens, even if sparsely planted, in their floral splendor.

For me, after what I had left behind, it was a small paradise. But I was now to be familiarized and introduced to new spirit brothers and sisters in this new environment. I was taught again and told that I would have to live in a community house here too, but that I would have my own room where I could retreat to rest as I pleased. Further teachings, however, would take place in the community rooms; one must come together to honor God, to pray, to give thanks, to sing and to make music in his honor. I was very happy. Actually, and this must be mentioned, even in my hard times, my thoughts never went back to the past, lost life. I left it behind me and was no longer interested in what was happening on earth, what my relatives were doing or what was happening at all. I no longer cared about it, even when things were better for me on this beautiful plain; because I only had one goal, and that seemed to me to be the most important thing: to go upwards, towards a new world, a new life. And so I left the old one behind me.

I was introduced to other spirit brothers and sisters, they were introduced to me. There were various workshops there. But they were not located in the houses where you lived. You also had to make a journey to these workshops; but making this journey was very pleasant and relaxing. The workshops were actually one-story buildings, and work was done in them. So my master and the brothers and sisters with whom I was to work were introduced to me. Here too, I was made aware that I should practice everything that I had learned and that was of great importance in the spiritual world. I should practice this love again. It was not just about liking the other person and being well-disposed towards them. This love meant much more: patience, understanding, helpfulness, tolerance, kindness, compassion, if necessary everything, simply everything that makes the other person pleasant in their coexistence. That is part of the love of God. So I made a firm resolution to only work in this way. And I had to realize how good it had done me that this love had been 'hammered' into me; it was firmly rooted. And so I had a happy time there. These brothers and sisters with whom I worked seemed to be striving in the same way as I was. And so I believed that they had also gone through such a teaching, even if not in exactly the same way as I had. But they were so well-disposed towards each other and so considerate of each other.

I was supposed to learn a trade after all. At first, however, I was more like a handyman. I had to familiarize myself with what was being worked on and just serve. That went for a while, and then the master took me by the hand and said: "Now you are to learn this trade." I enjoyed it a lot, a lot, because in this work you also had the opportunity to let your imagination run wild, to be artistically active. There was no particular rush; you had to work, you couldn't be indifferent and stand around, you always had to do something, but you could also spend a long time thinking about

 something and try it out, you were not scolded for it. So it was a different time to that of people who calculate the time it takes to make objects, which are accordingly expensive - this does not exist in the spiritual world. Here it is an advantage if time is not important. You can tinker around with an object for as long as you like until you finally finish the object or create something new. In this way you could be creative and time was not important. But you had to work, and you were also supervised. And so I was quite happy with that. Because here we understood each other; either I was lucky enough to be with such eager spirit brothers and sisters who were imbued with the same will, or I was lucky enough to be on a level where there were only spirit brothers and sisters who had gone through hard tests and had matured - I never asked about it later. 

So I stayed in this workshop for a long time. In between we were together for cheerful chats, to sing, to play; and of course we had come together to worship God, to pray, to sing. So I was very happy on this plane. But then the spirit of God came again after a while (I had never asked how long I had stayed there) and he promised me that I would be able to experience an even more beautiful world. Because I had now practiced love and fulfilled my tasks and people were happy with me, I should now put my craft aside for a while and fulfill other tasks. The idea was that people would develop in a variety of areas, learn something and mature spiritually. 

Now I was given the opportunity to meet other spirit brothers and sisters, and I again had the opportunity to take out what I had learned and what had gone into me and offer it to the others: to give them a little of the love of God. So I then met spirit brothers and sisters who had not long left the earthly world and who needed to be looked after. So it was best to apply what one had learned to them: this understanding, this patience. One could also explain to them something about love, about the true love of God, because most of them do not know what the love of God is. It is as I was told: there are few who really love God, because they have too many vices that prevent them from accepting the love of God. So I made an effort to give this love to these spiritual brothers and sisters. And there too I experienced gratitude from those who had returned home.

 How grateful they were that they were so lovingly received in this new place. How surprised they were to be looked after so attentively, so lovingly; and how amazed they were to experience with what understanding and consideration they were led into the spiritual realm. Everyone was led according to their merits, but with everyone you could speak the language of love, no matter how they had burdened themselves. My task was not to punish those who had returned home, my task was only to make the language of love effective with them. This is my task to this day.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, it is certainly worth it for you too to reflect on the fact that the love of God is understood to mean a different love than that which is cultivated in the family. It is worth reflecting on the fact that the love of God contains everything, everything; and that one can only speak of the love of God if one tries as best as possible to leave out everything that separates one from love; and that one comes close to others in love - each in his place, each person has this task. In the family, at work, even on the street and in the bars where you meet people and talk to them, you can bear witness to the true love of God.
I am returning, and may the blessing of God watch over and protect you. God bless you.

Joseph: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, I would like to answer questions, but only questions relating to what was said.

Dear Joseph, this whole period of purification seems to have lasted a long time. Can you give an approximate number of years?

Joseph: No, I cannot determine that exactly; I would have to look into it. But as a rule it takes several hundred years before a rebirth occurs; it all depends on the development. A person can also only be in the spiritual world for, say, fifty or seventy years, and then he will be reincarnated. It is actually quite different.

And these horses? Were they dead horses that had lived on earth?

Joseph: Yes.

Dear Joseph, we have established that this unbeliever was led in a very special way. We have already heard of others who were also unbelievers, but they were not taught about love in this way. Is it in the nature of this deceased person that he was led in this way?

Josef: Yes. Well, dear brothers and sisters, I too am withdrawing to my work and returning to my glory. I would also like to pronounce God's blessing upon you. Greetings from God.

Report of the ascending spirit being Hermann and answers to questions from spirit teacher Josef by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. 
Original: tape recording



Next case. 

February 5, 1969
Elisabeth, a kind and cheerful mother of eleven children.
The feelings of family togetherness are also expressed in the world beyond, but these human bonds are loosened as the ascension continues.

Josef [the beginning of the recording is missing; Addition from the first publication in the magazine "Spiritual World"]: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted brother. I will tell you about an ascending spirit sister, because this gives me the opportunity to add explanations from time to time. I will tell you about a mother soul, and we will give her the name Elisabeth. She returned to the world beyond about 120 years ago. I am able to describe the life of those who have returned home in the spiritual world. 
On the one hand, we have the opportunity to experience and describe what is happening in the present. On the other hand, we can look into the past and describe it exactly as it happened. This should be understandable to you today, because you also have the opportunity to play back films of events that happened years ago. I would like to say that everything that people have achieved and created has long existed in the spiritual world. This means that people are slowly wresting something from us, and so you can understand it when I describe to you today the return of the spirit sister from back then.
I have the opportunity to go through the highs and lows of the spiritual world, because it is my job to collect a lot of valuable knowledge and then explain it to you. You also know that I do not move through these spiritual levels alone, but that I have my spiritual helpers, that I have leading spirit brothers and sisters who draw my attention to what needs to be discussed most. If you are sometimes surprised to find that a topic is being discussed that you have been thinking about for a long time, this is due to my brothers and sisters helping you, because you are in a spiritual alliance with all of us. You not only have an interest in us, but we have an even greater interest in you.
We are concerned with you, we see your thoughts, we see your problems, but we do not have the possibility to intervene here and there in a way that is visible to you [tape recording begins:] to change these problems. But what we can do, what is available to us, is the word that is spoken, in that we can give answers to questions in this way and at the same time explain similar fates and how they can best be overcome and what happens when you behave in this or that way. This is how we find contact with you. So it is not just my own work, but it is the occupation and interest of many spiritual brothers and sisters. You are in league with us, and we have enough helpful spiritual brothers and sisters who are available. It is about taking advantage of this opportunity where the word can be proclaimed and is received in the hearts and souls of people, so that something is learned from it, so that seeds are sown that will spread and develop. It should also be clear to you that this opportunity is really being taken advantage of by the spiritual world. Now I would like to tell you about the ascending Sister Elisabeth, after I have explained to you roughly how it is possible to make these observations. I will try to describe it as I saw it.

When this Sister Elisabeth passed over into the spiritual world, she was just as amazed by this new world as many others. She was amazed that life continues in this way, that one has a spiritual body and that one is also faced with a beautiful and diverse world. This new world will therefore be a world of amazement for some. Whether this amazement occurs on a lower spiritual level does not play such an important role at this moment. But I would also like to point out again and again that people who lived on earth a long time ago did not live in such a technically advanced time and that the relationships in those days were very modest and very simple for most people.

 There was no talk of the comforts of this luxury, for my sake; people were more happy to have a fairly clean bed and a table at which they could eat, and a few places to sit. So you really have no idea what life was like in those days. When those beings then crossed over into the spiritual world and it was only a little better there than it had been in their earthly life, they were amazed. So it didn't have to be a particularly spiritually elevated level, but at least they had come out of this poverty. Because the memory of the poverty in which they had lived as people still remained in their minds, and so they felt elevated and happy in a better world, a world that had a little more to offer them, above all greater cleanliness and clothes or objects that they could use that were not defective. So they had believed that they were already in a higher level. Spiritually speaking, it was not at all the way they experienced it emotionally.

In any case, one can say that a person who has to leave his prosperity today and enters the spiritual realm, who has no special merits to show, but rather still has a burden on his inner being, will certainly not find the same prosperity that he left behind. He will not find a house furnished with beautiful carpets and furniture, but rather he will find very modest objects and a very modest house. And in such a case one is disappointed. One has left something beautiful behind and is now returning to modesty. Then they are much more dissatisfied, more unhappy, because in their memory is still everything that they possessed in human life and that they were attached to.
So you can better understand what I am explaining to you if I say that this Sister Elisabeth, who had now come home, felt so happy and comfortable, because her surroundings were much nicer than those she had left behind, because in her human life she had only known poverty; for she had eleven children, five of whom had died in childhood. She had raised the others, but in that life there was hunger and poverty. However, the spirit of this Sister Elisabeth was not depressed by the poor life she had lived; in fact, despite all the suffering and great poverty, she was always happy, and she loved singing and music so much. She also played an instrument, and so she contributed to the amusement.
Now let us look together at her new, spiritual life. So I could see how she was greeted when she arrived in the afterlife. Her relatives had come to her, but had soon said goodbye to her together with her parents, so that she was left alone in her new home. Because her relatives had said goodbye to her so quickly, she felt a little lonely. At first she couldn't really find her way around. Everything had impressed her, but what she was missing were her relatives. She didn't want to be alone, she wanted to say to them: "Come with me, now we really want to measure heaven, now all poverty is gone, all problems and worries are gone. Now we can only be happy." That was her great desire. And then she realized that no one was there anymore - she was alone. And so she went in search of her relatives. She walked through the spiritual alleys and streets, observed the goings-on and activities and always thought that she would find someone she knew or one of her relatives. But it wasn't like that.
Higher spiritual brothers and sisters did take care of her. She too had to go through a short period of purification at first. But she didn't see this as purification, because she had had a much harder life behind her and so it hadn't made a special impression on her. However, she suffered greatly from loneliness and longed for her family.
Then she was given a job and was required to do it conscientiously. She was led into a house where she had to do a job together with others. It is not important what kind of work it was. She was to work with the others, always at the set time, which was arranged by the spirit world. In addition, they had plenty of opportunity to talk to each other and ask about each other. But this sister did not really want to work, because she was not used to such work at a set time in human life. And so she had spent a lot of time with her working spirit brothers and sisters in
entertained. Among them was a sister who had not been in this new world for very long and who was also not finding her way. She was always crying, yes, she was crying, because even a ghost can cry. She was crying because she had left her relatives behind, because everything was strange to her and she simply felt unhappy, although she had also found a much more beautiful world than the poor one she had left behind. But this meant nothing to her.
Elisabeth felt sorry and sorry for this constantly crying sister and she comforted her. This crying sister was also not able to work properly. Elisabeth now believed that she could make this sister happy and comfort her a little by doing her work. Indeed, Elisabeth then worked diligently for a while, not only doing what she had been asked to do, but also taking on the work of these crying women, getting involved and comforting them. When the work time was over, they went out together and talked. Since Elisabeth loved to sing so much, she always sang songs to her. The other sister had to listen whether she wanted to or not. Over time, Elisabeth's cheerfulness did influence her somewhat. She finally got to the point where she did her work, let herself be comforted and accepted her new fate.
Well, Elisabeth was not particularly comfortable with this depressed or always crying sister, because she would have preferred to have spirit brothers and sisters around her who would have sung and made music. She had asked around, but no one was really willing to sing and make music with her - they didn't have any musical instruments. When Elisabeth was strolling through the streets again, she met a small group of spirit beings. To explain, they were spirits of God, and these spirits of God sang and made music in these spiritual alleys and streets, on this level. There was an angel with a guitar, and the others sang to the sound of this guitar. 
Now Elisabeth joined them, and she was naturally delighted and immediately started singing along. She believed that she could now travel around with this small group of musical and singing spirit brothers and sisters, and she wanted to go with them. But these angels of God told her: "No, we cannot take you in. You belong here and you must stay here for a while. That is part of your ascent, you still have a lot to learn. You still have to be taught and you still have a lot to make up for. You also have to do your work. We come," these angels of God said, "to give you some joy. We come to bear witness to the bliss of heaven, to the heaven that is open and that wants to take you in. But you must make your efforts so that you can come to us and live the blessed life with us." Elisabeth did not really listen. She did not let herself be turned away so easily and followed these brothers and sisters; these spirits of God were not wandering around, but they stood in this place, on that corner, and began to sing, and people made music. Elisabeth was nearby, and she sang along. And sometimes she clapped along, showing her happiness. When these angels of God wanted to say goodbye, Elisabeth went to the angel who had the guitar and pulled him towards her. She ran her hands back and forth over the musical instrument and asked the angel: "Couldn't you give me this guitar? You know, I can play it just as well as you, and I can sing just as well as you. And since you are only rare visitors, I have my permanent place here, and so I could always delight everyone who is near me whenever they like."
She wanted nothing else but this guitar. And now, what did this angel of God do? Truly, he gave her the guitar.
And then she left, hopping away. She had the guitar and she played and sang and she was overjoyed; she no longer cared about these angels of God, where they went and whether they continued to sing and play. She had a guitar and that was her happiness.
So she went to her place of work with her guitar. Instead of working, she started singing and playing. But that didn't work. Then she had to be reprimanded and told that she had to work there. When it was time, she had to work with the others; she would have plenty of opportunity to sing and make music afterwards.
Now you would certainly like to know why an angel of God gave this sister this guitar without further ado. The reason for this is as follows: She had taken such care of a spirit sister.
The spirit of God saw that he was allowed to give this sister this joy, and that was to be a reward. One saw the cheerful disposition of this Elisabeth and quickly thought that this sister, with her cheerful disposition, could also be used to win over other spirit brothers and sisters, that they might shed some of their sadness and that Elisabeth could now bring some cheerfulness to those spirit brothers and sisters, to those who were not yet able to empathize with the new life.

Now she knew that she had to follow the instructions of the spirits of God, because her guitar was her everything. So she played and sang, but over time the longing for her relatives returned. She also walked through the alleys and streets and sang alone. But she began to sing songs that testified to the sadness and longing she felt for her loved ones. She let it be known in her singing that she was looking for her relatives and that she actually wanted to share her happiness with them. Well, she did have one advantage, because she was cheerful and could help many souls with her cheerful disposition and also delighted many spiritual brothers and sisters with her singing.

Now there was another opportunity to meet these spirits of God, because they came from time to time  again and again. Full of joy, Elisabeth then went to this small group to find out whether they were the same spirits of God again. For she had remembered the face of the spirit who was so full of goodness and had given her this generous gift. And this spirit was there again, with a new instrument. She thanked him and said what a wonderful instrument she had; she was so happy about it. But, she complained, she still had one wish: she wanted to meet her relatives. She wanted to share the happiness with her loved ones. And she asked where her parents and her dead children were. Because nobody had taken care of her. Her relatives had been there when she entered the afterlife, so quick to greet her, but then the connection was broken off.

They then promised her that they would give her special instruction on this matter, and a spirit of God was sent to her specifically for this purpose. This spirit of God took care of her. She did not need to tell him anything about her human life, about her worries and needs and about her many children, because this spirit of God knew everything. He knew the names of all the children, he knew everything. And he said to her: "Yes, your children who died in childhood are doing particularly well, and I will arrange for them to visit you." So Elisabeth was particularly happy, because she did not know at all how to imagine these children, because the spirit of God told her: "They have not remained children. They have grown up and they look good; you will enjoy them." And she said: "I will hardly recognize them then." And that was the case.

But she did not just want to see her children who had died in childhood, she also wanted to see her parents, and she also wanted to see the children who had died in adulthood. The Spirit of God had to say to her: "You know, it is like this: you can now visit your parents if you wish. I will make the effort, I will go with you to see them. And you can also visit the children who have died, but they are not in this city. You have to take a different route to be able to meet them, because they are not on the same meritorious level as you." And the Spirit of God said: "You see, that has been greatly credited to you: you have given birth to eleven children. You have earned great merit. So many children! And you also had to help provide the necessary bread, and you sometimes gave up your own to give it to the children. That brought you reward."
So the angel began to list what he and the spirit world of God had liked about her life. They also spoke of this and that neglect, of that stumbling, but it did not seem to be so significant. They explained to her that she had climbed a few steps up her ladder, but that there were still greater achievements and further tests to come and that life made great demands on everyone; spiritual life alone was not enough, one had to keep returning to this earth to take up the fight there anew.
So they taught her to some extent, but she only listened halfway. Actually, she did not have the ability or the strength to deal with these explanations; the present life was important to her, 
but it seemed to her that she should meet with her relatives, and so she heard that her relatives did not have the opportunity to visit her in her world, but that it was now up to her to visit her relatives. The spirit of God, who was chosen to look after this Elisabeth, wanted to prepare everything and go with her to her relatives.
And so it happened. She took her guitar with her and went with the angel of God to her relatives. They were not far from her city, but this city was fenced off. Those who lived there could never gain entry into this elevated city, because where Elisabeth lived were those who were already somewhat more spiritually elevated. From this elevated city they had access to the others, but not the other way around.
In the past, this spirit sister Elisabeth had actually not cared at all about not being able to find her relatives in her own city. She was completely incapable of listening to the teachings that the spirit of God gave not only to her, but also to everyone else. There was too much new information coming her way. She knew that she would have to be taught for a long time to be able to absorb what the angels of God were saying. She simply could not believe that it was so.
But now that the angel had explained to her that she could meet up with her relatives, she set off with him; they crossed the border of her city and entered the other. The way from top to bottom was open. Those beings cannot go from bottom to top. Now Elisabeth's interest and enthusiasm were aroused, now she could go to her relatives.
So she was extremely happy that this Elisabeth was coming. And what did they have to say? They begged her, they said: "Please make sure that we can come to you too. You were always a good person in your life. Your goodness was well known. You will be respected by the spirits of God. They will listen to you. So you should pray for us too. Think that we are here and pray for us that we can come to you." Elisabeth promised to do everything and she would have loved to take everyone with her, but she was not allowed to. But she sang and played, and the relatives and anyone who could listen were very happy.
Well, what could Sister Elisabeth do? She had returned to her place and had to fulfill her duties in her town again. She had to go to school because she had so much to learn. But she also had another trump card - one might say: it was her children who had died in childhood. They came to her in town; they introduced themselves and they all looked very good. Well, Elisabeth said to them: "You still have relatives. You still have brothers and sisters who are not doing well. You shouldn't forget them. Why didn't you try to look after them?" And the Spirit of God came, explained things to them and said: "You know, the bond of togetherness is broken because they had a completely different upbringing. They were called away from the world as children and entered a spiritual world where they were taught a lot of valuable things and raised with love. 
And so they now have their positions in the spiritual realm. But now that you have explained things to them and you ask them to look after their brothers and sisters, they will definitely do it because you were their mother and they will feel obliged to be grateful." And so she made each of them promise to look after all their relatives without exception, and they promised to do everything possible to help them. These spirit brothers and sisters, who had enjoyed their upbringing in the spiritual world and had been brought up so carefully by the angels of God, were then supposed to stand up for their relatives, and they were able to do so. These former brothers and sisters came together and agreed: "We are going to a high spirit." It was a spirit they knew well, with whom they often spoke and who had a lot to say. They even wanted to be completely rebellious towards this spirit. So they wanted to ask for mercy for their relatives.
They did so, and the spirit of God, who saw the efforts of these spirit brothers and sisters, explained to them: "Yes, it is good and right that you are full of zeal and compassion and love, but they must get through their time in their stage of development. It is not possible to shorten this time." But these spirit brothers and sisters did not want to hear of this. They insisted that they were their former human brothers and sisters and that it was their duty to look after their brothers and sisters. The angel of God had to intervene again and said: "That The bond of this unity is indeed broken, but since you are so begging and pleading, I will nevertheless be forgiving, and you can, if you like, go to your people, if you are so concerned about them. You can give them instructions, you can teach them more. In this way you can make their lives easier, and they will be edified by you. Then they will no longer consider the hardships that they have to bear in their plane to be so hard. It will be a more pleasant life for them if you, as elevated spirits of God, visit them quite often." This was granted to them. They could not take them out of their level, but they were allowed to visit them as often as possible.
So they went to them and told them: "We can be with you as much as we want." Actually, "as much as we want" was too much of a statement, because the others also had their tasks, their work that they had to do, and they had their lessons. This had to be done, but then they had free time, and in this free time they could talk to their relatives. And that alone brought them great relief. The mother soul, Elisabeth, then also came along, and so a piece of heaven, some cheerfulness, some liberation, was brought to a deeper level. Through these helpful spirit brothers and sisters, not only their relatives were able to enjoy it, but all those who lived in their immediate vicinity and who wanted to deal with them came along. They were invited, and they rejoiced together. In this way, a piece of the elevated heavens inclined towards these depths.

The hour came much sooner when they could leave their city and then meet up with this sister Elisabeth. Elisabeth, who also had to fulfil her tasks on her level and strive upwards, managed to take up a more beautiful place in this city and to carry out work that was enjoyable for her. In this way, she was able to ascend and be in close contact with her relatives who had ascended from below and were now in the same city. And they could all enjoy their spirit brothers and sisters who descended from above and visited them from time to time.
But then this connection to these elevated spirit brothers and sisters, that is, to those who had died in childhood and had been brought up in the spiritual world, was broken because they also had to carry out their work. Greater demands were placed on them and later they no longer had as much time at their disposal. They had achieved what had been asked of them, they had contributed to making things easier. Now they had to go their own way, because they had received a completely different teaching. But from time to time or on special occasions they visited them. But then they no longer had the feeling of belonging together. They greeted each other as brothers or sisters. They had the feeling of belonging together to a big family. The earthly feeling of kinship, this bond, was increasingly loosened.
So those spiritual brothers and sisters went on to their higher tasks, and the others lived in their beautiful city. For these spiritual brothers and sisters it was a beautiful city, a beautiful city with its diversity and its modest splendor. For them it was very significant, because in their memory there was poverty, which had not yet been forgotten. They had to get used to the even more beautiful life first. They had to strive for greater bliss, for the even more beautiful life.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I gave you an insight into the ascension of the spirits, how the feelings of togetherness are expressed and how the true nature of a spiritual brother or sister is expressed. This was the case with Sister Elisabeth, who was full of cheerfulness and loved this cheerfulness, which benefited everyone and also contributed to the ascension and happiness of those spiritual brothers and sisters living there, because the levels of ascension are not always filled with happy spirit beings. So I told you about a sister who was always crying. And so there are not just many, but very many spirit beings in the levels of ascension who feel unhappy and abandoned, and whoever has to live with such unhappy people also has a hard lot.
It is like with you people: you would much rather live with a happy person than with one who is sad and depressed. So Sister Elisabeth's cheerfulness benefited her ascension, because she supported this other sister in her cheerfulness and love, and an angel of God gave her a truly beautiful gift for this. Angels of God do not give such gifts without thinking. They must see that there is a purpose in giving a protégé or an ascending spirit brother something meaningful.
Well, dear brothers and sisters, I believe that with this detailed report I have given you an insight into the ascent of the spirits. And so I would like to withdraw from you and leave you to God's blessing. God's blessing should be effective through you in your daily life. Greetings from God.


Experience report by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich Template: tape recording.



 We no longer concern ourselves with this time after such a long time in the world beyond, we are actually no longer so interested in where we were once born and grew up as people. We have distanced ourselves quite a bit from that, especially since we actually know that we have not lived the life we ​​have lived as we were actually expected to. And sometimes there were events that one doesn't like to be reminded of or that one doesn't like to think about anymore. Well, that was the case with me, and if someone is no longer interested in the life they have lived, precisely because they have realized that they have neglected to do a lot and done a lot wrong, why should they think about it for a long time and mourn that life?

It is different with those deceased people who had a special reputation among people, let's say royalty, kings. They want to be recognized as such in the spiritual world for a long time to come, and so they sometimes remember the life they have lived very fondly. Sometimes they have to.

Next case.

June 4, 1969

This is how I experienced my ascent. It would take too long to tell you everything in detail. In between there are also tests that come up again and again, and obedience and diligent work are required. So today I am happily included among the ascending spirit brothers and sisters who are also in your service, in your community. For whoever calls for us and longs for us and aligns his life with the divine laws has our support; we are one with him, united with him in one thought: to live to the glory of God, be it in this world or the next.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I have now told you my first impressions, which have been brought back to life for me. I am withdrawing again and leaving you all to God's blessing. As I have now been told, spirit brother Josef will no longer speak to you to answer questions. So may God's blessing accompany you, and your life should be a life to the glory of God. Greetings from God.

Experience report of the ascending spirit being Adelheid by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich
Template: tape recording.

Bella's reception in the afterlife by a poor Sicilian shepherd. A happy return home, spiritual training and ascension after an earthly life full of hunger and deprivation.

Joseph: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend. My task is to tell you about a spirit brother. I would like to point out that we select such spirit brothers and sisters together; because we want you to learn about the spiritual laws through these reports and gain insight into the spiritual life as it happens with us, how people live with us. Life here differs from one to the other.

So I would now like to tell you about a brother. I was given the opportunity to look into his past, and so I will try to describe to you as I saw and experienced what happened to him when he returned to the world beyond and how he fared in his human life. This is how I want to tell you about it.

He was a poor man, they called him Bella. He lived in Sicily and was a child from a very large family. He had to rely on himself from an early age; his parents no longer took much care of him. He had never been to school and could neither read nor write. The only thing he could do was write his name: Bella. Someone had taught him that once. He was very proud that he could at least write his name, but he did not often have the opportunity to do so. He spent most of his life in the mountains tending sheep and goats. He was poor and the pay for his work was very low. He wore his clothes until they were so torn that he had to try to find something somewhat better. Of course his clothes were dirty because they were never washed. But that did not bother him. During the last ten years of his life he wore only one pair of shoes. These shoes are of course not comparable to yours.

They were made of wood and you didn't have to tie them, you just slipped them on. He only wore these shoes when the weather required it, otherwise he preferred to go around without them. At night he simply wrapped himself in whatever rags were available to him. He usually slept with his animals, in the middle of them.

Bella was a person who did no harm to anyone. He believed in God, but he had no special connection with him. He knew from the others that there was a God and that there were saints, but he didn't think much about it. The only weakness he had was that he didn't really know how to distinguish between mine and yours. But that wasn't really something to blame him for, because he hadn't received any education and he suffered a lot of hunger, so he had to defend himself accordingly. So he lived a very poor and modest life. He didn't complain. He accepted life as it was and took it for granted. He was content with himself and with everything that surrounded him. He made no demands and so he simply lived quite frugally.
And so the time of his separation from this world was approaching for him too. He did not have to be ill for long. He died in the middle of a field in the mountains. The spirits of God kept a watchful eye on him too, because he was just as much a brother to them as any other, also like someone who does not have to go hungry and enjoys respect. As spirits of God they felt sorry for him anyway and so they were there to help him and guide his spirit into eternity. They carried him into his future home. It was a very decent, beautiful sphere or plane that he was allowed to move into. He had not really harmed anyone, had not burdened himself in any particular way; he was content and the fact that he had not known what was yours and what was mine from time to time was not held against him.
Well, the spirits of God fled with him from the earthly world into the spiritual world and went with him into a house where he was to live for the time being. He was to have his own room here. And this room was very neat, it looked well-kept and clean. There were no superfluous objects in it, but it was still very homely and beautiful. There were also flowers and a basket with wonderful spiritual fruits. There was a bed, and this spirit, the spiritual body, was laid on this bed. This is where the awakening of this brother who had returned home was to take place. Around him were some of God's angels, spirits of God who had also visited him in life and fulfilled their tasks for him. There were no relatives there.
Well, the angels were waiting for him to awaken, and it seemed as if they were taking special pleasure and joy in waiting for it. Because they knew that there would now be a surprise, an amazement, and they wanted to experience it. And so it was: This Bella opened his eyes, looked around in confusion - he was not yet aware of where he was, he was still dazed and closed his eyes again immediately. But he was actually awake and could already begin to think and reflect. Then he opened his eyes again and saw the figures that were unfamiliar to him; but they seemed to be so friendly to him and smiled at him. And then one of these angels of God spoke first; he held out his hand, greeted him and said to him: "Stand up, Bella, and look at yourself as you are able to look at yourself." There was no mirror in which he could have seen his face, but he could see his appearance. So he was asked to stand up, look around and take a closer look at himself. Of course he was astonished and asked: "Where am I?" He had no idea, and then one of these angels said: "Yes, you died for the world, but were born again in eternity. In eternity you have awakened and now live in the kingdom of God." Yes, he repeated the words: "in the kingdom of God." But he still felt dazed until an angel approached him and offered him something to eat. Slowly he came to and could still remember the last hours of his human life: He had felt tired and sick and had been cold and now he felt so good. He had no more
ailments and felt a great feeling of happiness that, as he later said, he could not describe. After this food he felt better and so he could start to speak.

Then he wanted to know: "Yes, where am I really?" Because everything seemed so human to him; but the bed was so neat, so clean, and his clothes no longer had any tears, they were clean. He had to be amazed by this. He could also look at his hands from all sides and had the feeling that they had become somewhat different;
they were clean, they were neat. And what else struck him: he was wearing shoes. He could not remember ever having had such shoes in his life, let alone having put them on himself. They were sandals that were held together with a narrow band; this band was looped around the ankles and tied there. He also had to ask about the clothes: "How did I get these clothes?" The spirits of God told him: "We dressed you. We gave you the clothes that belong to you." And they added: "The world of poverty and oppression, hunger and need is over for you. You shall not suffer hunger or thirst here, and you shall not experience oppression; for you are now in the kingdom of God." Yes, all of this seemed nice to him, but he still did not fully trust the whole thing, because it was all so new to him. When he looked at himself like that and was rather embarrassed and could not answer well, the angels of God saw that it would be better if they separated from him and gave him the opportunity to adapt to this new situation. They had had the pleasure of witnessing his awakening, and so one of them said: "Look, we are leaving you all alone for a while. You can rest, you can sleep again if you like. You can also leave this house and stay near it and look around. But you can also inspect the house from top to bottom, just as you like." And the angels said their goodbyes very kindly and left him alone.

Now there was much for him to think about and to marvel at. The great feeling of happiness caused him to sing and rejoice. If he was told that he was in heaven, then he thought to himself that he had the right to rejoice and sing like that. So he picked up every object or touched everything and was always afraid that it might be taken away from him again. He was not entirely comfortable with this, for the memory of his miserable life of hunger was still deep in his soul; his thoughts were still filled and occupied by the life he had left behind. But then he wanted to have faith, for he had been told that he was in the kingdom of heaven. Again and again he had to touch the objects, for he could not believe that there was such a thing in heaven. Flowers had been placed in his room - that was a beautiful thing, yes - but what appealed to him even more than the flowers and everything else that made this room so elegant were the wonderful fruits. He still felt hungry. For just as the memory of poverty was still in him, so too was the feeling of hunger. He felt this hunger exactly as he had felt it as a human being. And since there was now such an abundance of fruit, he helped himself to plenty of it, and he had the feeling that it was good for him. In his human life he had never been allowed to eat such wonderful fruits. So he took some until there was nothing left. Because that was important to him: "Here you can eat your fill for once and you don't have to go hungry." So he ate some of these fruits until there was nothing left.

Then he became interested in what the house looked like. He realized that other people lived there too and that they didn't live in the poverty, in the dirt and in the torn clothes that they did in his human life. Everything was so neat and so well looked after. He actually had to get used to that at first and he thought it was nice that there were plenty of flowers in the house. Then he went outside to take a closer look at his immediate surroundings. Then he realized again: "It looks like the people's. There is a street and there are houses next to each other, only these houses are much nicer. And there are flowers everywhere and it looks as if they are always freshly put there." Everything seemed so neat to him. There was a lot of activity on this street, some people were leaving and others were coming he was new here and he didn't dare ask anyone. He didn't see anyone he knew, but that didn't bother him much, because the main thing seemed to him to be that he was now in heaven and could enjoy it to the fullest, and that was what he wanted to do. He said to himself: "I'm in heaven, that's what I've been told. In heaven you're happy, in heaven you're joyful, and this is my life now, my new home." A sparkle shone from his eyes and a smile played around his mouth. He was so happy and admired everything that was going on. But he didn't dare walk any further through the streets and alleys, because he had been told to stay near the house.

Despite the feeling of great happiness, he felt a certain tiredness and wanted to rest a little. So he went back
back to his room, and when he was in his room, he noticed that the vessel or basket was filled with fruit again. He rejoiced and said: "How could it be otherwise in the kingdom of heaven: everything is there. What you wish for is simply there; when there is nothing left, it fills itself. That is heaven." That was his opinion, and he had no idea that completely different times would come for him too. He felt tired and lay down. Then he took off his shoes, and because he was a little concerned or perhaps even afraid that someone might steal them from him, he tied the straps around his wrist. So he lay there on the couch with the shoes tied to his wrist. For shoes were something precious to him, he rarely had any in his human life and certainly not such beautiful ones, and so he did not want to move away from these shoes under any circumstances. They should be pressed against his body so that he could see them. And so he slept for a while. He did not see or hear that the spirits of God were checking on him from time to time. They let him sleep because they knew that he was still so tired and was still impressed by the thoughts of his human life. So it was good for him to rest for a while. Because, completely unnoticed by Bella, the spirits of God had put something soporific into the fruit. He should and had to rest for a while. This time helps to forget unpleasant things. In general, events from human life that one still has in one's soul, in one's thoughts, in one's memory should slowly be forgotten. The memory should be so faint, as if the experience were far, far in the past, so that one no longer pays full attention to it, as if it were no longer worth paying such significant attention to something that was long ago. That is why they let him sleep for so long. This Bella did not return to the world beyond particularly burdened, but he still had a lot of work ahead of him. For heaven in all its glory cannot be experienced by doing nothing, and this Bella had to be taught that first.
So it was that after a certain time he woke up. The spirits of God thought his long sleep was good, because now they could talk to him well; his memory of his past human life had faded somewhat. So these angels of God came back into his room, greeted him and could not suppress a smile when they saw that he had the shoes next to his head, as if someone wanted to steal them from him. One of the angels - there was one in particular who took care of him and spoke to him - knelt down next to him, untied the shoes from his wrist and put them on him. And then they slowly started talking. They gave him some more fruit and told him to take plenty of it. They also told him that he had done well to take as much as possible. Now he was no longer so taciturn; he now felt as if he had been in this place for a long time and as if it was not so new to him. He expressed his joy and explained that it was something beautiful in the kingdom of heaven, not having to do anything and yet being able to take plenty of what you like and what you like; that was really a praiseworthy, blissful life. And the angels agreed in that they said to him: "Yes, life in heaven is blissful." And then they asked him: "You were outside the house and saw other brothers and sisters.

You can understand that you are not alone in the kingdom of heaven."
 "Oh yes, yes," he replied, but he had not thought about why the others were walking back and forth so eagerly and why there was so much activity on the streets and alleys; he simply believed that this was part of bliss and had not bothered about it any further. Now the spirit of God, who was speaking to him in particular, said: "So how is it actually: Can you read and write?" Although the angel of God had long known that he could not, he still asked him this question. Full of pride, Bella answered: "Yes, I can write my name." The angel then gave him a piece of paper on which he was to write his name, and he wrote "Bella" on it. Then the angel of God took the pen and also wrote the name Bella next to it, but the writing, the angel's letters, were of course much nicer, much clearer. And the angel made it clear to him and said: "See, don't you think that there is a big difference between the letters you have written and those I have written? You know, yours is hardly readable if you don't know what it means. On the other hand, what I have written can be read" and he pointed to it. "Oh yes," said Bella to the angel, "I believe that, because everything in heaven is perfect and you are perfect, so you can write completely differently than I can." 
"Yes, but you know, you just have to learn to write your name exactly as beautifully as I have written it for you." Then Bella said: "Yes, if I am given time, I am sure I will manage it." And the angel answered: "Yes, we will give you time. You have to go to school. You have to learn to write and you have to learn languages. You also have to learn to count and much, much more, but first the most essential things. You know, there is nothing in your memory that could be picked out, that you could express. You can't read, you can't write, you can't do math either, so you have to learn."
Bella didn't like that much. Now he suddenly had the feeling that heaven wouldn't bring such bliss after all, that life wouldn't go on as he had imagined. He shuddered at the thought that he would now have to learn and that this would be difficult for him. In his earthly life he had admired all people who could read and write. He had a special respect for all of them, because he believed that you had to be very clever to do that. That was just what he thought and said from his simple mind.
The angel could see that Bella was upset. He consoled him and said: "We won't start work right away. First you have to get used to the surroundings. You should get to know your neighbors, and you must generally get used to the nature of your fellow brothers and sisters." He did not have any special manners, and that had to and should be taught to him. In this heaven in which he lived, there were certain manners, and he had not learned them in human life.

Now they wanted to give him a very modest task at first, and they told him: "You see, you always have fresh, fine, wonderful, sweet fruit here. As soon as you have emptied your basket, there are more there again." And the angel explained to him: "But you know, it is not as you believe, that everything that has been eaten will simply be there again, just on request. It is not like that. The fruit has to grow with us too, and before it ripens, it has to be cared for so that it thrives. And you have to get the fruit and bring it where you want it." That was a bit much for him at once. But the angel of God saw how modest he was in his thinking and in his whole disposition, and he asked him to come with him.

So he took this Bella with him and left the house. A little way away was a very special house; in this house, on the spiritual ground floor, many fruits were carefully sorted. There were fellow brothers and sisters there, all of whom had a small cart on which they brought containers. In this room there were also angels of God, elegantly dressed, amiable in their behavior, and they gave these spirit brothers and sisters precisely the fruits they needed. These spirit brothers and sisters carefully placed the filled containers on their little cart and went away with them. A similar cart was now also intended for Bella, and the angel of God wanted to accompany him on his first journey. The spirit of God, who had the task of distributing these fruits, also placed these fruits neatly sorted on the cart for Bella. The angel who accompanied him knew exactly where to take them. But Bella had no manners yet - really no manners - and it seemed quite natural to him that one plucked this fruit once, took that one once, put it in one's mouth and ate it. But that was not allowed to be done, that had to be taught and made clear to him: "You don't have to be hungry. You can take the time to eat until you are full. But you must not take any of these fruits outside of that time. You must not interfere in the work of others either. Leave their fruit exactly as the angel of God gives it to them. Just worry about your work." And the angel warned him: "Always be polite. You were able to do it in life too. Remember that you are quite tidy here, that you no longer walk around in torn clothes and that you have clean, pure, spiritual hands." And the angel took his hands, showed them to him and said: "You remember that you never washed yourself as a human being. In the spirit it is different," he said, "here is order and cleanliness, and you must get used to it." So he had to remind him again and again, because this Bella had no manners, and the angel had to take the trouble to teach them to him.
So they walked together. It was exactly in the house where they had to take these fruits. Because the spirit brothers and sisters in that house were to enjoy these fruits just as much as Bella, who had eaten her fill of them. The angel went with him, and now Bella also got into the hustle and bustle, but as I said, he lacked manners. Instead of going his own way and carefully walking past the others, he didn't mind pushing and shoving the others. That seemed to still be in his feelings. The angel had to point this out to him again and again and say: "You have enough space here. You must respect the other person and must not push him. You must not hinder him in his movement. You must always be polite. You must always apologize, even if you were in the slightest bit careless towards the other person." That was probably easy to say, but not so quickly understood by this Bella, who had spent a whole human life without school and without manners. To rise from such a poor, humble life to a higher spiritual level, a lot had to be learned. This spiritual plane had been created for beings like Bella in particular; it was like a pre-paradise, an anteroom to the higher plane, which he was later allowed to enter. But first he had to get used to the order of the divine world, which corresponded to that spiritual development, and he also had to get used to and learn how to behave.
The angel of God accompanied him. He had to be reminded again and again, like a child: "You don't do something like that." For he went and took flowers, for there were plenty of them. They too were always carried here and there by spirit brothers and sisters, and so it was always different flowers that decorated the squares and certain houses. And so he believed he had the right to take some out and put them in his carriage or put them behind his ear and the like. Despite the long period of adjustment, he still had too many human feelings in him, and so he had to be reminded again and again, and that is why he needed someone to accompany him. The angel of God accompanied him on this path until he had learned to be orderly, to treat others properly, and to carry out his work conscientiously.

Finally he had learned that once, and then came the other thing: then came the school that he was so afraid of. But the spirit of God insisted, and he led him to a school. There were many spirit brothers and sisters there who had to learn just like him. Angels of God stood there as teachers and first taught them thoroughly their mother tongue, which they had spoken on earth. They were to master this language properly, both in speech and writing.

Once that had happened, the opportunity to learn other languages ​​would be open. So the most essential things had to be learned first: reading and writing. And so, as with people, it took time to learn it. Things may perhaps go a little faster in the spiritual realm with such a spirit brother, because the childlike mind is not in the foreground as it is with an earthly child on earth. In the spiritual world, he had already been taught a few things, given some instructions, and so his spirit slowly awoke; for all the possibilities of expressing his abilities had fallen asleep within him. So, slowly, slowly, everything that was still slumbering deep down had to be awakened.
So Bella had to go to school, and with time he didn't find it so bad after all. He became a diligent student, for there was an awakening in the innermost parts of his soul. His spirit became more active, for what was locked away was slowly revealing itself, for the angels of God were doing their part. And so he became able to read and write and was able to learn the bare essentials. He still had plenty of time to continue learning, for he still had much, much to catch up on. So his occupation consisted of learning - he was supposed to learn - and he was taught. But they also wanted to make him aware that after a certain period of education he would also be assigned a job, because he also had to get used to working. So on the one hand he had to learn, but he should also know that in this blessed heaven one also has to work and that this heavenly world is very similar to the human world - that after all the human, earthly world is only a condensation [of the spiritual]; it is wrapped in dense matter, while true life is the spiritual, subtle life. So he learned that the subtle life is the important, the eternal, imperishable, while earthly life is only the coarse material that has arisen from the spiritual.
When he was about to do something

ity, they did not want to give him an important task right away. They wanted to lead him slowly from one activity to another, from one task to a higher one. Since he had had to do with animals in his human life, he should have his animals now too. For he longed for them; he complained that he longed for these animals with which he had spent his whole life and with which he had also died. He wanted to stay among them again, even if only for a short time, if it was possible. And the spirit world of God allowed him to do so, since he was a diligent student. He was to receive reward and variety for his diligence.
So he was accompanied by a spirit of God, and the way to a plain was opened for him. This way led to a wide field, and this field was full of the animals that he had looked after in his human life. At first he was amazed and asked: "Is it necessary, do we have to have such animals here?"
 "Oh yes, they must be there," answered the angel of God, "but you will also be taught why their life in the spiritual realm is justified. But enjoy these animals." And he went among them, lay down and fell asleep with them. He found it wonderful to find rest with these animals. But then he realized that there were other spirit brothers and sisters who had to fulfill a task with these animals, and that the same animals were not always in this field. Some were brought in, and others were taken away. He first had to be taught again why one thing or another was done; but he too had to be introduced to this activity later. And so he was taught; he was slowly led from one thing to the other and given spiritual teachings.
It took a good while before he had the knowledge required so that the door to the spiritual plane could be opened for him, from where he could then independently carry out important actions. It took some time, but this world was opened up to him too. He then entered a city in which a different life prevailed and completely different tasks had to be fulfilled. Only when he had acquired the general knowledge required in the world beyond was he permitted to fulfill more important tasks and to measure further glories of heaven. And so he then returned to

those wonderful feelings of bliss that he had experienced when he had awakened in the divine world.

So he was a brother who was being prepared for higher tasks, but who was to be incorporated again in order to prove in a new human life what he had learned in the spiritual realm. In a new human life he was to provide different proofs than in the previous one; different tests were laid out for him. He was then to prove that it was possible for him to escape from this level from which he had come into earthly life and to take a step higher again. In this way this brother learned everything that was required of him. And so this was his rise from a humble, ragged man who went through life hungry and thirsty. In the spiritual realm, he was taken care of and the opportunity for ascension was created for him.
With this, dear brothers and sisters, I have once again given you an insight into the divine world; there are also explanations about the order, about the laws of God that apply to us. So, dear brothers and sisters, I have tried to describe it to you as I experienced it.
So may God's blessing accompany you on all your paths. May you remain strong in your faith. And may those who are on the way to it become strong in faith; may they become aware that life on this earth and everything that is on this earth is doomed to transience and that only that which rises from this transience will enter into eternal life because it is imperishable, as it is said: "It is sown in transience, but the imperishable will rise" (1 Cor. 15:42). So, dear brothers and sisters, greetings from God.

Experience report by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording

Next case. 
October 1, 1969
Ferdinand The pitfalls of a comfortable, spoiled life.
When memories of a beautiful life on earth and a weak will are an obstacle to adapting to the conditions in the world beyond and moving forward.

Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend. Today I would like to speak about a soul who has returned home and explain how it has fared. But first I have something else to tell you. Many or most of you have had an uplifting week [the meditation week in Flims with spirit teacher Lene]. Now you will have to make do with me again. But you don't have to think that I would have less merit, because our august sister Lene was able to warm your hearts in a very special way. Her merits, which she has acquired through her devotion, are also my merits. In our world we are never jealous of one another. I am happy about the success of our beloved sister, because, dear brothers and sisters, it is similar with you in your community: each of you who works seriously in the community and strives for the great meaning of your life, strives to get closer to God, forms a building block in the great Church of God; you will also receive your merits in this way. So if you support this community faithfully, you too will be rewarded for your loyalty, for your activity, and I hope this will be in addition to your other spiritual achievements or spiritual riches that you have acquired through these insights. If you remain loyal to this community until your last breath, keep the thought of life after death and of God's spirit world within you, affirm its influence on people and accordingly align yourself with the spiritual laws, you will be rewarded for your

activity and for your work in the community and even for your existence in the community. You know yourselves how important it is to form such a community, to have loyal members who also become role models for their fellow human beings. So that is what I wanted to tell you just now.

And now I will tell you again about the return of a deceased person. You should understand why the soul in question does not speak to you itself. The reason for this is that a person who has returned home is only able to speak himself [through the medium] once he has reached a certain level of development. So we decide whether I have to tell you what happened to the person in question, or whether the soul in question can come before you and explain it. It is as our sister Lene explained: Everyone has their ability, everyone has their task in God's plan, and you know my tasks. I go from level to level or from one heaven to another and from one depth to another to speak to helpless spirit brothers and sisters, to take care of them, to inquire about them and, if it is within my power, to do my part to bring them higher.

Now I will tell you about a man who died about twenty years ago at the age of about fifty. This man called himself Ferdinand. He lived in a family where there was no need; there was therefore prosperity. This Ferdinand was well looked after when his parents were still alive, and his parents had also made provisions for his later years so that he would be well after their death. This Ferdinand was paralyzed and did not have a healthy mind like you; but one cannot say that he was completely confused in spirit. At times he could speak and think quite sensibly, and at times not. He had to be led around in a wheelchair. When his parents were still alive, he had his own servant. This servant had to look after him and he took him for walks. Actually, this Ferdinand was always kind; he had inherited this kindness from his mother. But what he said could not always be taken seriously, because his childlike disposition remained with him until his death. During the time he was with his parents, they made sure that he lacked nothing, and since he was born to respected parents, he lacked nothing externally either. Belief in God was not particularly cultivated in this family; they did not live without belief in God, but they did not inquire into the deeper meaning of life, and there was no great, deep, honest piety either. And so this Ferdinand lived like this, and after his parents died he was well looked after. He always had his servant who took him for walks and fulfilled his wishes. Well, this Ferdinand was burdened by previous lives. He had debts deep within himself that he was supposed to make up for by living a human life. The spirit, that is, the inner man, felt these humiliations, because the spirit saw how he was laughed at as a human being - not by his parents, who were very attached to him, but by the servants, by those around him. He had not been made to understand this openly, but when the servants were in their own rooms, they made fun of this Ferdinand. This went unnoticed by the outer man, but not by the inner man - this spirit was supposed to be humiliated by this human life. Outwardly he had been well cared for, and as a human being he was not malicious, but lovable; he had inherited this kindness, as I have emphasized, from his mother.

But now I would like to explain to you how he fared when he came into the spiritual world. This explanation is not just meant to be entertaining for you, but everything is always connected with spiritual teachings. The fact that this Ferdinand had been cared for so much had shaped his whole mind. Although this spirit had to be humiliated, he found it quite natural that he was treated with so much devotion. Now, in the spiritual realm, an angel came to meet him, and his parents also greeted him, expressed their joy and made it clear to him: "Ferdinand, now you no longer need to be led around. You are no longer paralyzed, you can walk just like us, and you can think and speak as healthily as the rest of us. For we have not died for
God; we are alive, we have entered a new world." And his parents explained to him: "Try to adapt to this new world." Ferdinand now discovered that he could actually move and walk like anyone else. But he didn't enjoy it at all.

The spirits of God who now dealt with him were correct, but not particularly kind, as Ferdinand had been used to in his human life, where he had been looked after with great attention and love. They spoke forcefully, and it was explained to him that a different, new life was now beginning for him. During his entire earthly life he had not done any work that had brought any other person profit; he had not had to provide for his livelihood, his parents had admitted that. He had had it good because he had been looked after by people. The world of God had granted him that. But now he had to make up for in the spiritual world what he had not been able to do as a human being. He had to learn to work hard. And the angels explained to him: "You can walk and you have strength; you can move and now you must work."

Ferdinand did not agree with that. In his memory was the beautiful life, the beautiful house of his parents and what he had experienced after their death: everything had been done for him, he had been taken care of, he had had a beautiful life; he had his servant, he had no worries, his livelihood was taken care of. And now suddenly he was told that he had to start working. He claimed that he had no strength for it; he could not do hard work because he was much too weak; and besides, the fact that he was now standing firmly on these legs was only a temporary phenomenon, because this weakness would come over him again and then he would have to be led around in this world too. He said this and claimed: "I cannot work."

Well, the angels of God explained to him where the work was, who he could turn to and what he had to do. They called on him to be of good will and to fulfill his task in order to come closer to God. But none of this made an impression on him and the angels of God moved away from him because they saw his weak will.

He now looked around to see if there was a carriage or wheelchair somewhere that he could sit in and arouse pity in his spirit brothers and sisters so that they would take him around. He simply still lived in the past and in the idea: "I am weak, I am paralyzed; it is not possible, I cannot walk." All of this was so rooted in him and he lacked the strong will. And so he claimed that he was too weak and simply could not walk.

It was not a particularly elevated level into which he had been led - you can imagine that - but it was still a good place to live. When the ascending spirit brothers and sisters who populate this sphere fulfill their tasks, the spirits of God who guide them are very forgiving and also give them pleasure now and then. They also get their free time, which they can use. But this world that Ferdinand had now entered could of course bear no resemblance to everything that he had once had, and so he was not content with that. The spirit world of God had a hard time with him.

Now he was allowed to do what he liked, and so he found his way back to his former home on earth, where he had lived as a human being; for his mental power was so strong that it was possible for him to return to this house. The first thing he did there was to look for his wheelchair, in which he had been taken for walks during the last period of his life. He then noticed that this wheelchair had been put in a storage room and covered there. He then looked for this cart and sat in it. He tried to operate it. At first he was astonished that this wheelchair, which  had once meant so much to him, had simply put it to one side. So he sat down in it and tried to move around in this wheelchair as a spirit being. I have to give an explanation for this: his whole way of thinking was still of a lower kind. He had again become afflicted with these earthly, human vibrations, so that he was able to see this wheelchair again and handle it as he had done as a human.

Next to this room, where this chair was parked, were the rooms or bedrooms of the servants. And so these servants heard noises from this adjoining room at night. At first no special significance was attached to this, but it kept repeating itself. And then these servants talked about it. Then someone had the idea: "Perhaps it is Ferdinand who is haunting around there." That's what they said, or in your terms: "haunting around," and people laughed and didn't take it seriously. Among these servants was a somewhat older woman who was pious. She always listened to what the others said about this Ferdinand. She had known him too, and she wondered whether this soul was perhaps restless. After Ferdinand's death, the people, including these servants, had said: "Now he is redeemed, redeemed from his suffering," and that was it for them. But this soul was not redeemed; it remained confined to the house and to its wheelchair.
This somewhat older woman now began to pray for this Ferdinand, that he might find peace. No one told her that it was the spirit of this Ferdinand that was causing this restlessness, but she felt it, and so she prayed and called him by name in her mind. She said to him: "Ferdinand, you must try to find your way. You have nothing left to do on this earth. Go your way, which is now destined for you, and leave this earthly realm for good." And then this woman prayed for the salvation of his soul.

At first, Ferdinand was of course unable to take in any of this prayer, because his thoughts and everything about him were still so human that he could not perceive the higher vibration that was generated by this woman's prayer. The servants got used to this restlessness over time and laughed about it. But they were not afraid of this Ferdinand, even if he came as a ghost, because he had been kind all his life. So they had no respect for him and no fear of his spirit.

Well, this older woman kept praying for him. And now an angel of God had to take care of this Ferdinand, because he lived in this house and believed that he was driving around in this wheelchair that he was using in his spirit. The angel of God pointed out to him that he should now leave the spiritual side of this wheelchair behind him, that it must now become a part of earthly matter. He should free himself of these thoughts and stand on his feet, because he could walk like anyone else. Ferdinand, however, did not want to believe it and complained. He complained that he had had to leave so many beautiful things behind and that he did not like the new world he had been led into; he liked it better in his former house, he would rather stay there.

The spirit of God said to him: "Look, night after night this woman, whom you knew in life and who was well-disposed towards you, prays for you. She prays for the salvation of your soul and for your redemption. She has done you many favors in your life. Don't you want to do her a favor too and leave this world now and leave everything here alone? Do you want to disturb these servants with your thoughts, which are so tied to this earthly world? Do you want them to laugh at you?" And Ferdinand replied: "They are not laughing, I have never seen them laugh at me." And the angel said: "I will show you. You shall hear how they speak of you." The angel of God had the opportunity to guide this spirit; he put him on his feet and said: "I will have this wheelchair taken away. You will no longer find it here, because you must walk forward and upward. This carriage no longer exists for you as a spirit. You can walk around like everyone else. You must strengthen your will. You must not live in the past, but you must live in the present and look to the future. You must accept and do what we recommend to you, what we tell you."

Then the spirit of God took this Ferdinand with him and one evening led him into the room where these servants were gathered and began to make fun of him again, and also explained that he would certainly bring this unrest again, but that they were not to be afraid. They simply made fun of him and told various things from his life, for example, what answers he had given them and so on. Now he had to hear it and could see that these servants had actually been making fun of him. This annoyed him a little and he said: "But were they so wrong? They were always kind to me, and behind my back they laughed at me." And the angel of God answered: "Yes, you only notice that now, but now and then, when your spirit [during your human life] was separated from your body, now and then, when you could think and see properly in your spirit, you could also perceive the contempt. But when you died on earth, you took something from your human life into your spirit, and you must put aside this connection and link to the earthly world and to your human past. You should no longer cultivate this way of thinking, you should no longer live in your thoughts in this old time, because that binds you to it, and you will not be free of everything. So you can see, you are alive. I will make sure that you do not find this wheelchair again. You must move, and you can work." Ferdinand then listened a little. But he was actually interested in receiving pity from the others, because his life had always been focused on pity. As a human being he had quite naturally expected pity from others, and now as a spirit he also expected this pity from all his spirit brothers and sisters in his new home. But this pity was no longer given to him here, and he did not like that.

 Now he had to realize that he was no longer valued higher than anyone else; he was no longer above the others as he had once been above the servants of his family. Now he was on the same level as the others and had to overcome this idea of ​​being better than them, and that was not so easy.
The angel of God led him away from this earthly world with gentle force and explained to him: "You have no business here anymore. If you return again, you will be punished for it, and the punishment will not be easy for you. I am responsible for you making your way forward, and I will do everything I can to help you move forward." These were forceful words for Ferdinand, who had been spoiled in human life, but he wanted to accept them. It was explained to him: This was all in God's will; he was in the kingdom of God and the angels were servants and would fulfill their tasks in God's plan of salvation just as the servants in his former earthly house fulfilled their tasks. But the task of the angels was a higher one and had a higher meaning, and he must now change his whole way of thinking. He promised to do so.

And so he was led back to his sphere in the world beyond. He found a simple house in which he was taken in by other spirit brothers and sisters. This house was not surrounded by such a well-kept park as his former earthly home; there was nothing that could have pleased his eyes, nothing like that, everything was very simple. He experienced no great splendor and no special kindness, as he was used to. And now he was suddenly supposed to start a hard job. He proved to be quite clumsy in handling his work and he had to endure some criticism and some reprimands. For his spiritual hands were clumsy for the work he had to do, just as his human hands had been clumsy. In his human life he had never been forced to do any work, and because his parents were wealthy, it had been out of the question for him as a human being to do any work. So this was not an advantage for his spirit, on the contrary: he did not handle all the things he had to hold in his hands properly, and this was only because he was inexperienced in handling any objects.

His entire thinking was of a lower kind. In the spiritual realm he had to do manual work first. Because as a human being he could not think like others, and as a spirit he would only come into full possession of completely rational thinking over time. This was prevented by the divine world because he first had to learn to work with his hands.

Actually, I know that you would like to know what he had to do. We always find it a little difficult to explain because you cannot really understand it. So I can say: He had to break stones, spiritual stones in fact, because these stones are not simply available in the size that you need them for building; they too have to be worked. They have to be worked in the way that the spirits of God determine, because the houses in the spiritual world are
which, after all, is not created from nothing. There are different spiritual materials, but all spiritual material must be processed, and that is also the activity of the spirit brothers and sisters, that they have to work on everything and everywhere. I always try to explain this as best as I can, but I keep quiet about some things for one reason: that certain friends cannot really imagine spiritual life as it really is.

Well, in the lower levels, this work on this material is hard work, while in higher levels, similar work - for here too, spiritual material is changed and adapted - is not so hard and rigorous; for in the higher levels, every manual activity can be raised to an artistic level, and the spirit in question can put all its strength, its creative thoughts and abilities into its work. In the higher levels, similar things can be processed by creative, artistically inclined spirit brothers and sisters, but into a valuable object, whereas at this lower level, only very modest manual work is required. Because it is also about teaching this spirit to work. And there is a big difference whether such work has to be carried out by a returnee who had never had to do such work in his human life and for whom this would have been a humiliation, or whether it is carried out by a spirit who had lived a modest human life and for whom it is quite natural to do such work because he does not see it as humiliating. That is precisely the difference. So this Ferdinand, who had a spoiled life behind him, had to do such work, and that was already a humiliation for this spirit.

It was not easy for him to fit into this society; because from his earthly life he had become accustomed to a different, an elevated society that had surrounded him even if he had not been taken seriously as a human being. And now all the beauty, all the comfort was no longer there. He had suddenly been led into a very simple spiritual life and to a job that gave him no joy at all. So he was dissatisfied for a long time and he kept trying to make his spirit brothers and sisters aware that he actually couldn't stand at all and that it would be better for him if they sat him down somewhere and led him around. But these words were not well received, because they knew that he only wanted to escape his work and his surroundings. For here were spirit brothers and sisters on the same level who had incurred similar debts and who had not yet been allowed to enter a higher level.

I said that this Ferdinand was very burdened from a previous life and that he had to pay off this burden as a human being. But it was not possible for him to pay off all his debts in one earthly life alone. So he had to enter a level in the spiritual world where he was taught anew. His spirit had indeed been humiliated by his handicapped earthly life, but since this had not happened to the same extent as perhaps with another burdened spirit, he had to accept these humiliations in the spiritual realm and live in them; whereas other spirit brothers and sisters who worked with him did not mind at all and did not feel humiliated when they had to carry out this activity. But they had all been placed on the same level by the spirits of God. They had to work together, with one another, and also live together, with one another.

Ferdinand no longer experienced the kindness from these spirit brothers and sisters that he had received from his fellow human beings in human life, because these other spirit brothers and sisters were not attuned to it. Even as a spirit, he still had the kindness that he had possessed as a human being, and he believed that he could speak the same language with his brothers and sisters in the same kind way that he was used to as a human being. And now he had to experience that the others did not cultivate this form of interaction and that it was difficult for him to respond to the nature of the others.

So it was not easy for him. But over time he did become able to carry out his work. He was also taught by the spirits of God, and he accepted the spiritual life as he had to live it. This enabled him to improve a number of things. Slowly his thinking also found its way into spiritual thinking, into spiritual reality, although in the beginning he still had the same mind as when he was a human being. And so he slowly integrated himself into this spiritual life and was able to
gradually improve his spiritual state.
Then the spirits of God took him out of this plane and gave him another, better job. He also had to be taught in the spiritual schools. He was taught about the plan of salvation. He was to learn to give God the reverence that he deserves; after all, as a human being he had not been raised in a particularly religious way.

So this spirit brother was now able to slowly work his way up. He had realized that he had to adapt to this new world, and he had realized that his past life on earth had indeed brought him spiritual progress, but that through the care of his parents and through this comfortable, beautiful life he had not paid off what he should have paid off, and that he had to make up for it in the spiritual world. So he settled in with the other spirit brothers and sisters and then slowly began to forget who he had once been and where he had lived, and adapted himself completely to the spiritual life. From then on, the spirit world of God had an easier time guiding this brother. He had now separated himself from the human and had become willing to do what was required of him in the spiritual world. He had also come to the realization that there are different laws in the spiritual world than on earth and that one must align oneself with these laws, that human life with its laws does not always agree with what God wants and how things are in the divine world.

So he began to strive for his own spiritual advancement and was able to reach such a spiritual level in a relatively short time. So he had come to an understanding, but all this only because this spirit of God, who took special care of him, had said: "I am responsible for your progress and I will lead you there and impose on you what is for the benefit of your spirit and soul. And I am concerned that you accelerate your advancement." And this spirit of God had always stood faithfully by his side and had guided him in this way, and it continues to lead him to spiritual heights. It is a spirit that will not only support him in the spiritual world, but also when the time comes for a next human life; then too, this spirit will take care of him. For he has taken on the task of bringing this creature of God closer to God as quickly as possible.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I gave you insight and at the same time some teachings. You can see how different it is from one to the other: that not all spirit brothers and sisters who come to us are treated according to a single pattern, but that each one is carefully considered and everything is clarified. Everyone is taken care of, and that is why the spirits of God are there, who are concerned with promoting this progress, accelerating this ascent.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I return to my work and leave you all to God's blessing. May God's salvation heal you in body and soul. Greetings from God.

Experience report by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich Template: Eontape recording


Addendum according to first publication in the magazine "Geistige Welt":

In the board meeting on October 8, 1969, the opportunity arose to ask spirit teacher Josef questions about Ferdinand's experience report. The question was asked why Ferdinand was not informed about the connections between his last and previous earthly lives after

his retreat into the world beyond; whether without this knowledge he had to learn something for which he did not know the reason and which was therefore incomprehensible to him? Josef answered:

Every spirit brother is given what he is able to understand in his time. This Ferdinand would not have understood it yet. It is the case that a burdened spirit that has to make amends has to endure the humiliation that is beneficial for him. But whatever is imposed on someone only serves to speed up their progress, and no one is wronged in the spiritual world. Everyone is told why they cannot be helped or why they must endure this fate and why nothing more can be said about it. This is only told to everyone when they have become inwardly mature for it and are able to understand it. Even for someone who has returned home, there are many questions and many "whys", and his questions are answered as he progresses, as his thinking and beliefs change, and he is gradually taught according to his receptiveness. You should never assume that someone is being treated unfairly in any way. That may seem to be the case to your human perception. But it may also be that the explanations

have not been expressed clearly enough for you, that I should have expressed myself more clearly. When someone is burdened like Ferdinand in this case and had to be placed in this lower level, the burden usually comes not just from one life, but from several burdened lives.

In response to a further question as to whether Ferdinand's good nature had helped him a little, Josef replied:

Basically, it is in the spirit when someone is a little good natured; the incentive for this good nature comes from within. But here the genetic makeup of the mother came into play, which helped to develop it even more.
Next case. 


November 5, 1969
Elisabeth won over to spiritual belief by her school friend.
The connection with the spirit world of God and its teachings become groundbreaking for the rest of two friends' lives.

[Greetings and blessings from the controlling spirit are not preserved.]

Elisabeth: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, my name is Elisabeth, and I want to explain to you how I came to believe in the spirit and how it helped me in the divine world.
I lived in Austria. I had a school friend there; our paths separated when she left home because she had married a man who was working in the colonies. I had a mother who was very pious - I was raised in the Catholic faith - and I had three brothers. My father and the whole family were also religious, but my mother was particularly distinguished by her faith. She always wanted to know whether I had also gone to confession, and in this way she encouraged me to be pious. This way of behaving had repelled me from a very early age, because I found my mother's piety to be intrusive. I was also pious in my heart and I had my own special connection with Christ and the saints to whom we prayed, but my mother's intrusive piety repelled me. I remained unmarried, however, and stayed with my parents until they died, while my brothers each set up their own households.

Well, my friend had moved away, as I told you, and so we wrote to each other a lot. She then told me about these strange meetings that she was now having in Africa. She wrote to me that she always met with people in the neighborhood and that there was a woman there who was a medium, and that they always organized it like this: a number of friends - always the same ones - would always meet on the same weekday evening; then they would take this woman in the middle and form a circle and hold hands, and then this woman would speak to them in a trance. For me this was something completely new. She always wrote me details about it, because she had to and did convince me of it. She wrote to me that this person always gave instructions to those present and had a preview of their lives, so to speak; and that she, my friend, was initially somewhat skeptical about this, but was soon convinced because these things always happened exactly as the medium said. She was then completely convinced when the spirit explained through this woman that her mother-in-law was seriously ill and only had two or three days to live. My friend was naturally surprised and saddened, and for her it was supposed to be proof that this was really true. At that time (around eighty years ago) news was not transmitted as quickly as it is today, and so she had to wait until she heard. A few days later the news came, and it was that the mother-in-law had just died - she had been seriously ill at the time [of the mediumistic transmission] - and my friend and her husband were given the news when her mother had died. So she had proof again, personal proof; and this strengthened her belief in the connection to a spiritual world. And she wrote all of this to me.

Naturally, I was amazed by this and wanted to know more and more. So we kept up a lively correspondence. She couldn't write to me enough about it, I was very curious about everything that happened there. She wrote to me in great detail that it was really true, that people live on after earthly death and that it was possible for a spirit to make itself known to a person and speak through them. But she also wrote to me that this was not something that happened every day, and at the same time made me aware of certain dangers that were associated with it: that one had to be very careful and that only such people should be accepted into her circle, 
who had a very strong character and who also lived with a deep faith in God and his justice. So she wrote to me about these things, and of course I thought about them too.

So life goes on after death, she wrote to me; and she wrote me things that did not agree at all with the faith in which I had been brought up. I also told my mother this, because the pushy nature of her beliefs simply repelled me. My mother forbade me to have any further contact with this friend, because she said it was all just from the devil. But I could not agree to this, because I knew my friend far too well. She was a sincere, good soul; and all these things that she wrote to me, and all these messages, could never be messages from the devil, I had that much judgment myself. And so of course I knew exactly that this did not suit my mother, because it did not agree with her faith and with her nature in general. So our relationship wasn't exactly the best, because I now insisted on my new faith, on the knowledge I had gained through my friend. My mother was very angry with me because of this, but I didn't let myself be dissuaded from my faith. So I tried to live according to what my friend wrote to me, saying that it was necessary, because they received so many hints about the life beyond, how one must align oneself on earth in order to one day have merit in the kingdom of heaven. So I actually learned about the true, spiritual, pious life, which of course did not agree with my mother's faith.

Well, the time came when my friend had to give me sad news: her husband became ill; he became so seriously ill that he had to die. So she came back all alone. She had remained childless, and her husband stayed there, that is, he was buried there; so she came back alone. On the one hand she was sad, on the other hand she said to me when I first met her: "You know, I can't really be sad; after these insights, after everything I know, I have no reason to be sad. I miss my husband, it's hard for me to be alone now, but I know that he's fine. He was a good person. I influenced him too, and I believe that he has nothing to fear in his new world. And the advantage is: I can pray for him, and I can try to get in touch with him." So she came back and stayed near where I lived. We met up from time to time. Because it was not possible to take her into my house because of my mother, I went to her. She had been lovingly taken in by her parents, who were still alive, and so she was later able to take over and live in the house all by herself. I then always had the opportunity to be with her. We sat together in the evenings, lit a small candle and began to pray. First of all, we prayed for this deceased man. Then she taught me the way they had done in their circle. We had no medium to assist us; we were simply together, we sang. Just as they had done in the larger circle, we did the same thing together and prayed, and in between we read the New Testament. In this New Testament we kept finding explanations and proofs for the correctness of our faith. So we always stayed together.

But then my parents became ill. First my father died, then not long after my mother. Now no one pestered me in this intrusive way with these religious teachings, I was completely free. And the two of us, my friend and I, had a wonderful relationship. Now we had even more opportunities to pray for our loved ones, to include them in our prayers. My friend's deceased husband was now joined by my father, my mother and her friend's parents. We had never given up; we always set aside one or two days a week for it and sat together early in the evening. We could pray and sing together and had the feeling that those we were praying for were also with us for a time. We only felt that they were there; we heard nothing from them, we could not hear anything. We had no mediumistic tendencies and we were both very sober people; we did not imagine that we heard anything, and we were also very critical. But we were content and happy to know that there is life after earthly death; and we were happy to know that one does not have to devote all one's thoughts and all one's strength to this fleeting world.

We had the strength to bear unpleasantness much better. No suffering could really come near us, we could understand and overcome all of it, because we tried not to sell ourselves completely to this world, but we lived for the world to come. This connection that we had remained a secret for both of us, so to speak; we did not tell anyone about it, because we knew the people who lived around us and knew that they all had such fanatical religious views. So we did not want to be a nuisance to them, and we kept it as a great secret to ourselves.

Sometimes we were both admired for being so able to deal so easily with the many unpleasantnesses that also came to us. We simply could not attach the same importance to these externals as others did; but we were happy about the knowledge of the spiritual world, we were happy that we too would one day be allowed to enter this world, and we were eager to shape our lives in such a way that we could gain a lot of spiritual merit. Even in the time when we lived, we had enough opportunities to support distressed and sick people and to help them as best we could; for at that time there were quite a lot of poor, needy people, suffering people who were sick in body and soul. So we always had understanding for them, and we could also give them something to edify them and give them some comfort again and again. This life made us happy, because we both lived very, very modestly.

By the way, I would like to say: If we have the opportunity, dear brothers and sisters, to look at you in your prosperity, in your
comforts, then you are living in a paradise compared to what we once had. But I would like to make the following remark: This paradise is a fleeting paradise, and you should not devote yourself to this paradise with all your strength and interests and live this life to the full, otherwise a time will come when you will regret not having come to a different, higher level of knowledge. This is just a remark in passing.

But now I would like to continue and tell you about my entrance into the spiritual world. When I awoke in this new world, I was greeted by beautiful beings. I did not know them, but they were not strangers to me, because my whole thoughts and desires were filled with heaven. These beings were unknown to me, but they were not strangers to me: They were the angels of heaven, as we had imagined them in human life.

Well, when I entered this new world, my mother and my father were there, and other acquaintances were there too. But when I opened my eyes, I still couldn't quite find my way around. I woke up in a preliminary stage or preliminary level to my heaven, which I was then allowed to enter. In this preliminary stage, my relatives were waiting for me, my mother, my father. Well, my father didn't speak much, and pretty soon I didn't see him anymore. My mother, on the other hand, accused me. She fell to her knees and begged me and told me to stand by her and help her. At the same time, she reproached me for not having talked to her more forcefully if I already had this belief; I could have done a lot for her during the time we were together on earth. 

But I said to her: "Dear mother, it was not possible for me to stand by you, to convince you." She did not listen to the words I was able to say. Yes, she pressed herself towards me, pulled me by my spiritual garment, although I was not yet fully aware of what was actually going on. The companion who was standing at my side had to admonish my mother and say to her: "Look, your daughter must first find her way. Let her strengthen herself a little first. I will give her a drink right away, and I will give some to you too." So this beautiful being handed us a drink from a wonderful vessel. I then felt strengthened and happy. It was clear to me: I had now laid aside my earthly body. But of course I was full of curiosity, I looked around. My mother pressed me more and more, although she had also taken this drink and it should have given her strength and refreshment. She reproached me: "If you knew this truth, why didn't you talk to me in a more forceful way?" I had no words to answer. My companion, the Spirit of God, had to tell her: "It would have been of no use, because you rebuked her. And she needed strength to keep her faith and her conviction, because you wanted to dissuade her from this faith." Then pleading
she asked me, I want to stay with her. I just looked at this saint who was standing next to me and asked: "What should I do? I am a stranger here and I don't know anything about it." And he said: "No, you are not living together, because it is not possible. You live with us and with us, while she" - and he pointed to my mother - "still has a lot to learn and to make up for. But what you can do is: you can meet each other." And he said to me: "You can, if you like, visit your mother and you can teach her yourself. You can give her news, you can tell her about the world you have found, what it looks like." Yes, I agreed to do this - it was my mother, I wanted to help her.

But the angel led me away and led me into a beautiful heaven that was so wonderful. It was much, much more beautiful than we had imagined with our human minds. So I was surprised by the beauty that I experienced in this heaven. First I was allowed to rest for a long time. I was allowed to be a guest of the saints of heaven. They had opened their house, and in the beginning there were always invitations to this house. I was allowed to receive these guests, I was allowed to introduce myself, and we talked to each other. These saints, with whom I was staying, then told me who I was and that I was not a stranger to them, to these guests, because they had also been present in this circle and had accompanied me in life, given me strength for my faith and supported me in everything I did. Now I was able to find out that these were spiritual friends who had been in contact with me during my lifetime. So all these saints knew me, and we had a wonderful friendship. I was naturally interested in the work of all of these guests, and so they took turns telling me what they had to do, what tasks they had, and that I too would not only be a guest in this house, but would also have to take up a job; but first I should adapt to this new world, I should now step out of the house and look at the surroundings, I should talk to all of my spirit brothers and sisters and introduce myself so that I could feel at home over time, and then I would be given a task.

I was naturally interested in the well-being of my parents, and so I went to visit my parents. My father was more able to cope, I didn't need to pay him any special attention. He was happy when I came to see him, but I didn't need to look after him particularly. My mother, on the other hand, was very disappointed, disappointed with the life she found, because it was not what she had imagined it would be like on earth. She had to work, and she did not like this work at all, because during her lifetime she had imagined that whoever was in the kingdom of heaven and woke up there would no longer have to work, they could just sit around and go here and there and simply enjoy themselves and be happy and cheerful, and no work had to be done. She had had such an idea, and her disappointment was correspondingly great when she was told: "You have to work. Everyone here has to work, and according to their abilities they are led to their tasks, and according to their spiritual merits they take a good or less good place in the kingdom of heaven." Since she was also asked about her spiritual merits and she thought she had to list many of them, and the angel of God simply ignored it and simply could not understand that such things were considered spiritual merits, my mother finally had to realize that something was wrong with her. She had to do the following job: She became a spiritual messenger and was always on the move. And wherever she went—to another house, to another workshop—she was given a message, and over and over again she had to take this message and sometimes objects here and there. She was always on the move. This was not how she had imagined heaven; she had believed, as she said, that being able to rest, sunbathe, sing and pray—that was life in the kingdom of heaven. Now she was a messenger, and she had to feel that no one paid her any special respect or esteem, that she was lost in the crowd of beings, and yet she believed that she had been so pious in life and now had a special right to this heavenly world. And she did not have this special right.

The amount of work she had to do was many; so she was no different from the others. Like the others, she was a follower in the great machinery of this new world. And so it seemed to her that, of all places where she lived, one had to work particularly hard and a lot - she complained to me about that. When I visited her, she asked me to see to it that she was released from this task. But I had to tell her that I couldn't do anything about it and that I had a task to complete myself. I told her that I had been a guest of the heavenly beings for a long time and that I really enjoyed being able to sing and pray with the others, but now the time had come for me to do something.

So I told her about the work I was doing and what it was for and who it was for. That was of course something completely different - there was a big difference between my work and hers. She would have loved to do what I was allowed to do because she believed she had the same ability. I was busy arranging flowers; I made the most beautiful arrangements for heavenly celebrations. I made large carpets out of flowers, the smallest, tiniest little flowers, and these carpets were taken to the heavenly temples where the high princes of heaven came to praise and glorify God together with those brothers and sisters and to pay homage to the king of the spirit world. There they knelt down on these magnificent flower carpets. That was my work, and I filled it with great joy. 

My mother now believed that she could do the same. She would have had the ability to do it, but I had to say to her: "Look at your hands. Your hands are so coarse that you are not capable of taking these delicate flowers in your hand, weaving them and tying them into a bouquet. You cannot make a carpet out of these little flowers like I do." Over time she understood and was satisfied with her work. I promised to pray for her and then I reached the heavenly messengers, asking them to please take pity on my mother. But they explained to me that she would have to do this work for a certain period of time; after all, she could only progress step by step, and when she had completed this time that was set out for her or predetermined for her, she would be able to do more pleasant work.

So I went to her, comforted her and said: "Look, dear mother, you just have to do this work now. The time will come when you will be able to do better work, a better, more pleasant activity." Then I reminded her of what she had said to me in her human life - she had drawn my attention to Christ, to his sacrifice - and so I explained it to her: "Look, you know how you spoke to me: Christ took on so much hardship and bore it for the sake of justice. And so you too must fulfil this task for the sake of justice, you must carry out your work as it is intended for you." I was then allowed to go to her for a while. This made her very happy, because now and then I brought her some of these strange and unknown flowers from my kingdom of heaven. She was happy about it, and it gave her strength to fulfil her task, and so she then strove for something higher. I had the opportunity to influence her and explain to her which path she should take and how she should think and act. And so it happened that she gradually rose a little.

Now, just a small note about my friend: the time for her return home was also determined for her. I was allowed to fetch her, and she was able to live with me in my house, where I lived. At first she was also a guest of the saints of heaven, and later she moved her home over to me. So we had to do the same work together, and we were happy about this way of creating in the kingdom of heaven. But it is not the case that we only made such arrangements and carpets. We also had to be taught about many things that belong to God's order, that belong to God's laws. We also occasionally went with other saints of heaven in search of unfortunate people who lived on earth without faith; we went near them and tried to shake their consciences awake, although we knew that we could not succeed in convincing them. But their spirit saw us, and the spirit, which was awake, should not be allowed to complain later in the world beyond that no one had informed it of the truth in its true spiritual language. So we went one time to such unfortunate, unbelieving people, but another time our path led in our world, that is, in the spiritual world, to those spirit brothers and sisters who were seeking help, in order to comfort them and to say to them: "The time of your distress

will pass, you must endure this time, and things will get better for you." By explaining this to the individual, one can say to him: "It will pass, for you are not damned, you will not be in your misery for all eternity, but you must repent. But time passes, and the faster you change your mindset, the faster this difficult time can pass for you." So we were able to bring comfort here and there with the saints of heaven. And especially on the days of remembrance, on the feast days of Christ, we sometimes brought a refreshment with us, for one person perhaps an oil, for another a drink. They always accepted it with joy, because it was balm for them in one way or another. So I am active in the kingdom of heaven and very satisfied. I have all this to thank my friend, who made me aware of this belief in life after death, in the spiritual world - my friend managed to convince me. I turned away from the others, I stood firm and was rewarded for my firm belief. But I had also oriented myself accordingly in life: I had not lived for the transitory world, I always kept the future in mind and that opened the door to the kingdom of heaven for me. So, dear brothers and sisters, I have told you about my life, how I came to this belief and about my entry into the spiritual world. The same should happen to you, so that you can also gain access to the heavenly world through your faith. So it is good if you do not give all your strength to this transitory world, but rather orient yourself towards it. Keep the future before your eyes, the divine future, the spiritual life; that is eternity.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I am returning, because I have a lot to do. So may God bless you. Greetings.

Report of the ascending spirit being Elisabeth by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich
Template: tape recording.




Next case.
December 3, 1969
Laura, one day everyone will be caught up in God's order.
Reunion with grandfather and insight into his self-chosen activity as a protective spirit in his former village.

Laura: Greetings. Dear brothers and sisters, my name is Laura. I can speak to you without anyone [controlling spirit] having to announce me first. I lived happily with my family. I was married and had children. We tried to live according to God's will as best as we could, which means we had made our mistakes. We had made some mistakes and knew that we shouldn't have done this or that. We were weak people too. In the family we tried to live in peace with one another. We also prayed the night prayer together. So we were always lost in prayer together before we said goodbye to go to sleep. That was so natural. For my part, I had a special relationship with the angels; I prayed to them that they would look after me and protect me. I trusted and hoped in them. Actually, I prayed more to the angels than to God himself. None of my family thought much about what would happen after death, although we knew that life would go on in some form. How it would go on didn't concern us. So I lived in particular in connection with the holy angels. I had a special relationship with them and I believed that my guardian spirit was particularly attentive and would always hear my requests. So my life was not distinguished by special events. Everyone in my family tried to live right.

But now, I would like to talk about the other thing, namely our retreat into the spiritual world, what we experienced there, in that
world that we had no idea about, which was so new to us. So we just had to admire this world.
When I crossed over into the spiritual world, my grandfather greeted me very warmly. He was particularly happy to greet me and he confided to me that he had actually been my guardian spirit. While I had assumed that a very high angel from heaven would accompany me through life, it was my grandfather. I didn't really like hearing that, because I had expected an angel of God to stand before me and say that he had actually accompanied me in life and listened to my requests and tried to fulfill them. And now my grandfather stood there and said that he had been the one who had mainly taken care of me and the whole family. I remembered my grandfather well from my childhood, but he had changed somewhat in the spiritual world; he was very good-looking and it seemed to me that he was taller.

Now my grandfather told me about his new world.
He said he wanted to tell me all this so that the world would not be so strange to me. And they allowed it. I had other relatives, family members who greeted me, and acquaintances were there too; but it now seemed that my grandfather really was to play a special role for me. Now my grandfather explained to me that he had not only protected me and my children and the whole house, but the whole village; he had been the guardian spirit for the whole village. Nobody would have denied him that. And since he had been so attached to these people during his lifetime and to everything that had happened in the village, he wanted to express this same bond in the spiritual world as well. And so he explained to me that people continue to live like this and that there are probably spirits of God who are on a higher level and watch over everything.

So he told me about the tasks he had carried out in the village. He explained to me that he had always been there whenever he could to prevent disaster. He had always intervened whenever he could. For example, he told me that in the same village - I knew the area well, including the buildings - he once saw a storm approaching and that this storm could be disastrous for the village. And he, my grandfather explained to me, had been very excited. He had called on other spirit brothers and sisters to help him, just as he was used to calling on spirit brothers and sisters here and there to assist him. And so he had a certain foresight. This was so that he could see what was going to happen to the people in the village in the next few hours or two or three days. He also saw the dangers that this storm could bring with it. And there was a farm, there were a good number of animals in this stable; and the grandfather explained to me that lightning had struck the stable and a fire could have broken out if he had not been the one to intervene early. He seemed to be very proud of his deeds, of his activities in general, which he carried out as a protective spirit for all the people in the village where we lived, and he explained to me how he had done it. He told me this precisely because he believed that I would now continue to carry out his work together with him. And so he told me that he had recognized it early on and seen what danger this storm would have brought to that farm or that stable.

Since his entire attention was focused on nothing else but his village and of course my family, he had time to observe everything closely, and so he also saw the spirit brothers and sisters gathering around the farm. And so he had a bad feeling, as he explained to me. Because it is usually the case that spirit brothers and sisters are ready to either lead people home or help to separate the animal spirit from its body. So he was excited because he saw how many spirit brothers and sisters suddenly came near, then moved away for a short time and came back again. He already had certain insights. And he thought: "How can I prevent this?" He knew: "If I am very attentive, I can

manage to avert this misfortune." And if he used all his strength and all his intelligence, if you can call it that, then it could happen that this misfortune could be prevented after all; that would be thanks to him. And then he explained: "You know, they have a dog, this dog sleeps in the stable; and since they always go on a tour of the stable late in the evening, I have the opportunity to influence people and animals." Well, this misfortune was not to come upon this family at night, but, as he realized, it could happen during the day. He watched and saw clearly that the time was not far off. The storm was gathering, and the many spirit brothers and sisters were already present, that was the sign of it. What should he do? He went to the dog and tried to make the dog a little restless. He did not instigate him directly, but he came so close to him and constantly disturbed him that the dog became restless; "because," said the grandfather, "the dog saw me, and I was so clear and loud to him that he saw me. And I became more and more energetic and scared him more and more. He began to bark and make noise. Then the farmer became alert and said: 'That is not a good sign, that is not a good sign. I know our dog, Fritzi', that was his name, 'and he does not make noise, even when there is a storm.' And then he called his people together," the grandfather told the story, "and they let all the animals off their chains. 

Whatever might happen, the animals would quickly be out of the stable. Yes, they suspected that lightning might strike. And then so much hay had been brought in, and all the animals were in the stable. And so it got worse and worse, darker and darker, and it was like this: lightning struck, and the dog barked and barked, and he did it right. Well, fortunately there was no fire. I had spoken to some higher beings beforehand; I had asked them to prevent the disaster. And one of these higher beings said: 'Yes, those are the powers, they are doing their own thing; but if you ask for it! I will try to make this change with these powers so that there is no fire; because we know you: you are a praiseworthy, zealous brother, you want to prevent all misfortune, that is good and kind of you.'"

 And so it was: lightning struck and there was no fire; there was a loud bang and then everyone knew it was over. People breathed a sigh of relief, the storm gradually passed and they praised Fritzi. Because he was such a brave dog, he got a really juicy bone for it. They praised him, this dog, and they loved him. And so the misfortune passed. And grandfather told me: "They only have me to thank for it, because I stood up for them." However, it was not the case that this misfortune had to befall these people. The powers that be raged and were let loose, and the animals would have been killed and the farmer and the family would have been harmed as a result. And grandfather said to me: "Then they left again." And so they left, those who were ready to receive these animal bodies, these spiritual animal bodies; they went their own way again. They were not surprised by it, but they had to be ready in any case.

And so the grandfather told so many stories about where he had helped. Here with a sick man, there with a sick woman, here and there he had stood up and helped. And he was also known in the spiritual world as a good spirit, as a protective spirit for his village. They let him do as he pleased, although it was also pointed out to him that there could ultimately be another job for him and that from the very beginning he had not cared at all about God's order in particular, but had asserted himself in this way of his own accord and given himself this task. They then came to terms with him, he explained, because after all he only wanted what was good and had done what was good. But he didn't always manage to help, and now and then he had to step back; but he did what he could, and so he was a protective, good spirit. So my grandfather said to me: "You know, Laura, now I'm glad that you're here. You can help me from now on. There's so much to do in this village, and now we can do this work together. And you know, people are actually so happy when they get help, even if they don't know who helped them. So it's the pious people who then send a prayer of thanks to heaven and thank God and this or that holy spirit in particular." 

They had no idea that it was him, he to whom they had only given a special name in life, this name - I can say it easily - as my grandfather had been called when he was alive; it was "old Sepp". He said: "Nobody suspects that old Sepp helped them, but they believe that Saint Aloysius helped, Saint Albert helped, even Saint Joseph helped." But nobody suspected that he, a modest old man from the village, had also had the opportunity to help them, and that it didn't even have to be a particular saint from heaven; because they believed that this saint was their patron saint and that he would ward off misfortune and storms and whatever they might be. But then Grandfather told me: "You know, I have a wish. I have been told all sorts of things and I have seen all sorts of things. You also know that I went hunting now and then when I was alive and I also roam through the woods because I am interested in game. But you know, I really have no say in that: if I want to go into the woods, I will be chased away straight away and, I admit, I cannot help everywhere, so I will stay in my village." But he told me everything he saw and what he observed. Because he was allowed to observe, he explained to me, but not to intervene or help when there and
whether it was during the hunting season or when a game was killed by a poacher; he was able to see what happens to these spiritual animals. 

There are very special brothers who look after them and go away with them when these animals are killed or when one dies of illness. Just like with humans, these spiritual brothers and sisters come and are near them even before they die in order to receive them. Usually they come individually or, when it comes to hunting, in groups to guide these spiritual animals into the spiritual realm. For these are not left to themselves, there is a spirit for every animal; just as for humans, there are spirit brothers and sisters for those higher in their ascension who guide them across to their environment and hand them over to the other spirits who have to work on the environment or live with them, depending on their development, circumstances, etc. Then grandfather told me that what made him particularly happy was when animals came, and that he could see them every now and then, and sometimes he would go near the forest just to observe. There such spirit beings would come - oh, you could say that they were noble angels, beautifully dressed. So he said I had no idea what they were dressed like, I had never seen anything like it in my life, they were dressed so expensively, full of glittering gemstones. They would come and take care of such an animal, for example a deer.

 Grandfather said that if they saw or if the animal was shot, it would be scared and would be chased back and forth through the forest. When it was killed, the body would lie there, but the spirit of the animal would run back and forth through the forest for a while; the spirit would remain restless for a while. "Then a spirit or such a noble angel follows him constantly. Over time, the spiritual animal also gets tired and gives up running around; suddenly it becomes completely calm and lies down. And then the spirit being, and in this case this very noble spirit, approaches and kneels down to this animal, starts to stroke it, plays with it, and the animal becomes completely tame and calm." 

The grandfather says: "When you experience something like this for the first time or for the first time, it is really an experience. Because when you see that the earthly body is now lying there and a spiritual body emerges from this earthly body in the same form, a much more beautiful animal arises, the fur is much finer, silkier, even more noble, even more beautiful - when you see something like this, then you really cannot be sad that the animal has been killed; you see a much more magnificent animal arise, there is a wonderful birth." It is an experience to see this. Even if the animal was a little frightened at first and was chased around, it would then, quite suddenly or not suddenly, slowly calm down, lie down and surrender. When these nobles came, they would put wonderful, expensive collars on these animals and expensive leashes, so many that you could hardly count them. It was all like a veil and it extended from the collar, and the leashes were long and it all looked so elegant and noble. First they would sit down with the animal for a while, talk to it and stroke it for a long time to awaken trust. And then the higher being would rise up together with the animal and the animal would then flee with this noble spirit. He had never seen where, but he assumed that such an animal would surely go where such noble beings were. He had sometimes been amazed at how they lived and where they went with these noble angels. He could imagine that there were many beautiful places in this kingdom of heaven. That's what my grandfather told me, and of course I was amazed, everything was new to me.

As I was talking to my grandfather, a being I didn't know came up to me and started to join in the conversation and said: "Yes, yes, everything your grandfather tells you is true; yes, yes, these animals are led to the high heavens, because they are there for the joy of the angel world." I found that so natural. And my grandfather always acted like that and was amazed and couldn't explain enough how beautiful these animals were; I should experience how it all works. And I said: "Yes, if I can, dear grandfather, I would like to be with you to experience all this." But then this figure or person who was unknown to me - I didn't know how to address him - intervened and said to me: "You know, I want to look after you, not your grandfather. We agreed with your grandfather; he can certainly look after things in his village, but he has no power.

right about you. But now that we are together, I can tell you a few things about where these animals are being led." Of course, the grandfather was also interested in this.
First this being introduced itself and said: "I am your guardian spirit" - that is, my guardian spirit - "and I will lead you to the place where you must go, where you must stay and where you must work. But I am now prepared to talk to you both for a while."

Yes, I liked that. I felt so safe around my grandfather; I had loved him as a child and he was so familiar to me. I actually didn't find this new world strange at all. My grandfather gave me a feeling of security, although I had also been a little uncertain and afraid at first. But I did have the impression that my grandfather had a big say here in this new world that I had entered. That was simply my opinion. And then this guardian spirit of mine, as he had introduced himself, said: "You know, the spirits of God, those who live in the high heavens, have a lot to do. They have a lot to do with people, but not only with people. There is so much work that they have to do and for which they have to sacrifice themselves. But they should also have something to enjoy."

 And so he said: "Some are particularly interested in the animal world and, for example, love the animals of the forest in particular. And since the spiritual world is so vast and so large and these high and distinguished spirit brothers and sisters have enough space, they can keep such favorite animals as they like." And they could have hundreds of such animals in their gardens and in their fields or whatever it may be, in their forests. And as they pleased, they would then take such animals with them and walk around with them in heaven; they would thus be accompanied by these animals. But, said this angel, not every animal is suitable for this; they are carefully selected, taken care of and led to these heights, where they will now continue their spiritual animal life in the world beyond. Furthermore, there are also very many spirit brothers and sisters who
have a particular preference for horses. And there are not only spirit brothers and sisters who deal with animals; there are also many other things that one enjoys.

For example, there is a spirit being who has a particular pleasure in minerals: these minerals are collected and put together in the spiritual realm, and the most precious, of course, and that is what gives them their special joy. These high spirit brothers and sisters are always searching to acquire such precious stones, which they then take with them and sometimes also have to work on; they are very concerned about their shine. Not all the stones they bring together are of the same precious value; they differ from one another in their shine, shape, purity and color. But that is irrelevant, he explained, because these spirit brothers and sisters take special joy in it. And when there are invitations here and there in the heavenly world, which happens again and again, then such spirit brothers and sisters who have a preference for minerals now invite others to admire them; and then people come and admire these treasures.

But then the angel of God said - and I would like to explain this to you - that these stones cannot be kept indefinitely either. It is like with animals - these brothers and sisters can keep them for a certain time, and then they are taken back, requested for transformation into a higher life. But there are other animals; for example, the angel goes back into the forest and quickly has his replacement. And it is partly the same with the precious stones. Some have to be transformed; others are brought and decorate the precious garments; they are not there for the transformation, but for the glorification of the heavenly world. So it can have a twofold meaning.

But there are not just animals and minerals. There are also spirits of God who have their very special preference for flowers and express all their ability, all their artistic skills, in their work with these flowers. But these spirits of God are less concerned with the arrangement of these flowers than with the refinement. They try to refine these flowers themselves, to transform them, even if only to a slightly higher spiritual level or on the same level. They are simply able to give the flower a more beautiful shine, a greater splendor. So they too work on the refinement of these flowers, they too do it to the delight of heaven. And every spirit of God is particularly proud of what he has accomplished.

This spirit of God, my guardian spirit, told me that in the kingdom of heaven, one must always admire everything, that new things are always being created, created, shaped, transformed and glorified, that one must always be amazed. But all of this can only be experienced in the upper, higher levels. And this activity is not a main activity of these high brothers and sisters, he said, but they devote themselves to this additional work, this activity, in their so-called free time or when they have time. Because so much very important work always has to be done.

Although there are high spirit beings in the spiritual world with a lot of creative power, who have their own heavens especially for this purpose, where they constantly create and shape new things so that they can be admired, other spirit brothers and sisters do not want to be left behind either. But the difference is that some, if my guardian spirit could say so, do it professionally and are only artistically active, while other higher spirit brothers and sisters only engage in artistic activity now and then because they also want to develop the creative power that is within them; after all, they also want to enjoy beauty. "Surely," said my guardian spirit, "we are happy to lead a soul from below through all the bitterness and distress, to be with them in their sorrow and to live in their hope that they will finally succeed in moving up a few steps. That is hard work, it requires a lot of patience and perseverance. But you don't want to do that all the time; you want to be active in heaven too, to experience how heaven is made of splendor and glory. God has given his people so much creative power, and you want to be active with this creative power. 

So these spirits of God try to do that just on the side." That's what my guardian spirit said. My grandfather was amazed and said: "I'm on the right path! I knew it, it's right. At first they wanted to give me a completely different job. Now I was right to do it. If the higher spirits do this, how can I not have the right to do my own thing in my own way?" 
"Yes, yes," said my guardian spirit, "they let you do it. But how long do you want to work in your village? You must make sure that you get past this level and move up a bit. There is still a lot to do up there where you could be active and help. You must leave your village at some point." Yes, said the grandfather in amazement, he had no intention of doing that at the moment, because they all need him, he claimed. What would have happened if he had not intervened in this and that case as he did? 

Great misfortune would have befallen people and animals, he claimed. "Yes, that may be so," said my guardian spirit, "it is true: for people, giving up and dying is something painful. I understand that. But you know, it is like you saw it yourself with the wild animal in the forest that is hunted. It is afraid for a while, and its spiritual body even runs around for a while. But soon it calms down, and you yourself said that something much more beautiful is born from the same animal. Shouldn't the much more beautiful be encouraged?" Grandfather said: "Yes, in your own way, as you think. But in my village I am there to make sure that everything is in order." The guardian spirit said: "Yes, you know, I don't think you'll be able to work there for long, because you're not making any progress. You're helping, that's all well and good, but you can also help on another level, on a higher level. Don't you think you've been working in your village long enough now?" Yes, my grandfather found it difficult. And then my guardian spirit said: "You thought Laura would help you now, that she would go back and forth in the village and check in every house to see who was sick and where you could help. No, no, I'm taking Laura with me." He was a little disappointed. He was so happy to finally have someone to help him. He liked me so much and helped me too; didn't he have a right to me? My guardian spirit said: "I'm taking Laura with me, then you'll be left alone in the village." And then I said: "Grandfather, think about it. Don't you want to come with me when I can go up higher and do something else? Maybe we can be together after all. But it doesn't necessarily have to be our village. We can also help others, they are our brothers and sisters too and have the right to be helped." I spoke to him. Grandfather was not to be persuaded. My guardian spirit didn't wait long, he took me by the arm and went.

with me. I couldn't even say goodbye properly. I was so sorry to be leaving my grandfather so quickly, who had taken such good care of me and not just me but the whole family, the whole village. My guardian spirit could see that I was not feeling well, but he spoke to me and said: "You know, it has to be done, I had to intervene like this. You know, he has to come to his senses. And he will think. He will ask about you and he will come to you. But it has to be like this. You will then have the opportunity to go to your grandfather and ask him to come with you. But first a few things have to be put right with you, because you know, you haven't done everything according to our wishes.

Yes, I thought about it and got a little scared. I had felt so comfortable with my grandfather, now I had to leave him behind. And my guardian spirit, yes, he said he was my guardian spirit, but he was still a stranger to me. I actually knew him, I didn't know him by face, like my grandfather. My guardian spirit spoke to me and said that I could have faith, it wouldn't be so bad. But it would be the same for everyone if they i: the spiritual world; for human life is a test, and one would not thank people for their vices and for the bad things they had done; one should not thank such people, one must judge them. And I began to ask somewhat timidly what I had done wrong; I remembered that I had also done some things that I later regretted. The angel saw my thoughts, but said: "You know, we cannot agree so quickly with our human child who has returned home. We must sometimes use harsh words and deal with him very forcefully." Then I said: "What are you going to do with me?

 And what do I have to do? What kind of work do you have for me? I have no idea what kind of work one has to do in heaven." And the angel said: "You have heard so many beautiful things about what goes on in the high heavens, even if you don't belong in the high heavens. But there is still a lot of other things to do, you have to help everywhere; because there are so many spiritual brothers and sisters in need who you can help and speak to and comfort." And then the angel said to me: "I will now draw your attention to various things. I am a little more familiar to you now, even if you are still a little shy. But you know, there are other angels of God who will come and stand before you and who are strangers to you. You know, they will ask you many questions. And I give you good advice: give a faithful and honest answer to everything and confess your guilt when they accuse you. You are sorry that you did something wrong. Or is that not the case?" he asked me. "Oh, of course, I'm sorry about everything. I had no idea about heaven as it really is. I had prayed to the angels, but I had no idea what heaven was like." And I asked him whether anyone took offense at the fact that I didn't know anything at all: "Other people don't know anything about this strange world either." 
"Yes," smiled my guardian spirit, "unfortunately they don't know much. But I'll tell you now how you should behave: So ask them for forgiveness for everything you've done wrong.

 You have to ask them in Christ's name, and you should be prepared to make up for everything you've done wrong." I remembered that well. Of course I was sorry about everything, that was quite natural. And they came - it wasn't long before they came. And I felt a bit strange. Actually, the world or the new things that surrounded me had impressed me, I liked it. Some things had also reminded me a lot of my previous life. Many things are much more beautiful there, much, much more beautiful, and yet I felt like a stranger. Now they were standing there, these spirits of God that my guardian spirit had spoken of. And I didn't dare look up, I just kept looking down, I didn't want to look at them. They were beautiful, but I was ashamed and didn't want to look at them. I had prayed, but not to them, I had prayed to everyone else. I was desperate and afraid. And then I simply fell to my knees, folded my hands and asked them to forgive me; I didn't know what it would really be like in the future. And then they lifted me up and said it wasn't so bad; I just had to be very eager and brave and very obedient. I promised that, I wanted to be obedient. But they said that I needed some time for myself so that I could completely reflect on myself, and they would recommend that I get some rest, and when I had rested a little, I would have more courage and more
Confidence.

Yes and my guardian spirit then said: "Good, now I'll accompany you," and he accompanied me into a house. I came to a family - I hadn't counted them, there weren't many - then I was led into a room and told: "Here's a bed, you can rest a little and you'll find peace. And when you're rested, they'll help you," and he pointed to those present, "They're your brothers and sisters, in spirit they're your brothers and sisters." That's what they told me, and of course that was now clear to me. So I was allowed to rest. And when I woke up again and was surrounded by these spirit brothers and sisters - they were all so friendly and kind to me - my guardian spirit came to me again and said: "You know, now I really have to tell you what work you have to do. But before I take you to any work, we want to take care of your grandfather. But you have to look a little better; we want to give you a different outfit." And then they brought me a beautiful garment that bore no resemblance to any garment I had ever worn in life. And I couldn't remember anyone ever wearing such a garment, in this shape. And the material was much, much finer, everything was so fine, so delicate. And so they gave me a beautiful dress. I had never worn anything so beautiful in my life. And then they had tied a beautiful ribbon around my head and held my hair in place.

So my guardian spirit led me to my grandfather, who was of course busy again in the village, going from house to house and from stable to stable. When he saw me, he was amazed. He clapped his hands and said: "Laura, how is that possible, have you become an angel?" And I said: "I'm sure you're not an angel yet. But I think it would be very advisable if you came with me now, then you can look as beautiful as me, and I will help you to look as beautiful as me."

Grandfather told me all the work that was waiting for him, where he had to go to see to it that there was no one there to look after the people. I said: "I don't believe that, Grandfather, you're just thinking that. There are other spirit brothers and sisters who look after the animals and the people, not just you." And while I was talking to him, my guardian spirit said: "Yes, of course, of course, he's just imagining that he has to look after everything in the village alone; he doesn't let anyone else in. When he's gone, others will come and take over the work." Grandfather was amazed and said: "What, I don't let anyone in?" 
"No, you don't let anyone in," said the guardian spirit, "you can't deny that," and it had to be true, the way the angel looked at him and the grandfather became uncertain. "Well, what should I do then?" asked grandfather. "You shouldn't do anything," said my guardian spirit, "except come with us." 
"But before I leave this village and my people, I want to say goodbye to every house and every stable."

 "Fine by me," said the guardian spirit or the spirit who accompanied me, "fine by me, say goodbye." Then grandfather said: "Good, but you could come and accompany me so that you can see that it was really necessary for me to see that things were right." And my high-ranking companion smiled and said: "Let's do him a favor, we'll be done with it quickly." And so we took grandfather into our midst. Then I noticed that he wasn't actually dressed particularly nicely; it was of course appropriate for his surroundings. And I was a little proud of my appearance, of my looks - I had been given such a beautiful robe, although I was convinced that grandfather had done much more good than I had. The distinguished companion must have seen my thoughts, because he said: "He won't lack better robes. First we have to get him out of here." And so it was. We went with him from house to house, from stable to stable, and he said goodbye, and we had the feeling that it was quick, because my distinguished companion was just as short with me as he had been with me before: he simply took him by the hand and was off again. There was no need to look around carefully; he was allowed to look at things everywhere, and then there was a quick escape. And so it went with the grandfather, with my distinguished companion, and with me, up to this house that was to be my home for a long time. And everyone who was there greeted the grandfather like an old friend. He was amazed and said: "Yes, I feel superfluous here. What am I supposed to do in this house, what am I supposed to do here at all? You have taken me away from my beautiful work." And the great spirit now said to him: "You must finally get rid of this idea
and become free. It is not always about your personal will, but you should submit yourself to God's order and God's will. You were allowed to do what you wanted, but there was also a time, and it had to end. You will also find more than enough work here to support and help others. After all, there is more than one village in the kingdom of heaven where you have to see to it that things are right, and in the earthly world there is also more than just your village where you lived. One should not be so bound."

And then they brought Grandfather a drink and told him that he should now have something to eat to strengthen him. Then he would feel a little tired and should lie down and rest a little, because he had really worked a lot recently. Grandfather agreed to this; he took this drink, found it delicious and lay down to sleep. This time of rest for his mind has the ability to change his thinking a little; he should now lose his bondage through this sleep, or so it was explained to me. And so it was. Then they brought him completely different clothes, and he was dressed differently, because Grandfather really was a good, helpful soul. He was just a little stubborn and believed that everything had to go as he ordered and that only he could see to it that things were right. He had to learn to think differently, but through his sleep he was healed. And when I stood there in front of him and he opened his eyes, I had the feeling that I was looking at a transformed Grandfather: He seemed much younger to me, completely young, and I had no memory of his appearance when he lived as a human being; I thought he had become younger and changed through sleep. I was given confirmation of this: "Yes, he has changed, he has become young again. And so, since you are so helpful and kind, you can both offer your services to the other ascending spirit brothers and sisters from this heaven. You should now turn away much more from the earthly world and from the people who have remained behind there." Other spirit brothers and sisters would take care of them. Our activity now should be that we give our helpfulness and our love to those in the spiritual realm who really need it.

We have a beautiful life in this family. We live really contentedly and happily, although I was told that the time will come when we will have to leave this house again and each of us will take our own path towards further heights. But in the near future we will still have to fulfill our tasks together. And so I suspected that Grandfather was the one who wanted to be the leader, and I liked it that way. I was told: "The hour will come when everyone has to go their own way and act independently. That will happen when you have risen spiritually and become stronger and at the same time have improved spiritually in your thinking and will." So I am active with my grandfather in the spiritual realm.

Well, dear brothers and sisters, I have tried to tell you as well as I could, as I remembered it, so that this future world should not be foreign to you. So I leave you to the blessing of
God. And for a short time, I am told, you will be able to ask your trusted brother a few questions. The time is advanced, so you should limit your questions. So I pronounce God's blessing upon you.

 God bless you.

Joseph: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, I would first of all like to answer questions related to what has been said.

Dear spirit friend Josef, I would be very interested to know which level Laura's spiritual self was on during her sleep, that she did not know her spirit brothers and sisters. During her life, she was also on higher levels while she was sleeping. She must have met her guardian spirit there.

Josef: Yes, all of these things can be clarified or illustrated again when you cross over into the spiritual world. Footnote 1.

1 In other lectures and answers to questions by spirit teacher Josef, the following explanations can be found, which provide a more detailed answer to the question: When a person sleeps, their spirit is detached from their earthly body and can have their experiences in the spiritual world and receive teachings from their guardian spirit. When the spirit returns to its body, it is usually unable to take the spiritual experience with it into its human consciousness, because its vibration is reduced again. 

But why does the spirit not immediately remember these experiences after returning to the world beyond? 

Because at death, at the final Separation of body and spirit, the odic streams of the earthly body are drawn back into the spiritual body and soul. This od of the earthly body is the bearer of all the memories and feelings of the human being - all of this is absorbed by the spiritual body and soul when dying. Therefore, the deceased initially thinks, feels and behaves exactly as if he were a human being and also has the same knowledge or ignorance as if he were a human being.

Josef: Yes.
And then we heard that this transformation of the grandfather, that is, the rejuvenation, actually only took place in the higher stages and not at the beginning.
Josef: Yes, it couldn't have happened earlier either, because he hadn't changed his thinking.
Then this stubbornness, which is often found mainly in older people, is the obstacle.
Josef: Yes, you take your peculiarities, your whole mentality with you, and it is an obstacle to progress.
Dear Josef, what was it like with the storm that Laura told us about, which was approaching this farm? And yet this grandfather was actually allowed to bring about protection. Why didn't the storm itself pass through or be removed from this place?

Josef: Yes, I could now remind you of the story that spirit sister Lene told [see the lecture "An educational journey in the spiritual world" in the booklet "Meditation Week 1969"], in which some things can be prevented. [...]
Now, dear brothers and sisters, I'm withdrawing. God's blessing accompany and protect you. God's greetings.

Report of the experience of the ascending spirit being Laura and answers to questions from spirit teacher Josef by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Template: tape recording

March 4, 1970
Otto's awakening in the afterlife of an eccentric and his experiences with earthbound deceased.
The impressive experience of a great animal lover, how forest animals are cared for after their death and led into the spiritual world
Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend. It is my task to present to you the experiences of an ascending spirit brother. Since we still have to take some consideration of the powers available to us1, I have taken on the task of giving you this report myself.   
Footnote, 1 Mediator Beatrice Brunner had just recovered from flu.
So if people speak a little more slowly than usual during this hour, I ask for your understanding. If I now tell you about a deceased person who passed into the spiritual world fifty years ago, let's call it the even number, you will ask yourselves how it is possible that I can now describe the entire experience of this spirit. In this technologically highly developed time, it should not be particularly difficult for you to understand something like this; because you too have the opportunity to see events that may have happened fifty years ago. You have been told again and again that all of man's achievements have long been present in the spiritual world. So this should be quite understandable to you. To clarify further, however, I would like to say that I have my helpers at my disposal who are looking for suitable spirit brothers and sisters who one can talk about or who one can ask to talk about themselves. And so this has now come about, when we agreed together with the higher spirit brothers and sisters, which should be instructive and good for you. With this explanation I am trying to lift the curtain on the other world a little; and since new friends keep coming here and much of what is said is strange to them, they must try to familiarize themselves with it and talk it out with friends. The spiritual world is so similar to the world you live in. But enough of that now.
I am now talking about a spirit who was considered an oddball in his human life. This oddball was called Otto. He did not get along with people. He had great peculiarities, and so he also separated himself from the communal life of his surroundings. About a kilometer from the edge of a forest he had set up a hut in which he wanted to live. He wanted to have as little to do with people as possible. He was an oddball, but he had to be able to live, and so he was forced to do some work. There were a few farms nearby where he could work. In fact, people were very happy when Otto came and offered his services. In this way he was able to stock up on food and the necessities he needed for the winter. The food he received for his work was mostly smoked meat, dried beans, fruit, pears and apples. And he himself always had


Thank you. And the grandfather never saw Laura's actual guardian spirit because he always thought of himself as her guardian spirit?
Had
Separation of body and spirit, the odic streams of the earthly body are drawn back into the spiritual body and soul. This od of the earthly body is the bearer of all the memories and feelings of the human being - all of this is absorbed by the spiritual body and soul when dying. Therefore, the deceased initially thinks, feels and behaves exactly as if he were a human being and also has the same knowledge or ignorance as if he were a human being.

Josef: Yes.

And then we heard that this transformation of the grandfather, that is, the rejuvenation, actually only took place in the higher stages and not at the beginning.

Josef: Yes, it couldn't have happened earlier either, because he hadn't changed his thinking.

Then this stubbornness, which is often found mainly in older people, is the obstacle.

Josef: Yes, you take your peculiarities, your whole mentality with you, and it is an obstacle to progress.

Dear Josef, what was it like with the storm that Laura told us about, which was approaching this farm? And yet this grandfather was actually allowed to bring about protection. Why didn't the storm itself pass through or be removed from this place?

Josef: Yes, I could now remind you of the story that spirit sister Lene told [see the lecture "An educational journey in the spiritual world" in the booklet "Meditation Week 1969"], in which some things can be prevented. [...]

Now, dear brothers and sisters, I'm withdrawing. God's blessing accompany and protect you. God's greetings.

Report of the experience of the ascending spirit being Laura and answers to questions from spirit teacher Josef by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Template: tape recording
March 4, 1970

Otto's awakening in the afterlife
of an eccentric and his experiences
with earthbound deceased
The impressive experience of a great animal lover, how forest animals are cared for after their death and led into the spiritual world

Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend. It is my task to present to you the experiences of an ascending spirit brother. Since we still have to take some consideration of the powers available to us1, I have taken on the task of giving you this report myself. So if people speak a little more slowly than usual during this hour, I ask for your understanding. If I now tell you about a deceased person who passed into the spiritual world fifty years ago, let's call it the even number, you will ask yourselves how it is possible that I can now describe the entire experience of this spirit. In this technologically highly developed time, it should not be particularly difficult for you to understand something like this; because you too have the opportunity to see events that may have happened fifty years ago. You have been told again and again that all of man's achievements have long been present in the spiritual world. So this should be quite understandable to you. To clarify further, however, I would like to say that I have my helpers at my disposal who are looking for suitable spirit brothers and sisters who one can talk about or who one can ask to talk about themselves. And so this has now come about, when we agreed together with the higher spirit brothers and sisters,

1 Mediator Beatrice Brunner had just recovered from flu.

which should be instructive and good for you. With this explanation I am trying to lift the curtain on the other world a little; and since new friends keep coming here and much of what is said is strange to them, they must try to familiarize themselves with it and talk it out with friends. The spiritual world is so similar to the world you live in. But enough of that now.
I am now talking about a spirit who was considered an oddball in his human life. This oddball was called Otto. He did not get along with people. He had great peculiarities, and so he also separated himself from the communal life of his surroundings. About a kilometer from the edge of a forest he had set up a hut in which he wanted to live. He wanted to have as little to do with people as possible. He was an oddball, but he had to be able to live, and so he was forced to do some work. There were a few farms nearby where he could work. In fact, people were very happy when Otto came and offered his services. In this way he was able to stock up on food and the necessities he needed for the winter. The food he received for his work was mostly smoked meat, dried beans, fruit, pears and apples. And he himself always had


He collected herbs. So he actually had enough supplies for the time when he could not earn anything and lived only in his hut. Since he was dependent on this work to live, he had to make an effort to get along with these people. But even among them he was known as an oddball, but they made an effort with him. They didn't have to give him money for his work, they just gave him food; and what he got in addition was some straw and hay.
Now I would like to tell you about the hut in which he lived. It was very simple. There was only a table and a couch, which served as his resting place. This couch was actually an ordinary wooden bench, and on this wooden bench was a sack filled with leaves. He slept on this sack of leaves, and every autumn he replaced the leaves in this sack. He used a military coat that he had once been given as a gift as a blanket. He also had the opportunity to make his room warm. He could look for wood himself in the forest, there was plenty of it. Well, that was his home. It should also be mentioned that he kept the necessities of life in a large box, including bread, which he always got from the farmer's wife. Next to this room he had a small outbuilding filled with straw and hay.
As he didn't get on with people, he loved animals all the more. He went for a lot of walks in the forest and was sometimes able to help an animal in need or sick. He used the hay and straw that he had acquired for his animals in the winter. He laid it out very close to his hut. And so the animals came and they immediately knew where there was something for them. He also had his own special language with the animals, but he loved them even less people. So he lived on. Then the time came for him too when he had to say goodbye to this world. He became ill and died in this hut. One day he was found dead on his bed. The hut was left in this state for a long time, just as it was.
But now I would like to tell you about this Otto when he woke up as a spirit. His mother stood by his side and pointed out to him that he had now left the world and was now living in the spiritual world. But he did not want to believe this because he still felt like a human being and he was still in his hut. So his spirit had not been carried away, he had been left where he was and his mother had been asked to talk to him. He knew that his mother had died long ago and so she was supposed to be a witness to him that there is life after death. But he was so tied to the earthly world and his thinking was so base that it was impossible for him to believe that one could live on after death in a similar form to that of a human being. And so at first he thought he was only dreaming. His mother spoke to him very forcefully but it was no use. He began to rant about people, about their wickedness and all the harm they had done to him. His mother tried to comfort him and tell him that he now had to

think differently, that he should trust in God and learn to pray. He did not listen to his mother, and so she had no choice but to do what the spirit of God had recommended: to get away from him. And Otto remained alone in his hut.

Now he felt a little tired at first. He lay down on his bed as usual and fell asleep. When he woke up, he had no idea how long his sleep had lasted. He felt a little better now, but his attitude had not changed. It seemed to him as if he could see much better than before. Everything was so clear in his mind's eye, he could see everything, and what he now saw and experienced bothered him. Because when he woke up, he realized that there was someone else lying next to him. So he got angry, grabbed him and threw him off the bed. The other was disappointed, defended himself against this rudeness and said to him: "As long as you were sleeping on this bed, I was lying next to you. I'm staying on this bed, I have enough space next to you." Now Otto started to rage and said that this was his hut and that the other had no business being there and had to leave. But this other man didn't even think of leaving. He said: "I'm staying here." But this Otto became rude and kept throwing him off the bed. Finally, this other man had had enough and left the hut, but not without cursing and cursing Otto. He threatened him that he would take his place again at the next opportunity. Then he also said to him: "You don't believe or know at all that you're dead. We're not human anymore. We have to be able to get along, we belong together.

together. There's no point in you arguing with me. There's enough room here. And if you don't want to, I'll make sure that I can stay here - I'll call the others to help me, and soon your hut will be full so that you won't be able to defend yourself anymore." Otto simply didn't want to believe that, and he thought he was strong enough to throw them all out.
But slowly he had to realize that things weren't the same as before. This other man, who now took his place in front of the hut, made himself very comfortable here; he started singing and whistling, and that bothered Otto again. Then he went and collected wood in the spirit realm to make a fence around his hut. He later realized that this was of no use. Over time he began to doubt, because things had changed significantly. But he simply felt like a human being and not a spirit; he didn't believe that he had died.
This spiritual fence that he had built around the hut was just right for the other man. He sat down on it and continued whistling and singing just as before. Otto had to realise that it was pointless to get worked up about it. But he decided to go around the forest again and look after the animals. He also looked in the box to see what food was left. But strangely enough he didn't feel hungry or thirsty at all, but he thought that there might be a long winter and he would have to stock up again. He thought like a human being, one time, and the next time he started to doubt again, precisely about this new world, about this new environment.
This other, who had made himself comfortable in front of his hut and now and then climbed up this spiritual hedge to sing and whistle, suddenly called out to Otto: "Come, Otto, look, the tawny owl is coming with his own!" And Otto came out. And of course that was new to him. What was the other actually talking about, who was the tawny owl? "Ha," said the other, "you'll see him coming soon. I can see and hear him already, it's the tawny owl. You know, you have to experience that if you love animals so much." And now Otto saw this tawny owl; he was also a deceased human, and in a certain sense he had been an outsider on earth. And what did this tawny owl do? He walked around in the forest and looked after the dying animals, then taking their spirits with him. The fact that he was given the name tawny owl came from himself, because he had told the other - they had already spoken to each other several times: "When I lived as a human, people called me a strange owl. And now I live in the forest most of the time, and you can keep giving me that name, call me tawny owl." And so he was and remained the tawny owl for others too.

I would like to describe him or his activities. As I said, he took care of dying animals, of animals that had become ill and in need over the course of the seasons. He always found them, and he always found enough animals. They were birds and all kinds of animals that had lived in the forest; there was the wild boar, the wolf, the hare, the deer, the stag, which now accompanied this tawny owl. They went with him, because he had fetched them. The spirit world of God had granted him a territory for this task and said to him: "Here in this area you may take care of the animals that are dying, and then you must bring them to us." That was a great joy for him; that was his activity in the world beyond for the time being. He was close to the earth, he was still earthbound in essence, but he wanted to do something that gave him joy, and this was granted to him. Now Otto saw this tawny owl, and he saw the other one calling out to him, laughing at him and pointing at Otto: "He's one of ours now too." This tawny owl seemed to be comfortable, because he too was singing and cheering. He was happy with the entourage he was leading. There were the birds, some of which clung to his shoulders, his head, his hands and wherever they could. But before these animals followed him, he had to get used to them. He had to stay with them for a while until they had calmed down, until they were willing to go with him. And since he always went from one animal to another with a very good entourage to take it with him, they became like a special family - these animals couldn't hurt each other, because with earthly death they had lost all wildness. And then this tawny owl went with his animals to the place where he was to hand them over to an angel of God.
This place was not far from the entrance of the whale

There was a large field, and there stood the leading spirit of God with a good number of spiritual helpers who now came and separated all the animal spirits according to their species and led them away. After all, these dead animals had to be escaped from the earthly world; they had nothing to do with people on this earth. And so the tawny owl gave all these animals away. He had the satisfying feeling of having accomplished something great, and he was praised for it. But the angels of God hoped that the time would come for him too when he could be taught about other, spiritual things or spiritual laws; because up to now he did not want to know anything about higher things. It was enough for him to collect these animals and know that the animal also lives on after its death. What happened to the animals did not concern him. He was satisfied to know that they were in good hands. And so he went deep into the forest again. All of this could now be told and explained to Otto, and he believed that this could be a task for him too, since after all he had also taken care of the animals. And so he expressed his wish to fulfil this task together with the tawny owl. But this tawny owl was also an oddball, and he did not want anyone to help him; he wanted to do his work all alone, he wanted to be alone with the animals. It was always an experience for him when he was able to witness the spiritual awakening of an animal. That was his great joy, and he did not want to share it with anyone. He was proud that he could hand over so many animals to the angel.
Well, the mother soul came back, because she had to look after Otto, and she said to him: "Try to escape from this environment now. You cannot live in this hut forever." But Otto did not want to and said: "If I leave here, then others will take possession of my apartment." And the mother soul said to him: "Leave them this hut if they enjoy living in it; give it to them." But Otto could not yet make up his mind, and his mother had to say to him: "If you are not prepared to free yourself from the heaviness of your feelings and from your attachment to this earth, you will never experience heaven." And she began to tell him about the world in which she lived; that she had it much better than he did and that she would so like to share her happiness with him.

Otto was now slowly coming to terms with the truth that he was no longer living as a human being. This was also made clear to him,
and now he began to think: If he escaped this earthly world and came under the general rule of God in the world beyond, then it might be that things would not go particularly well for him. For he realized that he had argued a lot with people and that this could have consequences. He felt burdened. But his mother soul comforted him and said: "In the beginning it will be difficult for you, because you have to admit what you have done wrong. You will be led to many people and have to ask them for forgiveness because you have insulted them in life or caused them pain. You have to make amends." He did not like that, but his mother tried again and again to make it clear to him: "You are not the only one who is so burdened and full of guilt. There are so many others who have a burdened soul and who need to free themselves from this burden." She needed a lot of persuasion to make him understand that he was well-disposed towards him in heaven and would be forgiven, but that it was up to him first to see reason and be prepared to atone for what he had done wrong.
Otto finally let himself be persuaded and asked his mother: "If you stay with me in the beginning, then I will come with you straight away." The mother had long since agreed with the angels that she would like to help her son in the first difficult times and would therefore go down to him, that she would do the same work as him and take on all the difficult things like he did. And so the mother promised: "I will stay with you. I will not separate from you and I will be a protective, helpful spirit to you." Otto had now decided to go with his mother. He found it difficult to leave his hut to the other. But he went, and his mother fled with him from this earthly realm and led him into the spiritual world, that is, into a spiritual plane that was a little further away from the earth and people, where he would find his home. This home, of course, had no special comforts or beauty; it was a simple, modest world.
Actually, he was not disappointed about this, because there were huts here similar to  his, which he had left behind - he even found it much more beautiful. And the mother said to him: "We must live here. The spirit of God who judges you will come to us. You should listen to what he tells you and you should ask for forgiveness. You should also ask for help, so that other spirit beings come and fill your soul with good thoughts and with strength, so that you can climb up and reach the heights." She told him emphatically: "What the spirit of God tells you, do not contradict it, but tell it that you feel guilty and that you are ready to make amends." And the mother soul continued: "Do not be afraid. I am with you." And so they entered the hut and waited for the angel of God. It was not long before he came to them and held a small court. He reproached Otto for what he had done wrong. But the mother held both of his hands firmly, and so he was able to lower his head to the spiritual earth and say the words: "I feel guilty and I am ready to make amends for what I have done wrong." The angel was happy about these words and said to him: "You have your mother to thank for this, who is a missionary spirit for you." And he then gave him his task: he had to work and he had to come into community with other spirit brothers and sisters; there he had to prove that he could live with them without quarrelling. But this did not seem so difficult to Otto, because his mother was with him; she would draw his attention to him, she would admonish him to be silent. And so it was. The mother soul had voluntarily taken on this task in order to help her former biological son.
The work he had to do was not so easy. For many people told him what to do; he had many masters who gave him orders and this was to test him. For he had to learn obedience and had to become humble. He should not rebel against what was demanded of him. His mother was with him and admonished him. And so, after a long time, he managed to change his thinking and lighten the burden of his soul. And so the spirit of God was pleased with him and even praised his mother.
But now Otto was to go into purification alone, and when he had finished this, he should be able to climb a step further. So he was given the opportunity to work his way more and more into God's plan of salvation - he was now also taught about this. So a time began for him that became interesting for him, because he began to be amazed. Now he experienced what is meant by the redemption of mankind; God's plan of salvation and order, the plan of creation, was explained to him. And so he experienced miracle after miracle, and he became more and more eager, and through his zeal and insight he cleared the way to the top. He climbed from rung to rung, so that at the present time he lives as a happy spirit in community with others and carries out an activity that gives him joy.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I have once again given you an insight into life in the spiritual world and explained to you how beings can behave when they have laid aside their earthly body, but are not yet aware that they have bid farewell to the world as a human being and are living on in a spiritual realm. In the beginning they can still be so earthbound and still have the same desires as when they were human, so that they do not want to leave the earth. So the help of the ascended spirit brothers and sisters is always needed, and so over time one can experience one miracle after another and let it work on him. And so he becomes happy in the divine world, which he can only marvel at and admire.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I have now told you about an ascending spirit. It is no longer possible for me to answer any questions. I am withdrawing. May God's blessing be with you all. May your thoughts and desires reach a high level. May you rise in your thoughts so that your soul is happy and your faith is strengthened. God bless you.

Report of experiences by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording

April 1, 1970.
Anastasia, once a duchess, then a beggar.
When a vice can no longer be lived out in a new earthly life and it is thereby possible to build up a new, higher way of thinking in the soul.

Josef: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, a spirit sister is speaking to you by the name of Anastasia. These reports are intended to be an instruction for you. We hope that our spirit sister can tell the story well and in a way that you can understand. There is a reason why I have given these reports myself on several occasions. It is not as if
e friends could easily suspect that I must live in this lowly state when I speak of such lower ascending spirit brothers and sisters. But the fact is that we are trying to give you such reports of experiences from which you can learn something, that is, through which you can familiarize yourself with this spiritual world. For this reason we are particularly highlighting spirit brothers and sisters who have ascended or are in the process of ascending. They should explain it to you themselves and tell you how it went for them, or I can tell you. Since you are also in the process of ascending, you can draw comparisons; you can see from these reports what you have to improve in order to enter a higher world and what the obstacles are that hinder ascension. But enough now. We want to let our spirit sister speak. So I ask for some music again.

Anastasia: Greetings. I have already been introduced, but actually I would like to pronounce the name a little differently. I would like to speak in particular about my last life. But I must not only speak to you about my last life, but also about the one before last, so that you can understand why I had to go through this difficult last life.

My brother introduced me as Anastasia, in my last life I was only called Gstasi; now in the spiritual world I have taken on a different name. I would now like to speak about my last life, but first, as I said, I must refer back to the one before last in order to make the last one understandable to you. My life before last was, I believe, about three hundred years ago - I can no longer keep up with earthly time, because I do not count in your time, I have no understanding or concepts for it anymore; but I believe it may be about three hundred years. I lived at a royal court, I was a duchess. Of course I lacked nothing, I had everything; and people also said that I was beautiful. But my life was actually made up of nothing but intrigue. I had not lived for the good of my soul, let alone for the good of my fellow human beings. So it was a life of intrigue and deceit, a life of hedonism and lust for power and who knows what else. I had everything and got everything I wanted. Well, I had to tell you that so that you could understand my last life.
So I naturally came into the spiritual world heavily burdened and burdened. I was reprimanded, spoke to me very forcefully and explained to me as soon as I returned that I would have to make up for all this in another life and that I would have to go through life as a beggar because I had sinned so much, had so little understanding and heart for my fellow human beings and I had been so intrigued and lived in luxury. Therefore my soul must also go through a purification in the earthly world or experience a purification; and that could only be possible if I had to live a completely different life so that I could reach this higher ascent more quickly.
Well, today I was given insight and a look back at the time when I lived as a duchess; and this review was only given to me temporarily. I was told that it would not be good if I continued to dwell on this past for much longer. I should now be allowed to take a look back again in order to explain it to you, to give you an understanding of the life to come. But the memory of this past would be taken away from me as quickly as possible, because I should not live in this memory; I should rather remain conscious of what lay behind me in the last life. You can imagine what life is like when someone is in a special position and has everything they want, and how this burdens their soul. But enough of that now; I do not remember it very much anymore, because the strength to remember this has been taken away from me, so I can only explain it to you in these words, as I have just done. I will explain this in the following way: If you are ill, for example, your memory weakens and you become forgetful; So you lack the strength, it can temporarily escape from you, and then this power of memory is no longer there to the extent that it should be. You are weakened by illness in this or that way, you do not want to work, and you also lack memory, you become forgetful and so on. This has to do with the odic power; it has been weakened by the illness, and so you are no longer in full possession of your strength and can no longer work and act as you do. The same applies to the odic power of memory: it is weakened, but now not by illness, but by thethe intervention of the spirits of God. It is not supposed to be the case that an ascending being retains all the details of his memory, so the intervention of the spirits of God weakens or takes away this memory completely. This is to help you understand why it is no longer possible for me to tell you all the details of my life back then, of that time and so on - it was simply taken away from me.
Now to my last life - I can still see it in my mind's eye. It is the result of the guilt I once incurred as a duchess. I was condemned to a miserable life, to a beggar; I was born into poverty and remained in constant poverty and abandonment. I still remember how I lived in poverty in a dilapidated house, you could call it that. But this poverty did not bother me, since I had known nothing else since I was a child. How did I earn my living? Yes, when I look at you today, my dears, I see that you are involved in a constant work process and earn a lot so that you can afford comforts and conveniences. That was not possible in my time; it was only possible for those who lived a princely life. So I earned my living by begging and was able to sell something now and then. I collected roots and herbs, dried them and sold them that way; but not only that, I also sold sand for cleaning. That's how I got by in life, by begging and sometimes by stealing; I had to have something to live on.
In the village where I lived, I was not at all popular. People called me a Gstasi and a witch. Wherever I went and offered people something to buy, they immediately crossed themselves and chased me away in disgrace. That happened more often than they gave me a penny or a penny. But I had to live, and what did I do? I had to help myself to survive. And then it was like this back then: People claimed that when I came near them and into their house, the children got sick; they believed I was the cause of it, that I was a witch. So they crossed themselves if they saw me from a distance. Yes, I knew nothing else, I had resigned myself to it. So I got through life by begging; now and then I sold something, and of course I had to help myself to get the bare necessities, be it a bit of underwear or now and then other things. Of course, I only had very modest clothes; actually they were just rags, torn shoes, torn clothes.
If I may remind you how nice you have it: you can wash and bathe. Yes, occasionally back then you would wash yourself quickly at a well, of course there was no sign of bathing; So things weren't that clean, but then things weren't any better for the others either.
So I was branded a witch, I couldn't sell much and I didn't have much to do in other ways either; I didn't enjoy working, I wasn't used to working. When it was cold, depending on the season, I stayed in my apartment, lit a fire and just lay around. In the nice, warm season I collected herbs, and there was plenty of opportunity for me to lie around. I would lie in the sun for hours and days, there was nothing to do. On the other hand, when I see you in your houses and watch you hurry around, and when I compare those days to today: how scrupulously clean people are today, whereas in my time people didn't know anything about bathing, didn't even have water in the house and only washed occasionally, it was quite natural for me to sunbathe for hours. But when I had to go out among people because I had to have something to eat, it did hurt me when they always crossed themselves in front of me and called me a witch who was to blame when the children got sick or couldn't sleep or when the animals in the stable weren't doing well. I had to take the blame for everything.
Yes, they called me a witch. So I thought about it and thought: "Is my situation really that bad, am I so bad that they can call me a witch?" I did believe in a God and I prayed in silence now and then. But I have to mention: I remained unmarried, of course, I was single; I didn't have a good name, nobody wanted anything to do with me.
Well, I didn't live long, as they explained to me, just under forty. People didn't live that long back then; and it was enough to beg for a lifetime and live in such great poverty. Well, but I should not
speak. If you study history, you can read for yourself that such living conditions were nothing special back then. But I was asked to speak to you about it so that you don't take your life for granted and don't make ever greater demands on it. You should also be happy with a simple life. Otherwise you might end up like me, who knows? I don't know you well, I don't know what your debts are.

But now I want to talk about the other life, when I entered the spiritual world. A being came up to me and said that I had now died. Yes, I took note of it, it didn't bother me that I was supposed to have died, but I couldn't believe it. Because I didn't see any change in myself that would have made me realize that I had left the world. I still saw the same rags on me and the same worn, holey shoes, and I didn't have the feeling that there had been any change in me personally. Then I was told that I must now join God's order and be willing to start working; because I had a poor life behind me and I had not got used to order and had also brought a lot of burdens upon myself; I must now join the order and start working.

I did not agree with that. I said: "Leave me where I am. I don't like work, I don't want to work, leave me like this. I am used to walking around in rags. What does that bother me?" Because I immediately saw this new environment and had the feeling that I had come to another village where there were noble people. Well, I did not want to mix with these people, I wanted to have my own life. And I said it right away: "I will continue to live as I have before." "Good," I was told, "if you think that you will get on with it. But we would like to point out to you that it would be better for you if you listened to us and entered this higher order." I replied: "Yes, if I feel like it, I will let you know. For now, leave me as I am."

Now I went back to my old world, to my house on earth, to my former surroundings. I went from door to door and was surprised that no one saw me, that no one crossed themselves in front of me and no one turned away from me. I noticed that no one took any notice of me anymore. Then I allowed myself to go into these houses and sit down at the table with these people who actually didn't want to know anything about me, and I ate with them. But they didn't act as if they noticed me; I had spoken to one thing or another and even touched them roughly, but no one took any notice of me. Then I thought: "Yes, this is a different world; I think you have to turn away from this world and go to those who have spoken to you and who have something to say to you."

Then I was drawn to this other, spiritual world - I don't really know how. Suddenly I was back in the world where I actually belonged as a spirit. The surroundings were not that different from the earthly world I had left; I just found the houses a little nicer, there was better order, and all the beings I met were dressed properly. Then I thought: "Okay, now I'll try going from house to house in this world where people know me and asking for some bread." And so I did. I went into the first house and when I opened the door I realized that it was either an institution or a factory - I didn't know; in any case there were many beings there and there was a lot of bustle going back and forth.
 Then I quickly thought to myself: "Yes, they must be good people," or so I thought. I wasn't really aware that I was now in the spiritual world and that these were all spiritual beings; to me they were simply people or people. I said to the first person I met: "Please, I'm hungry. Could you give me something to eat?" And he - it was a man - looked at me very carefully and said: "You don't look particularly tidy, you're still wearing rags. Where do you actually come from?" "Yes, where from," I said, "yes, where from, I don't know; I come from the village where I lived. Don't you know that?" "Yes, yes, yes," he answered, "I know; but you could think about it for a moment: you don't really fit in here. Everything is fine here, we have order, and just look at yourself." Then he tugged at my clothes and reached into my holey coat with his hand: "Do you think I could take in someone who looks as ragged as you in my house?" "Give me another, I've got new clothes," I said.

Now I want to talk about the other life, when I entered the spiritual world. A being came up to me and said that I had now died. Yes, I took note of it, it didn't bother me that I was supposed to have died, but I couldn't believe it. Because I didn't see any change in myself that would have made me realize that I had left the world. I still saw the same rags on me and the same worn, holey shoes, and I didn't have the feeling that a change had taken place in me personally. Then I was told that I must now join God's order and be willing to start working; because I had a life behind me that had been miserable, and I hadn't got used to order and had also taken on a lot of burdens; I must now enter the order and start working.
I didn't agree with that. I said: "Just leave me where I am. I don't like work, I don't want to work, leave me like this. I'm used to walking around in rags. What does that bother me?" Because I immediately saw this new environment and had the feeling that I had come to another village where there were noble people. Well, I didn't want to mix with these people, I wanted to have my own life. And I said it right away: "I will carry on living as I have before." "Good," I was told, "if you think that you will get on with it. But we would like to point out to you that it would be better for you if you listened to us and joined this higher order." To this I replied: "Yes, if I then feel the desire to do so, I will come forward. For now, leave me as I am."
Now I went back to my old world, to my house on earth, to my former surroundings. I went from door to door and was surprised that no one saw me, that no one crossed themselves in front of me and no one turned away from me. I noticed that no one took any notice of me anymore. Then I allowed myself to go into these houses and sit down at the table with these people who actually didn't want to know anything about me, and I ate with them. But they didn't act as if they noticed me; I had spoken to one thing or another and even touched them roughly, but no one took any notice of me. Then I thought: "Yes, this is a different world; I think you have to turn away from this world and go to those who have spoken to you and who have something to say to you." Then I was attracted to this other, spiritual world - I don't really know how. Suddenly I was back in the world where I actually belonged as a spirit. The surroundings were not particularly different from the earthly world that I had left behind; I just found the houses a little nicer, there was better order, and all the beings I met were dressed quite neatly. Then I thought: "Okay, now I'll try going from house to house in this world where people know me and asking for some bread." And so I did. I went into the first house, and when I opened the door I realized that it was either an institution or a factory - I didn't know; in any case there were many beings there, and there was a lot of activity going back and forth. I quickly thought to myself: "Yes, they must be good people," or so I thought. I wasn't really aware that I was now in the spiritual world and that these were all spiritual beings; to me they were simply people or people.

I said to the first person I met: "Please, I'm hungry. Could you give me something to eat?" And this person, it was a male, looked at me very carefully and said: "You don't look particularly tidy, you're still wearing rags. Where do you actually come from?" "Yes, where from," I said, "yes, where from, I don't know; I come from the village where I lived. Don't you know that?" "Yes, yes, yes," he answered, "I know; but you could think about it for a moment: you don't really fit in here. Everything is fine here, we have order, and just look at yourself." Then he tugged at my clothes and reached his hand into my holey coat: "Do you think I could take in someone who looks as ragged as you in my house?" "Give me other clothes," I said to him. And then he said, "I don't have any clothes for you, you have to earn them yourself." "How can I earn them?" I asked, "if you give me something to earn, I'll be able to buy other clothes." Then he answered me, "Yes, you just have to work and fit in with the order. But there's no place for you in this house," and he pushed me out. Then I stood there, looking around and thinking, "Now you're the one.
oh in the other world; I don't think you can call him heaven. They're just like the people on earth, they'll throw me out too. I'll just try somewhere else, there are enough houses," but then I avoided such a large house. I had to walk a little further, because the houses were not built so close together, they seemed to be far apart. Then I saw a smaller building from a distance and I thought to myself: "What should I do now?" I looked around to see if it was the same as on Earth, because a lot of things were the same. There were trees, there were even flowers, a street by a stream, and there were houses; and the people I saw looked, so to speak, like those on Earth. But nobody paid any particular attention to me. And then I thought: "Yes, if everything is so the same, maybe I'll find another skirt somewhere that I could wear." I was still thinking the same way as before - I must say now with my higher knowledge - I couldn't think any differently at the time; I just wanted to go out and steal a nicer skirt. But I didn't see one hanging anywhere, and so I was at a loss. But I went into that house. I had nothing to offer, although I had studied whether I might not be able to get something, herbs with which I could earn or acquire something honestly.

So I went into the house and they asked me: "What do you want, you poor soul?" "Yes," I answered, "you see, I'm hungry. Could you give me something to eat? And could you give me another coat? I don't dare walk around here like this." And here they were more friendly to me. It was a female being and she looked me up and down and said: "You poor soul, what must you have brought upon yourself that you have to walk around like this?" "Yes, what does that mean?" I said, "give me another coat, then I'll look like you." "No, I can't give you a coat," they said kindly, "you have to earn one yourself." "How am I supposed to do that?" "You have to work." "What kind of work do I have to do? They don't give me any work, they threw me out the first time I went. Do you want to take me in?" And then this being said: "I can only tell you what you have to do. But I don't have any room for you in my house, I can't take you in." I couldn't understand that, and then I said a little angrily: "Then you are no better than those on earth." "Yes," they replied, "we are much better than them. But you have probably forgotten that you were told right at the beginning that you should now join this higher order. You have a life behind you in which you have not overworked yourself; you have sunbathed too much, and you have stolen a lot." I said: "Yes, I had to do it out of necessity, what would I have lived on?" "Oh yes," they said, that wasn't so bad, but I also lacked the will to work. I could have lived a more orderly life, but I would have focused entirely on lazing around, and that was not necessary in the new world; you had to come with the will to obey and work. And this being said to me: "You don't have that will, you don't want to work." "Yes," I answered, "if they give me something to work on that I like, I'll definitely do it."
This being was still quite patient with me. But then it also made it clear to me that I should say goodbye and move on; that they couldn't help me if I wasn't prepared to join in with the order. So I didn't get a new coat, and I didn't get anything to eat either. Although I wasn't particularly hungry, I had begged for food; I didn't know what else to do but beg; I was used to that, I was still the same person.
So I went on, and I came into the center of the village. Now I realized that I had actually been outside the village, and now I hoped to find something in this village that could help me in some way, or perhaps there were people there who were prepared to offer me their services. I now saw a lot of activity, back and forth, and I realized that there was a celebration going on nearby. There were festivities, and everyone I met was full of joy, and of course they were dressed quite nicely. They spoke my language. I greeted them in a friendly manner, and they returned the greeting. I kept looking at myself from time to time to see if something had changed in me in a supernatural way; for I now believed that I was in heaven - although I wasn't quite sure yet, but I thought: "If I am really in this supernatural world, in this heaven, then miracles can happen: Suddenly I am standing there, shimmering

dressed like the others; I don't have to do anything and I'm as beautiful as the others here." And so I diligently made observations about myself, but unfortunately nothing has changed. But I did notice one thing to my delight: they were all friendly to me. And I got into conversation here and there, and I asked them, each one the same thing: "Couldn't you lend me a skirt?" And they answered me: "I would gladly do that if I had a second one. I would give you mine, but it's the only one I have; I can't give you that one." And then I asked: "What's going on here anyway?" And they answered: "Yes, you know, we're having a party now; and we will now get our reward, and we hope to get a second coat." Then I said: "Yes, then I would also have the opportunity to get another coat."
So they all flocked to one place, and I joined the crowd, because that seemed to me to be the best opportunity. Yes, dear friends, it may seem a bit humorous to you, but really, it was like that. So I went with all of them to this festival; a certain place had been designated where this celebration was to take place and where these others were allowed to get their reward. Then I also asked: "Why are you allowed to get a reward, why are you being rewarded?" And they said: "Yes, you know, we are getting the reward for our work." Of course, I became a little uncertain about that; but I hoped to get into this crowd and also get a reward. So I flocked with the crowd to this particular place. And then I realized that you had to cross a bridge and that only one person at a time could cross this bridge to get to this place. Right in front of the bridge there were guards, looking at each one and showing them across the bridge in a friendly manner. I became uncertain, because I saw that these beings were all known to these guards, and I was certainly not known to them. But I hoped to get across the bridge anyway.
I didn't succeed when I tried, they held me back and said: "Back with you, what do you want? What do you want here anyway?" "I want to go with the others, I belong to you, I'm in heaven, isn't that right?" I asked. And they answered me and asked where my achievements were; the others were getting their reward for their achievements, and it didn't seem as though I could get a reward. Yes, I couldn't get a reward, I had nothing to show for it. And they all said: "That's a poor soul. Why didn't you fall into line as soon as you were told?" Yes, I didn't know why I had been so stupid, I didn't know any better at the time.
Well, they all went over this bridge and got their wages, they got their second coat, but I didn't get one. I then talked to the others when they came back. They were all good and friendly to me and they all said that it was high time for me to start working too, because otherwise I wouldn't fit in here and I might be turned away from here. I should go and work, I should let them know that I wanted to work. And then I wanted to know: "Well, what kind of work do you do?" And they answered me: "Well, you know, not everyone has the same work, but we have to work hard here. But we are very happy. We have to be hard-working, we have to go to school, we have to be obedient, we have to do exactly what we are told, we have to be honest, we mustn't lie to anyone, we mustn't cheat anyone, we have to stick to the new order." I thought that would be too hard for me. I

didn't want to be exposed in front of everyone else, because I wasn't sure that I was capable of all that. I preferred to stay back, I could wait, maybe there would be someone who would take pity on me and give me another coat. And then I still hoped for this heavenly miracle; but none happened to me.
So I just wandered around and basked in the sun just as I did when I was a human. I was not able to join the order and work. But I stayed in this village. The others met me from time to time, only from time to time; because now and then the squares and the streets were completely empty, and it seemed as if they were all working in their houses. But when I met someone, they were all friendly and good to me; and everyone urged me to join the order and start working. And one of them said to me in complete confidence: "You know, you must have a lot going on in your account to have to walk around like that. But if you were in your place, it would probably be better if you didn't
wait a long time and endure a period of hardship and then get back into order like we do." So one thing and another spoke to me well, but I simply lacked the strength, I just couldn't. And on the other hand I had to say, why should I join in the order? I liked life, I had it much better than on earth. Nobody crossed themselves in front of me now, nobody called out to me: "Witch!" Well, I had it much better, that was a piece of heaven for me.
Then I had to realize again that it was so solemn and people were going to a party. And I asked them: "What's going on again?" and mingled with the crowd again. They said: "Yes, we have another party, we will be rewarded again, we always get our rewards for our work from time to time." Then I wanted to know: "What kind of reward is it this time?" And they said they didn't know either. But this time, they knew, they wouldn't get a new coat, but otherwise something that would make them happy, something that they could keep for the future, for their own future house. And then I asked them: "Do you have to cross that bridge again, and are there those guards there again? Can't I perhaps mingle with you after all?" And they said: "It's completely hopeless, you saw it." And they seemed to have more understanding and more knowledge and said: "Well, we think it's time for you to come forward." And then I said: "Yes, I think it can't go on like this." But then I had to confess to a very friendly person: "You know, I'm just scared. I see how beautiful you all are and how orderly you live. But I'm basically the poor Gstasi, I'm the witch, nobody wanted to know anything about me. I'm just scared." And then they said to me: "What are you scared of?" "Yes, I believe, you know, that God is punishing me. I have done many things that I should not have done, and now I am afraid of the punishment." Then this friendly being spoke to me and said: "You don't need to be afraid. Do you want me to take care of you?" And I answered: "Yes, please, yes, yes, take care of me!" Then this being went with me very close to this bridge; there were all kinds of beings standing there, very nicely dressed, of a noble nature. The friendly being then went up to one of these nobles and said: "I am bringing you a poor soul. She is simply not capable of getting to know the new world, she cannot fit into this new world. Don't you want to help her? You know, she is afraid of the punishment. If you explain to her that it will not be so bad, she will definitely obey you. Please take her in." And then this friendly being disappeared into the crowd, and I stood there in front of this beautifully dressed, sublime spirit.
Then he said to me: "Are you really serious, do you want to finally join in the order? Don't you see that you don't really belong here? You are still wearing your ragged clothes, like you wore as a human being; they cling to you in spirit. Don't you want to take them off? It is probably high time to do so." I said: "Oh yes, I would like to, and I would certainly be grateful if you could get me something else." "Good," he said, "come with me," and then this beautiful

being took me by the hand, and I was amazed: it had not moved away from me; this beautiful being was not afraid to walk beside me, even though I was still wearing these rags. It didn't go far and led me into a beautiful house, beautiful in my opinion. It was simple, only one floor high, and there was a garden with flowers in front of it. The beautiful being went with me inside and entered a room. It seemed very elegant to me, although it was very simply furnished. This beautiful being asked me to sit down; it was a nice place to sit, and for me at least it was nice. And then this being said to me: "Wouldn't you like to rest a little first? We have a place to rest here; you could rest a little now, and I will stay with you until you have rested a little. Then I will bring you something to eat and drink, you always asked for it." "Yes, because I was simply used to it," I said. I gained confidence in this being. It was so kind and helped me to lie down. It laid its hands very kindly on my forehead, and I took both of its hands full of emotion, and I think I cried; I don't remember exactly. I must have fallen asleep then.
When I woke up again, this being was standing right in front of me, and the surroundings were the same. I had no idea how long I had slept, nor did I know the time; I was not interested in it either, neither in today
I was still thinking about tomorrow, everything was always the same. But one thing struck me straight away: I felt much freer. And now I looked at myself; I had still retained the memory of what had happened before this sleep. Now I was no longer wearing my rags; I was wearing a simple but neat, clean garment; and I was also wearing shoes, I was wearing very simple sandals. But everything was neat and clean, nothing was ragged anymore and there were no holes anywhere. I stroked my hair and had the impression that I had been combed; I was completely neat. And suddenly I was satisfied with myself, a blissful feeling came over me. Now I no longer had to be ashamed, now I could fit in with the order. And the being was very friendly to me and gave me something to drink - it was so delicious, so fine - and it also gave me a kind of bread. I ate it, I drank the drink and felt strengthened. The being next to me smiled, and indeed it was satisfied; it was satisfied with the happiness that had suddenly come over me.
But now this being said to me: "You know, now we can talk, and I can also tell you why you had to go through life as a beggar in your last life. You know, you had a lot of guilt in a previous life on earth; in your soul, in your thoughts, there was so much arrogance, so much ambition, so much greed. You burdened yourself in so many ways in your penultimate life that we had to tear these feelings out of your soul." And this being explained to me: "You know, one goes through many earthly lives before one reaches the heights of the spirit. And since your thinking was so burdened and your soul was so permeated by base feelings, it had to be shaped in such a way that a great forgetfulness came over you; and this was only possible because we brought you into a new earthly life. In this new life you were now to experience the opposite: whereas previously you reveled in wealth and everything was at your feet, but you also schemed and harmed others (you did have faith, but it was not pleasing to God), you were now to forget everything in a new life. There was to be no memory of your previous life in you; and this was to be made possible by you being marked for a life of such poverty, so that your soul would be filled anew, with different thinking, so that you would be shaped completely differently inside. So you had to go without, you were humiliated. Your spirit could no longer recognize what it was in its previous life, what position it had occupied as a person. This had to be forgotten, an opportunity had to be created to start anew. So your soul, your thinking, had to be shaped differently. You had to endure many humiliations. We understand you and we do not want to judge you so harshly, because you had a difficult life but you had your own will. Now you know why you had to live such a life. But we will soon take away your memory of that life; because you should not believe that you will benefit from it and can live in your old memories. We want to help you."
This is what they said to me. And it was like a light came over me; I felt strengthened and I realized that it was good for me. Because in this way all that could be forgotten, this arrogance, this greed. I no longer had any feelings of arrogance or greed, I was not ambitious either, I had actually become quite indifferent. "Now," said this noble being, "you must begin again; you have had a hard life behind you, great poverty. But in contrast to your earlier retreat into the spiritual world, when you rebelled so much because you did not like the surroundings and you oppressed the lives of others, it is different now: life here, which is simple, has become beautiful for you. It is a simple world that you have entered, it is one of the stages of ascent that you can pass through. And we want to help you to start again."
And the angel said to me: "You should forget who you once were. You should also soon be able to forget that you lived as a beggar in extreme poverty, if you are now ready to obey, if you want to attend classes, if you want to start learning. Because you have to learn, you didn't go to school in the earthly world, you couldn't read or write. What do you think, you have to start again. But you will soon get back the knowledge that you once had." And the angel said to me: "It is within our power to recall the memories of your previous lives when it makes sense. If you can bear witness to it
If you want to remember the lives you have lived, how you fared on earth and what effect the life you left behind has had on you, then we want to give you the strength to remember. But otherwise you no longer need to know who you were on earth. We want to give you the opportunity to start again." And I agreed: "Give me the opportunity to do so, I want to start again with great enthusiasm."
I had to learn to pray; I had to learn the divine, spiritual laws, what God's will and law is, what to do and what not to do. And it took a long time. They promised to teach me. But before I was allowed to experience this instruction and this special sympathy, I had to go into a difficult purification. They created the opportunity for me, they took me to a place of solitude. Here I was supposed to think and I could think, and I had the experiences. I was supposed to strengthen my faith in God, I was supposed to be willing to obey, I was supposed to pray and I had already been taught this; it was only when I could pray that I was led into the difficulty.
I do not know how long this difficulty lasted. I had no sense of time, for me it stood still. But this difficulty had nevertheless reached the depths of my soul, the great Loneliness, being alone, talking and thinking alone, trying to strengthen one's faith and obedience. I had been talked into it in a good way beforehand, and I remembered that. And when I was then led out of this distress, I felt as if I had been born again; I felt purified in my thinking, strengthened in my will. And the angel told me - it was an angel who took care of me: "Now we want to test you to see whether you are willing and strong enough to obey. I will now lead you to an ascending spirit brother who is doing his job. You are to be a servant to this ascending spirit brother and obey him." I did it, I liked being a servant. The purification had done me so much good, I had experienced so many good things in my new, divine world. No one had turned away from me when I arrived here in rags; no one had crossed themselves in front of me. I was taken in, I was taught that it was only a matter of wanting for myself. So I became an obedient, loyal servant, once a princess in this world, then a beggar in the next life, in order to forget, to lose everything to those arrogant feelings, in order to rebuild my soul. And in the divine world I started anew. My past was made to be forgotten, the strength to remember was taken away from me, and today I am
an obedient servant in God's plan of salvation on the steps of ascent. Sometimes I let myself be placed here, sometimes there, to prove that I am loyal in obedience and faith in God and in all the saints in God's world; I have become an obedient servant.

So, dear brothers and sisters, I have tried to put it before your eyes. I was given the strength to look back, but it will be taken away from me again. It is not necessary to know what one was. The past will be forgotten by an ascending spirit, because one does not want it to create an obstacle to its ascent. The world of God has the possibility of calling forth the power of memory when it makes sense, as has now happened with me. So I was chosen to speak to you - I have explained it to you. I have the opportunity to mingle with you; I have also become familiar with your lives, and I can say to you: think about it, reflect on what I have told you. It could be like this with one or the other: if he has fallen into some kind of vice in his life, or if he has devoted himself with all his strength to the transience of this earthly world in some area, and has not detached himself from the transience of this world, then the same thing could happen to him as happened to me. Perhaps not in such a drastic way, but one finds the balance to give the soul something with which it can start anew; to tear it out of its old memories so that it can start anew, with new thoughts and desires. And the heavenly beings are at your side, they are helpful.
Therefore: remember the other world and live for the other world. Do not bind yourself too much to the transient, for the earthly world is transient after all. From time to time you will be shown very closely before your eyes what hardships and worries can suddenly overtake people. Strive for spiritual merits, bind yourself to the spiritual life, then your future will be well, for the future of the spiritual life as well as for a future human life.
I am happy to go back to my own people, with whom I am now allowed to live together; I feel
I am happy and blessed with them. I had to achieve this ascent and this well-being and happiness. So live well in spirit and soul; live well, contentedly and happily.

I am told that the time has come and Brother Josef does not want to get in touch again. So I leave you to God's blessing and protection. Greetings from God.

Report of the ascending spirit being Anastasia by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich

Original: tape recording


May 6, 1970.
Innocently convicted of the consequences of a great injustice.
After his earthly death, an innocently convicted person experiences God's compensatory justice in the world beyond.

Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend, and I will speak to you. First I would like to remind you of tomorrow: Ascension Day. It would please God if Christianity were aware of the significance of this memorial festival, if it were to grasp that past event in all its truth and magnitude. Then these Christians would also be more grateful. But consider the attitude that Christians have today towards this tomorrow's festival: They do not think about the truth content, the magnitude of what was shown to those people back then and what is still of great importance today. Ascension Day is accepted as an additional holiday and no one thinks about why this day has been made a holiday.
The spiritually oriented person who believes in the spirit knows what this day means for Christianity. The Christian is strengthened anew in his belief in the resurrection. For in the time from Easter to this hour when Christ ascended to heaven, his followers were able to experience again and again how he appeared here and there, and this is something that we should think about. Christ came to his followers and showed them that he is alive, that there is life after death. And so the Christian should know that he too is alive when he has died; that he will only give his body back to the earth. But in spirit he will rise again, as Christ rose again, and he will be lifted up from this earth by the angels of God. He will flee from this earth with the angels of God, towards the heights.
 But the relatives will not see this spirit that flees from the earth to the heights. But they should know that he will be released from the earth if it is his will not to return to this earth; that is, if he no longer feels bound in spirit to the past life, but becomes familiar with the new world and submits to the new laws, becomes obedient in the new homeland, in order to be a worthy and zealous servant there. These are a few introductory words that I wanted to give you for tomorrow. Well, dear brothers and sisters, you will soon understand that I have to tell you the following experience or these events myself. However, I would like to assume that everyone can understand what I have presented. Anyone who has questions should turn to those friends who know these spiritual laws and are familiar with this language.
So I will now talk about a man who was sent to prison at the age of thirty-five, innocent. He was accused of murder and remained in prison for eighteen years until his death, innocent. He died of pulmonary tuberculosis; one morning he was found dead in his cell.
At first this man had rebelled against people and against God, because he was innocent. He had been accused, but no matter how much he protested his innocence, no one believed him. For he had already made some mistakes in his life, for example he drank and was not so strict about honesty. But now he had been accused of murder, and various people in his village also played a role in this. They had accused him because they firmly believed that it was him. There were various circumstances that made it plausible that he was the murderer.
The real murderer, however, remained undiscovered. The murderer's wife knew about her husband's crime and kept quiet. This family had children, but the children found out nothing; they were not allowed to find out that their father was a murderer. But the whole thing weighed heavily on these two people. But they kept quiet about it their whole lives, even though they knew that one of them was innocently in prison. They pretended to be religious people. This is not an isolated case; it has happened many times.
Now I would like to give you an insight into what happens in the spiritual world when someone returns who has been innocently in prison for so many years, and what happens to those who are really guilty and who pretend to be innocent in front of people.
This innocent man was the first to come to the world on the other side.
He returned to the otherworldly world, that is, he died before this married couple. When he opened his eyes in the spiritual world, he first had to look around to see if he had really died. For all he remembered was his miserable cell, and he still remembered that he had felt particularly sick - he knew about his illness. In the first period after his conviction he had rebelled against people and against God; but over time he had become accustomed to his life in captivity and even began to pray. He had given up his hatred and tried to start a conversation with God by talking to him in silence and saying to him: "You must know who the real culprit is; it wasn't me."

The angels of God had long known of his impending departure, and so they were ready and escaped with him from this cell into the otherworldly world. Here they stood opposite him, greeted him kindly and explained to him that his life on earth was now over. They greeted him with joy and told him to look around and see where he actually was. And he was amazed to see that he was in a spiritual room with large, open windows through which a lot of light came in.
He was still lying on a couch and one of God's angels was sitting next to him. He was asked to look around further and take a closer look at the room. A few, but well-kept, pieces of furniture were naturally spiritual furniture and there were beautiful vases with flowers everywhere. He couldn't believe it and they said to him: "We have escaped from your world with you, we know the truth." The angels expressed their joy that he had come to terms with his fate as a human being and had stopped struggling. That would now benefit him.
Now he should look at his surroundings. They asked him to come closer to this spiritual window and look out. Then he realized that it was spring where he was. He looked into the gardens and there were blossoming trees and flowers everywhere. "Is it true?" he asked himself, "I can't even remember what a flowering tree is and what a flower is. Now I can experience this. Is it reality?" He kept feeling around his spiritual body to see if it was really him and if he was still wearing his prison clothes. No, he wasn't wearing them anymore. He was wearing a light-colored robe and light shoes. And he was surprised at how he looked. Yes, he thought about the fact that his spiritual body looked similar to his earthly body: "I have hands, I have a body!" Yes, but everything was so delicate. And he felt much younger and well, whereas before he had always felt tired and oppressed and felt that his body was a burden. Now he felt light.
 He was further informed: "You see, everything exists in its spiritual state. You are spirit and live as a spirit, and the spirit has the same form as a human being. Human beings are only wrapped in coarse matter, their spirit carries this coarse matter on itself, and it sometimes becomes a burden to them. Now you are free of this matter and you are no longer tired, you are no longer ill. These illnesses do not exist for the spirit. Only memories can oppress the spirit and give it the impression of feeling something heavy." And the angel continued: "We have a surprise for you. The injustice that was done to you in your world, we want to make up for it; that is in the justice of God. And the fact that you have been given this privilege has happened through your will, because you had resigned yourself to your fate." And with this explanation a small spirit being, a spirit child, entered the room with a garland of flowers. It was accompanied by a beautifully dressed, delicate angel being. The garland seemed to be too big, too long and too heavy for the spirit child, because it was still dragging it along the spiritual ground. This flower garland was decorated with roses, tulips, carnations and all kinds of other flowers, and the spirit child itself wore a wreath of miller's flowers on its head. It appeared in a colorful, fragrant dress. At the angel's command, it took the garland, placed it around the neck of the returning child and said: "As a greeting and for your joy, I am placing these flowers around your neck."

And the angel of God who accompanied this child said: "You have had much sorrow, we have seen it. We have tried to bear and share the suffering with you. We now want to make amends to you as much as we are allowed and able to do. And so you should rejoice in the justice of God. You should rejoice that you have risen in spirit and continue to live in a world of justice. Because in our world we can see everything that people do, just or unjust. 
We observe actions and capture them in the picture, and there is no denying it, for anyone." But then this child and his companion said goodbye, and he remained behind in the room with the other spirits of God.
Now they said to him: "We grant you some time to measure the heaven in its justice and beauty." But they explained to him: "This is not the whole of heaven, but only a small section. You are now in the heaven of spring, that is where we have brought you, but you will not stay here forever. You should now enjoy yourself here in this heaven. And you should stay in this heaven, in this place, until the last person from your village who knew about your fate has returned. When the last person involved in your condemnation has passed over to the spiritual world, a spiritual court will be held." And of course, this also meant that they would wait until the guilty party had arrived. Then this court would be held.
In the meantime, like all others who return to the world beyond, he had to be taught. He had no knowledge of God's creation, of his plan of salvation and redemption, and so there was still a lot for him to learn. There are such places of instruction in all levels of ascension in heaven, including in the heaven of spring and up to those heights where it is necessary to teach those who ascend. Now he could measure this atmosphere of peace and justice. Great goodwill was shown to him, for love was foreign to him, he only knew accusations and malice.
It took a lot for him to get used to this new environment, to this atmosphere, because he himself was not used to these subtle feelings. So he had to be taught in this respect too. But since he was able to experience so much pleasantness, so much kindness, he quickly forgot what he had experienced in his dark hours. And he said to himself: "Actually, I have no hatred for the real murderer. Because I was innocently imprisoned for so long and had to endure so much humiliation and injustice, I have earned heaven. The earthly world in which I lived was something lost to me; I had lost the world, but I had won heaven." And so he could have no hatred for the real murderer either. Because he had already given up hatred during his lifetime, he had resigned himself to his fate. Of course, his physical suffering also contributed a lot to this. He no longer had the strength to nurture such resentful thoughts. He was physically weakened, and this weakness took away his strength to develop and develop thoughts of hatred; he had to deal with himself and his suffering.
So he was quite happy in his new world, because he had now gained a beautiful world. He was happy, felt light and happy. He was no longer in pain and was very happy about that. He therefore understood it more quickly when he was told about the resurrection of the spirit, because he was now able to experience this resurrection himself.
But now we would also like to talk about the others. Because he was told that a judgement would take place when the last person who had been involved in his fate in some way had returned. When the last person and the murderer had passed on to the world beyond, they were all led to an intermediate heaven; one could also say: to an intermediate level or an intermediate sphere. This is a connecting place between the heights and the depths, where beingsfrom different levels can be led. Those from a higher level must descend, that is easy; but those who are spiritually lower are also given the opportunity to enter this intermediate level to meet the others there.
You should not think that the real murderer was the last to return. No, he was received beforehand and taken to an appropriate place. He was also told that the court would come when the last person from the village who had been involved in the fate of this innocently convicted man had crossed over.
So they were all brought together. Those from the higher levels descended, and those from the depths were allowed to enter this intermediate level. This is where the court took place, and this is where they saw the innocent man enter this heaven. He was the last to enter, and here he was crowned with a garland of flowers. Apart from the real murderer and his wife, none of those who were called to this court knew who the real culprit was. They had been kept in the dark until this court, which was now to take place in the spiritual realm.
When the innocent man entered last, wearing a light robe and a flower wreath, there was amazement. Most of those there thought he was a murderer. He came accompanied by angels of God who led him by the arm, and he was surrounded with the greatest kindness and love. It became immediately clear to them: "Something is not right here; a murderer can never appear with such an accompaniment." He was also given a special place in the small group of angels of God who were now to hold court.
A very stern angel of God then spoke and said: "Now we hold court in justice, and we accuse of murder" and called the person who had committed the murder by name. So he had to step forward. And everyone was amazed. His former partner also had to step forward. The former victim also had to step forward, because she was there too.
Now everyone else had become uncertain, and a great unease came over them. Those who had accused and given false testimony and those who had judged became restless. But the Spirit of God said: "Now you shall see the true course of events, what really happened back then," and they all experienced it as if in a film. Because what happens here on earth, no matter where and at what time, is captured in the mind as in a film. And so time was turned back for those present and they could experience the whole event in its reality.
 Then the Spirit of God said: "So you have condemned an innocent man, and the murderer lived among you." And now the Spirit of God, who ruled as a judge, asked: "What should happen to him, how should we punish him? What punishment should he receive for the murder and what punishment for his cowardice, for not turning himself in? What punishment does his wife deserve, who knew about it and kept quiet, who was involved in this great guilt? How should we judge?" Well, the real murderer was deeply depressed, he could not speak, nor could his former wife. No one wanted to speak. For now it was God's judgment. And there were those men who had once condemned this innocent man; there were the people who once said that only he could have done it and no one else. And the Spirit of God asked: "And what punishment do you deserve?" They could not speak; for they were all involved.
But then one of them said: "We have been washed clean from sin by Christ's blood. He has freed us from this and from every sin. We rely on this redemption of Christ, he has brought it to us, and we are entitled to it. If we have acted wrongly in life, Christ has freed and redeemed us from all sins," said one who was particularly pious in life. But the angel of God had to answer him: "That is not true. No one is redeemed from the sins that he commits as a human being in his daily life; he himself is responsible for that. He is redeemed and freed from the great sin that is called the mortal sin, from the guilt of apostasy from God." They did not know what to do with these words. They insisted that they had been redeemed by Christ from all guilt and that they had relied on and hoped in Christ and his redemption throughout their whole lives.
This judgment that was now being held did not last just a few hours or a few days according to human concepts of time; this judgment lasted a few weeks. For they were now to experience who had redeemed them and what they were redeemed from. They were to experience their own apostasy, their own separation from God. They were shown excerpts of this. For what is happening and has happened in the heavens is also recorded in the breath of God or in the stream of God, in the atmosphere of God or in the breath of God, whatever you want to call it. 
Everything that happens can be recorded, just as you people record something in a film. Now they were shown a section of this apostasy and made to see that they themselves were involved in it. They were also shown just a few sections of how they had risen from the depths to the heights. And they were shown how people, invisible to them, were persecuted and influenced by a lower spirit world. They were also to be able to experience how Christ negotiated with Lucifer after his victory in those depths and granted him the right to rule and rule over people on earth, provided they were willing to obey him, but that Christ would take everyone into his care after earthly death and they would then be responsible to him and his holy spirit world for their actions as humans.
So they were given proof when they persisted in the teaching that was given to them on earth, according to which they had been redeemed from all sins. They were to see and experience from which sin they had been redeemed and recognize that salvation consists in Christ having cleared the way to the Father for them and that each one must now prove for himself how strong he is in spirit; that each one is enabled to start again from the beginning and return to the Father.
This judgment lasted a long time, as you can imagine. Now there was no longer any opposition. And now the angel of God said: "Now I ask the one who was innocently convicted: what punishment do you deserve?" And he answered: "I have no hatred, I leave the decision to the spirits of God. It is not I who decide; I have earned heaven through my difficult life, through the injustice that was done to me."
But now the others began to disagree among themselves. They accused those who had once judged - they said they should have been asked to examine them more closely. So they started arguing among themselves. And those who had judged now became very angry with the murderer because he had not turned himself in. Now they were asked: "What punishment does this murderer deserve?" They could not answer, but one and the other said: "I cannot forgive him for being so cowardly and so mean as to let someone else suffer. I cannot forgive that, because it burdened me. He should have turned himself in and admitted his crime. But because he concealed the truth, I am now burdened and will be punished."
The Spirit of God then said to them, except for the murderer: "Yes, you can forgive one another, just as God forgives your sins if you ask. You should forgive one another. For Christ redeemed mankind, he went a difficult way to do so. He was not guilty and took great guilt upon himself and bore great suffering. In Christ's name you should now forgive one another," said the judging angel of God. And then they were released, and it was explained to them that the real murderer would be brought to his just punishment.
So they were all led back to their places and places of work in their distress, where they belonged for further instruction and further amends. They were thus separated from one another.
Now the Spirit of God imposed punishment on the real culprit and on his wife. This angel of judgment had seen that some of those who had been called together were not prepared to forgive him. He saw that they would persecute this murderer in the future, persecute him into a new life on earth. And so he said to him: "You will atone in the spiritual world and you will be reborn as a human being. They will then pursue you in your life on earth and that will be your punishment."
And so I must now take a big step into the future in this story and speak of reincarnation. This former murderer was reincarnated and he was to try to move up a level in his human life. He was marked by fate for his crime. And then, when he had grown up, those from the spiritual world who had not forgiven him came to them because they themselves had been in trouble because he had not spoken the truth and had judged too lightly. Now they persecuted this incarnate and oppressed him. They wanted him to suffer for what he had done wrong, not only to them but also to the victim. The victim could not forgive either and was involved in persecuting him in a new life on earth.
And so it happened: When he was about twenty years old, they came and oppressed him, took possession of his body and raged out of him. And he, who had been a murderer in his previous life, was sent to a mental institution. Now his spirit was degraded and humiliated. His body became a house for these irreconcilable people, here they raged. And his body became a prison for him; he was no longer in control of himself, he was oppressed by the others. The spirits of God had not imposed any special fate on him; for they had seen that fate would be fulfilled through the oppression of those irreconcilable ones.
These irreconcilable spirits had indeed been taught on their level in the spiritual world about love and justice and that one must forgive the debtor. But they could not. If people were already able to forgive one another, then no one would be oppressed by spirits and there would be no need for such healing institutions. But these irreconcilable spirits now wanted to make amends for what had happened in their own way. They wanted to oppress this person so that he would bear the guilt. So they took possession of him and believed that in this way they would create justice. And the spirits of God allowed it.
And so it happens, dear brothers and sisters. If all those who had been to declare himself ready to forgive the guilty person when the people were summoned to the court, he would have had to bear a different fate in his new human life. But the world of God, in its wisdom and foresight, had already seen what awaited him in the future and this was punishment enough for him.
The spirits of God have a lot of work to do with such irreconcilable spirits that take possession of a person. They have to enlighten them and call upon them: "Leave man alone, enter into the order of God and become worthy, honest spirits and instruments in God's plan of salvation. Do not become a burden to people; become their liberators, serve them in order to help them. Do not seek them out to take revenge on them."
But these irreconcilable spirits that I have just spoken of had become free [after a certain period of purification]; they had their free will and were able to find access to that person. They found him through the odic bond that had been created by the events of the past and still existed. The hatred, the resentment and the discord of these beings still bound them to the soul, to the spirit of the one who had once become guilty. They did not want to understand and comprehend that they were also burdening themselves through their actions and that with this act they were creating an obstacle to their ascent.
I have given you this explanation, dear brothers and sisters, so that you can recognize and understand why people are persecuted here and there. It may be that a person is not even directly persecuted by the person they once wronged. Those who were hindered in their spiritual ascent by the past misdeed, who burdened themselves in some way at the time and simply cannot forgive, can also be involved in his persecution, so that they persecute such a person together with the former victim. That was the case in this case. The former victim was also not prepared to forgive. But this does not have to be the case in every case. So someone who had a hand in the fate of a person can be so irreconcilable with the person primarily responsible that he pursues him, beyond his life and thus harms him.
Well, dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning I mentioned a few words about tomorrow. If Christians recognized the true meaning of salvation through Jesus Christ and if they were aware of the meaning and purpose of their own lives, they would not do some things, or they would confess what they have done in order to pay off part of their guilt while still on earth. In this way, another person could be relieved of much of his great worries and problems.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I have given you another insight into the laws of God and the work of angels; for many have already thought about such fates. You can now see from all this that it is always important not to live in hatred like the person who was wrongly accused and had to bear the injustice. He had accepted his fate and not struggled, not lived in hatred. The fact that he managed to do this earned him heaven. He was able to move on to his further ascent in peace.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, the time has passed and I am withdrawing into my world. I leave God's blessing to you all. May your thoughts be lifted up tomorrow and your soul filled with gratitude for the wonderful salvation through Jesus Christ. May you also be grateful for the knowledge you have achieved, that you have knowledge of the meaning and purpose of your life and how you can strive for further spiritual ascent and that tomorrow is also a day of joy, knowing that you are heading towards heaven. Greetings from God.

Experience report from spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording



Next case. 

June 3, 1970
Resi, a fortune teller who was not so strict about the truth.
The nature and way of thinking of a person are not simply discarded when they die, because they are part of the soul.
Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, in this hour I will again tell you about an ascending soul, and if I take on this task in their place, there is, as always, a reason for it.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, I would like to say the following: When these experience reports are given to you, it does not necessarily always have to be in a deep or even sad seriousness. Good spirits are cheerful spirits, and I would like to point out that I and all those who help me in this hour are spirits of God. That does not mean that it can harm me personally or my spiritual helpers in any way,  even if I present something with a certain amount of joy or humor, never. You should recognize from this that we are happy in our world, that we also have our joy. But I do not want to omit to say that when we perform a holy act, we are concerned that this devotion, this seriousness is present and encouraged. So we do not see why we should not present, explain and tell you things as they once happened.I have the opportunity to gain insight into the life book of these ascending spirits. This means nothing other than that the past is made the present for me. It is like a film - you know it too: you keep something and after many years you can experience it again as it once was. I always point out to you that in the spiritual world we have long since had what people believe they have in terms of achievements today. I would like to explain this to those friends who do not yet know this spiritual teaching very well or not at all and who ask themselves: "How is it possible to look back in such a way?" So, in this way it is possible to have this retrospective look at each person who has returned home, when it becomes necessary and sensible.
And so I would now like to tell you about an ascending spirit sister. On earth she was only called by her first name, she let herself be called Resi. She lived about eighty years ago on the Austro-Hungarian border. This Resi was the mother of a bunch of children, but at that time, when people lived in great poverty, the children were left to fend for themselves quite quickly; the older ones had to look after the little ones quite early on and care for them, while the parents had to go out and earn something, if there was anything to earn at all. The men were mostly at war, and it was left to the women to look after the children.
This Resi was a fortune teller, she earned her money this way. Actually, she had certain abilities, you couldn't deny them, but she wasn't always honest. Resi looked at people first; then she let them shake hands, sometimes both hands, and tried to use the life lines to determine what fate these people would face and what she could tell them. And since she was dependent on getting money, she couldn't always tell the truth, because then she wouldn't have gotten anything. So she didn't take the truth too seriously. If chance would have it that she was allowed to tell someone the truth because it was pleasing, then of course she did it and embellished it with lots of nice words in order to get as much money for herself as possible. But as I said, not everyone had drawn these life lines so beautifully that you could only say good things to them. And so she often kept quiet about the truth and said something, really started dreaming and told them only nice things, even though she knew that it would never happen.
So, that was the way she got her money. But fortune-telling was actually second nature to her.
She sometimes said to her closest relatives and also to her children: "I tell people something. I understand something about the lines on the palm of the hand, but I just have a feeling and I hear it too; it feels like someone is standing behind me and is telling me what I should say." And so she gave her ear to this voice that was inaudible to the others. She knew that she was actually largely inspired. She actually knew the limits of the truth, but for the reasons mentioned above she only said what she thought would do others a favor. So she read people's palms wherever she could. That's how she earned her money. She had to look after the children too, because most of her husband was gone. The life that was lived there was very meager, and this Resi was sometimes given very little for her beautiful prophecies; but she just had to be satisfied with that.
Now I have to explain this. It is possible that a person has this ability. For him it is as much as a mediumistic predisposition, and this mediumistic predisposition can be expressed to a minimum, but it can also come together in a person so excellently that it is possible to recognize from these lines on the hand what a person is really like. One could also say that there are many lines in the human hand and each one has its own meaning, but I do not want to draw your attention to this or encourage you to read each other's palms - I do not want to do that. This is just a general instruction that I am giving you.
I would like to say that a person's life is really marked to a certain extent in their hand; and to recognize this requires an ability. The more connected a person is with nature, the more likely it is that they will be able to develop this mediumistic ability even more. People in those days were not influenced by all the fuss like people today, who have neither time nor interest in such supernatural things, who are only interested in a comfortable life and making a lot of money. Those people had other worries. They were happy to perhaps have a piece of bread again or to be able to bake one. They were very modest and still so close to nature, and that was what enabled those mediumistic people to carry out their work. They then focused entirely on this mediumship. Under these circumstances, it is actually possible for mediumistic people to be clairaudient, as this Resi said, that she had heard voices and they felt, they suspected something; they are simply mediumistic people, receptive to this supernatural matter. In today's rush, many people lose their sense of the supernatural; they no longer have time for contemplation, for rest. They rush, they have to earn money, they have to work hard so that they can afford this and that.
It was different back then. Of course, there was no question of traveling around like you are used to and take for granted. If you settled in a place that was only a few kilometers from a village or a town, you never returned. You stayed there and made no more visits, you no longer went home; you felt far away, in a foreign country. That's how it was back then. You had to walk, friends! So this is just so that you can feel back in an old time. Because people today are increasingly losing sight of this old time, and they no longer understand what we have to say to them. Their world has changed, and they cannot imagine what it used to be like. And that is why it is necessary to explain it again and again, so that you can understand that back then people could live and work in the same way as Resi did in her poverty and with her media skills.
It should also not be forgotten that women in those days, in their poverty, were not so strict with their household chores. They finished quickly because there was not much to tidy up. And they still had time to live in nature and to feel, hear and sense - they could still do that. Today, this has become almost impossible. Think about your homes, how they look compared to those just fifty, seventy, eighty, a hundred years ago. Back then there was a table, a chair, maybe a piece of furniture - if things went well, that was all. There was not so much to tidy up. But even back then, pious people still had time to pray and to commit themselves to God. That binding oneself to God may have had its advantages, but also its disadvantages - that would be a chapter in itself, which we could also talk about. What could be told and explained to those people back then cannot be expected of people today. In a certain sense, technological advances may also have their advantages - I only mention this in passing.
But now back to our Resi. I would now like to tell you about her nature and explain that this nature did not change when she died. In this you will find confirmation of other teachings that you have received from us. Just as people lived on earth - their peculiarities, their entire mentality - this is also expressed in the world beyond. It is a false notion to think that after laying down the earthly body, these peculiarities and mentality simply disappeared. Because this mentality and this peculiarity do not lie in the earthly body. This body is destined for transience, and it is impossible for this mentality, this characteristic, to work and develop in the earthly organs. The core of it, the drive or the motor for it, lies in the soul, in what man cannot see. Everything is stored in the soul, the whole being and what man has built up in his thinking during his human life, what has become solidified or, for that matter, cramped when he has followed one-sided paths. The one-sided, the inharmonious, whatever it may be, or the harmony: everything, simply the whole way of expressing oneself, is anchored in the soul. And the soul lives on after earthly death, and the soul is a part of the whole spiritual being. The spiritual being enters the world just as a human being does in the world, in same Appearance. The spirit is just like the outside of a person in its fine form, and within it is the soul as a thinking, ruling being, and this self is taken with one into the spiritual world when one dies. If it were not so, there would be no difficulties of any kind for a spirit being after death. But these spirit beings create difficulties for themselves through their wrong thinking. Just as humans create difficulties for themselves through their wrong way of life, through their wrong diet, through their wrong thinking - they do many things wrong - the same thing happens in the spiritual world. One should not assume that a spirit being who comes to the world beyond would appear as a purified, elevated, purified being simply because of this stay in the new world. From this one should also recognize that everything that has been done wrong requires its reparation and one must be purified. As you already know, this purification takes place in different ways, and some resist purification. So, from this you have to see: There is still something in such a spiritual being that has to be cleared up, and every being differs from the other in terms of its personality.
But now I'm getting too into philosophizing with you. I would rather return to Resi. You can learn from her experiences, because she also came over to the spiritual world with her nature. I would also like to add that she was a believer, as they called it at the time. But it was not actually a godly or honest belief. It was just something superficial, something that was 'had to'. That's how it was with this Resi. She didn't think about life after death, although she suspected that life goes on after death. But she had no idea about it. During her lifetime, in her fortune-telling, she had told people all kinds of things that she herself did not believe in as a human being.
When she opened her eyes in the afterlife, a spirit of God came to her, greeted her and said that she had now found entry into the divine world and that she still had a lot to make up for and that there was a lot of work waiting for her. The afterlife was of course foreign to her, and these words were foreign to her too, and she didn't know what to do with them. Because in the beginning, hardly anyone can find their way in this new world unless there is a real helping hand, for example a relative who can quickly explain the way to the person who has returned home and tell them where they are. But if none of these relatives are there and you then have to focus entirely on such a sublime spirit, you don't really get clear about it: "Is this actually a dream or is it reality? How is it that I am suddenly faced with someone so sublime? Who was I that such a sublime person has deigned to talk to me?" This is very often the thinking of the lower spirit brothers and sisters who ascend from below. It must be made clear to them that they are in God's world, where there are helpful, good, higher spirits who show them the way. And that is what was done with this Resi too; they had to tell her, because she had not come with any special merits, except that she had had a number of children, which was considered her merit.
The angel of God then spoke to her: "You must now integrate yourself into the order, and life in your new world will take a different course; it is not the same life as you had on earth. It is different here." But Resi did not really trust this matter, this greeting and encounter, and so she could not do anything other than what she had done in her human life. And what do you think she did? She asked this spirit being to show her its hand. Well, the angel of God refused and said: "I have no need of such a thing. That is a game you have played with people. Sometimes you have told them the truth, and sometimes you have ignored the truth." This spirit of God said it with understanding, but Resi could not understand why he refused her hand, and she answered him that even noble people had shaken hands with her. From this you can see that this being was not at all clear about where it was, that it had really died; it does not know it or does not want to admit it, because it can think, can feel, because it has hands, a body and is dressed as a human being. It does not yet perceive this transformation from the earthly material to the subtle spiritual, although the subtle must be put in quotation marks with such an ascending being. It is no longer this earthly, gross material matter, but the subtle substance is in such a case, the spirit is still very earthbound, dark and solid and not yet luminous. Such a being can only assume: "I haven't died, I'm alive." For most people's idea of ​​life after death is completely different from what it actually is.
So this Resi did not want to accept it, and the spirit of God told her that he would just ask her once more whether she was willing to integrate herself into his order; she only had to say yes or no. Then she said no - nothing else could be expected from her - and the angel of God left. Well, she was free. That is the freedom of the spirits that they possess in the world beyond, that is, within a certain framework, just as your freedom is also within a framework. The spirit enjoys it within the same framework on its level of ascension.
Now the noble one had gone, and Resi was left to herself. But it wasn't long before she met other beings, namely spirit beings who were on her equal developmental level, who now lived on this level and were partly in line with the order. And so she approached one or the other of these beings - she still felt like a human being, she wanted to earn money and asked for their hand, she just wanted to see the life lines. Some of them turned her down. Those who took their ascent and their life a little more seriously would of course know that this is someone who has just come over and is still unclear. They themselves were astonished by such a request and did not say much, but just waved their hands and walked away, as if to say: "I'm not going to bother with you. You will change your mind too." These are encounters with spirit brothers and sisters who are seriously striving for their progress. But very many are not so inclined, because in these lower levels of ascent the higher spirit world has a lot of trouble leading these brothers and sisters up a bit; because just as her thinking was as a human being - I must emphasize this again - just as her faith, her peculiarities or her bad habits, for example vices, were, so was her thinking and her peculiarities in the world beyond. These are not simply wiped away when she passes over, but they have become part of her soul, they are anchored in the soul. And to overcome this, it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort and patience on the part of the helpful spirit beings.
Now and then, however, Resi was lucky and a spirit being gave her a hand when she asked. Then she spoke to the person in question: "I can tell you exactly what the future will be like," and began to tell the story, because she also saw the lines in her spiritual hand. That may relate to the past, and a future, a near future, may already be marked out. She had the view and understanding for the past, but she could not gain an insight into what was now marked out in her spirit for the future. Because it was no longer the case that there was a spirit behind her inspiring her or that she could feel it. She was unsure anyway. One time she asked herself: "Is it true, have I really died? Or am I still alive?" So she was in doubt herself and tried to pretend and say something. Oh, some people let it happen, listened, laughed and went away again, not taking her seriously. Now she actually saw that there was nothing to be earned because nobody gave her anything.
Then she was overcome by a great longing for the village where she had lived. She suddenly thought: "The people here are just different, the world here is so foreign to me; no one is affectionate, no one is really friendly, no one is helpful." No, she felt repelled by this new world and she withdrew from it. Because her thoughts were still firmly tied to the earthly; her whole mind, her whole soul was still flooded with the same odic currents that the earth and the whole environment gave off. Just as these odic currents and forces had formed in her mind and shaped her whole being, so she continued to feel, and accordingly, when she wanted to return to her former place on earth, she was drawn to her past world like a magnet.
Now, of course, she also experienced surprises in the earthly world. Now it became clear to her that she had died; because she went into her former house, and many things had changed: other people were there, and she heard them talking about Resi's death and so on. So, it became clear to her: she was actually no longer entitled to be on earth. But she still wanted to be useful here. To her great surprise, there were no obstacles for her. She was curious by nature anyway, and the more she had the opportunity to penetrate everywhere. And so she first went to an inn where men were sitting at wooden tables drinking.
She sat down with them and drank with them in her mind. And then she patted some of the people she still knew on the shoulder and took their hands to look - she knew: now she was no longer human, and this person here did not feel her at all, had no idea that Resi was sitting next to him and tracing the lines of his hand. And so, as a spirit, she could then see when he would also cross over. She could see that, and not just from the line of his hand, but it was quite clear in his book of life - so she could see that. She also tried to start conversations with the spirits of these people who were sitting there, but it never came to a real conversation, because everyone was talking to each other. She spoke to the spirit, and the person spoke, and she couldn't understand anything. It's just like when you're with several people and one person speaks and the other interrupts him, and the conversation goes back and forth at the table, and in the end you can't understand anything. It was the same with her: there was too much talking and she couldn't understand anything; and when she had taken her drink, she left. She was interested in this new world, seen from her current perspective.
So she went to the parsonage. As a person, she had often spoken to the priest, that is, the priest had sometimes reprimanded and admonished her. Because there had already been various things for which she had been to blame, and the priest had done that. She didn't take it badly. People like her weren't sensitive anyway. So she went to the priest in the parsonage, looked around, and sat down for a while. But then she saw that the priest was always praying, and she didn't like that. Now she went to church because she was very interested in who went to church. She noticed that beings of her kind also returned to earth and perhaps sought help in the church. So she didn't go there to get help, but rather out of curiosity. There she saw the sexton, whom she knew from her lifetime and who was doing his work there. She followed him for a while. She didn't really trust him. This sexton had a purse and she had the feeling that this sexton wasn't entirely honest, so she never let him out of her sight, from morning to evening. So she always stayed close to him to find out and it was true: this sexton wasn't honest, he took something now and then when the opportunity arose. Resi now thought: "Yes, not everything is necessarily so honest there either, and that too in a house of God!" She herself had sometimes had to help out a little to get money, but not in a house of prayer! She then went to the pastor, spoke to him and told him that the sexton was not honest. But the pastor heard nothing and heard nothing. He was also somewhat old, and so Resi thought: "Perhaps I will meet you when you are dead too, and I will tell you and bring it to light." These were her thoughts. They were completely superfluous, because the wrong that the other man had done was obvious after his earthly death. No one needed to say that, the spirits of God had seen it long ago. And this pastor would then also be told what had been taken away. So there would be no need to talk about it.
Now Resi went away again, because she did not like it here in the church either; she had now seen it and actually wanted to talk now. Now she found her way to a - what do you call it? gambling house, where people played for money, secretly of course. She actually liked it here: there was a lot of drinking and she had the opportunity to talk to these men and even take possession of them. She could laugh, she had the feeling that she could use the mouths and organs of these men to laugh and to talk.
She had entered into these men, now into this one and now into that one, and she could of course see more than these men could with their earthly eyes. She could also read their thoughts and things were not always honest, but everything was clear to her, and so she could also see when someone was thinking of cheating. And so she had the opportunity to intervene, and she did so, but in favor of a player she liked, who would then win. So she played her game, and she liked it very much. And so she found herself there regularly, for a long time.
In between she made further visits here and there. She went in and out of private houses and lay down to rest, just where she felt it was most comfortable. And so she did not ask for a higher order. She just liked life like that. She was free, thought nothing more and believed that it would continue like that. In this life she found her heavenly bliss, because her thoughts were as follows: "If there were a high heaven, then it would have to take me in. But there isn't one, this high heaven. This is my bliss, the one I live in now, and I like it." That was her modest thought. She just wanted to be able to live without worries and have a good life; her needs were quickly satisfied, she didn't have great demands. And it was a small thing for her to get away a hundred kilometers in a very short time and settle down in a nice house. If there wasn't a guard there who grabbed her hard and sent her out again straight away, she could settle down here or there for a while.
Just a side note: Human homes can be protected and guarded by the spirit world of God; but homes can also be of no interest to her. She is indifferent to them when the people who live there are indifferent [to the divine world]. Then spirits of a lower kind come and go and use these earthly dwellings as their homes and as a piece of heaven. But all of this is only for a short time, temporary.
Well, this Resi felt happy in this life. Now and then she had met acquaintances who had also died and who had made her aware that she should strive for a higher, better life. But she did not want to know anything about it. She just laughed because she was content. She did not want anything more. She said: "I have heaven. What more do you want? What is there that is more beautiful than what I have? I feel neither hunger nor thirst. I do not need clothes. What I have is enough for me." She was modest - she had never been used to anything else - and her greatest pleasure was to ask a passing spirit brother for his hand and to say something about his future. Over time she was content with that, even without payment; she had long since noticed that it no longer existed.
But now, over time, the higher spiritual world did take care of this Resi. She had been given freedom for long enough, so she could do what she wanted. And when she was once again with these gambling men and was playing with them as before, a noble higher spiritual being suddenly came, took her by the hand and led her away from this environment. This Resi naturally resisted and said: "You have no right to do that! Who are you? I am free and I can do what I want!" "Oh no," was the energetic response, "now what you have done is enough! Now you must start a different life! Because you yourself cannot come to the conclusion that you should live differently. Why do you think the heavenly world is so small? You are a lower spirit who is ascending, with whom we have a lot of patience and understanding. But when the time comes, we must get him, and now it is time for you."
She didn't really have much to say against it. Because if she really thought about the whole thing, then it might be true that there was a better and higher world than the one she was still experiencing. And then the angel of God said: "As a human, you went to church and prayed. You also knew about Christ. You celebrated Christmas and the other Christian holidays with your children. Well, what do you think, after death everything is gone, there is nothing true about it? Don't you think that we have reason to celebrate here too? Have you forgotten the Christmas celebration, have you forgotten Easter?" "Oh yes," she had to admit, "but I thought that was now superfluous." "Oh no," replied the angel, "these are times of remembering the life of the Savior. You must let yourself be taught now." And so she finally allowed herself to be led back to the spiritual world. This spirit of God had to take them to a house where there were many other spirit brothers and sisters like them, and they had to learn, learn, nothing but learn. Resi could not write, could not read, could not do arithmetic, but that is not the main thing. She should now also learn the basic rules of the Christian faith. She should also be taught the meaning and purpose of human life, including her own life, what the meaning of the life she had lived had and what she had done for her progress. Such a being must be taught according to his spiritual abilities.
Here I must make another comment. One should not simply believe that all wisdom will be revealed to every soul when it leaves the earthly body,  when it has been put aside and it is in the other world. If you were stupid or uneducated as a human being, you will still be stupid or uneducated when you enter the spiritual world; if you were skilled, this skill will also be there. I would like to make a restriction: special abilities can be taken away from a spirit being temporarily, temporarily so that it does not hinder its ascent - one knows how to intervene in one case or another. It can also be possible for a sibling who has already ascended spiritually to be denied a special, pronounced intelligence - but this is also done so that its ascension is not hindered. Because one knows the nature of such an ascending spirit sibling, sister or brother, one can look back into previous lives and thus know how to integrate such an ascending being. In this way, something of one person's special intelligence can be taken away from him temporarily in a human life. This is part of special intervention. I would like to emphasize this expressly so that one does not say that it was said one time this way and another time that way. So that is this intervention. But usually it is as I mentioned: if a person tries to educate himself, to refine his nature, to ennoble his thoughts and will, then this is a precious property of the soul. These are treasures that do not dissolve, that cannot perish; so the person benefits from them after his earthly death. But if, as I already mentioned at the beginning, his nature, his thinking, is primitive, of a low nature, hateful, mean and so on, then that is also his nature, which cannot do otherwise. It is precisely the personality that develops.
And now back to our Resi. So she had to go to school and in this way be taught in the most modest way possible. She made the effort for this. And of course she was also required to join the spiritual brothers and sisters of her level in order to go with them to worship and to venerate, to honor God, as is natural in the world of God. Led by one or more higher spiritual brothers and sisters, these ascenders are either led into a hall that is specially decorated, even if it is on a lower level, or they may gather somewhere in an open space to give glory to God. So they do not neglect to pray, even if this is not always specifically emphasized in our reports. For all these brothers and sisters are made aware of who their real father is, who the creator of all life is, and that he must be revered and prayed to; they must greet him with prayer, ask him for forgiveness in prayer, implore him for help, because the creator is the giver. He also gives the lower, ascending spiritual brothers and sisters the opportunity to return home and the support that they can ascend to the heights again. God is the giver, the good one, the loving one. You can turn to him in your worries; you can do it in your thoughts, in the conversations with the angels who pass on these needs, these requests of the petitioners, in order to give them the help they deserve.
This is how our Resi learned. She learned something about God's plan of salvation, she learned to pray, and she also had to learn to read and write.
This may seem a little strange to many of you, or especially to those who do not know the spiritual language, but it is true: what the spirit does not possess, it does not possess, as I have emphasized.
Now Resi had slowly moved from one class to another at school until she had reached the stage of development where one could demand something else of her. She had now made an effort. She had not returned to the earthly world. She allowed herself to be completely influenced and taught by the higher world, for she was not malicious in her nature - I have indicated this to you. She was not sensitive; those people at that time were not like that at all, their nature was different in this respect. People also had an understanding for the clumsiness of others, and they simply lived differently than today.
Well, through her good will and because she was not evil (she was actually rather clever), she had been forced to do what she did by the hardships in her family, which was taken into account by the divine world because she was not bad or malicious in her nature, she had paved the way for her own ascension and could now be taught and guided further by the higher world. She could be made to understand what is the law in the divine world and what must be learned.
Now it was made clear to her that she also had to carry out an activity, and she could also contribute something to alleviating the suffering of the spiritual brothers and sisters who were even lower down. It was explained to her that they were quite happy to go down into the depths with spiritual brothers and sisters of her kind to the unfortunate, to those who were evil in their nature, who had even killed people, slandered people, simply done people wrong and who were now banished. These people can also receive some comfort and support from other, slightly higher-ranking spiritual brothers and sisters, and she was now to give her support to such beings. So she had been taught at school, and now she was to show what she had learned.
A higher spirit accompanied her; but he remained invisible to those beings in the depths, so this sister was allowed to step forward. She was now to start a conversation with these spiritually suffering brothers and sisters and bring them comfort. This Resi was actually very suitable for this. She told them a lot about the life she had lived, about her suffering and her fortune-telling. She did not hide from them how she herself had not been included in God's order for quite a long time, but that she had never been banished. And she told them that they should finally look within themselves and become repentant, that they should change their thinking and start to be interested in the future, in the higher life.
In this way she was able to give consolation to some. And in doing so she had resorted to a means that was simply tailored to her, and that was palm reading. This was simple in her nature, she had not forgotten it, and so she even asked these unfortunate people: "Give me your hand, I can tell you approximately when you will be freed. I can tell you how long you still have to wait and how you will fare afterwards." She did not even have to take their hand, because the angel of God had already informed her how long this or that person would have to remain in exile. He had taught them how to give these suffering souls some hope, some comfort and confidence. This way Resi could also tell them that it would not be long before they were freed, or that they still had to hold out for this time. And so she simply used the hand as a tool and explained: "I can see it clearly, because the lines are just like in your human life. I see that liberation is not far away; now you have to hold out until this liberation comes. I see it coming very soon." And when Resi then told stories from her life, how she had read the palms of so many people and guessed many things, they believed her when she said: "I can see the light coming soon." These beings are still at a low level and still think humanly; they are not yet able to think higher. And how happy they are when it really is like that, when Resi comes and says: "Now you are being taken away. I was right." But this palm reading was just a tool that she used, something that came naturally to her. Like someone else who is musical and can sing, she could work in this way.
So she had conquered her ascent. Through her willingness to help, through a certain kindness, she was able to do her part to comfort these unfortunate people. And that is something additional that ascending spirit brothers and sisters can do for those who are lower down. And so she made a keen effort.
They taught her, they explained to her: "You see, your past earthly life is not the last one you will live." They taught her to understand that reincarnation does exist, and that one is reincarnated several times and thus ascends step by step. And when she had come to this realization and this knowledge had taken hold within her, she formed the will: "I want to have a better life in my future life. I want to learn and I want to be able to earn my bread in a different way." And the angels of God support her. Because when such spiritual brothers and sisters make an effort to be taught - and this applies not only to this Resi, but in general - then they are taught and thereby promote their own advancement. And so Resi is still on her way to being able to ascend. She is helpful and good. So I only need to call her and say: "Come and offer your help here and there," and she does it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I tried to give you an insight into the laws of God. In this way you can enrich your knowledge and can recognize what life is like in the spiritual world - that the spirits of God descend deep down and are ready to take everyone by the hand and give everyone the opportunity to move forward. Such returnees are allowed to be free for a certain time, but this freedom must also be given a higher level.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, the time is up and I leave God's blessing to you all. May He protect and watch over you on all your paths. May you who are sick recover in body and soul. God bless you.
Report of the experience of spirit teacher Joseph through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich. Original: tape recording


October 7, 1970
Elisabeth and Jakob's close bond through the bond of spiritual kinship.
Common happiness and fulfillment in the work as servants of God's angels.
Joseph: God bless you. Dear brothers and sisters, I have the task of telling you about two spirit brothers and sisters. They asked me to do so and so they let me look into their book of life; for the life of man is recorded [in the soul] like in a picture book. You have the opportunity to pick it up at any time, leaf through it and look back, as I was able to do with these two spirit brothers and sisters. So they asked me to take it on for them, and they have now opened their book of life to me. I leafed through it, and now I want to tell you about them, something about their past earthly life and their entry into the spiritual world. I would like to assume that these explanations will also help you a little with your spiritual insights.
They were a mother and son who were allowed to live together. The son was called Jacob, the mother Elisabeth. Jacob's father died early, and the two had to provide for their own living. Jacob had to start working early in order to earn money - the life of the two of them dates back about a hundred years. Jacob had started working in the forest; he was a forest worker and also worked for a forester for a time. He worked in the forest in all seasons. When he came home tired in the evening, his mother had already prepared a meal for him and they sat together and talked for a while. But Jacob always wanted to go to bed early because he had to get up very early.
For many years, Jacob was allowed to be with his mother because his good mother was very old. In the last years of her life, she could no longer contribute to her support and so everything was in Jacob's hands. But the two had a close bond. They got on very well and lived a truly harmonious life together. One worked and lived for the other and felt and suffered with the other. So they got on very well with each other in their hearts and souls and also felt close to each other spiritually. The elderly mother always made sure that Jacob took his food with him into the forest because he went early in the morning and came home late in the evening. So he had a backpack or a bag hanging around his neck most of the time and in there was just the necessary food and sometimes some bandages or something similar. In case of an accident, he had the most necessary things in his bag or backpack.
Well, I don't really want to say anything more about that and will just tell you about his mother's passing. She was led into the spiritual world by the angels. I would like to emphasize this again, she was a kind woman who helped her fellow human beings in times of need as best she could and who gave her fellow human beings a lot of understanding and love. So the mother and her son were respected people in the village in which they lived. Even though they were very modest people and did not have an abundance of earthly goods, they had earned the respect of their fellow human beings through their noble and noble lives.
The mother was then led home by the angels and they said to her: "You can now take up a beautiful position in the divine world." But the angels did not really trust that Elisabeth would want to take up this beautiful position and so it was. The mother asked to return to her room to wait there for her son, who came home from work. And so, even as a spirit, she had the desire to prepare and have his meals ready for him. So she did it for a while and always waited for her son. And then when he came back in the evening, she sat down very close to him and began to talk to him.
But this son was plagued by longing for his mother; he really longed for her. He was also a pious, helpful and kind person. Of course he could not see or hear his mother, and yet he felt as if she was near him, and so he talked to himself in his mind. Without actually seeing his mother, he told her everything that had happened during the day, what he had experienced in the forest with people and animals; he told all of this as he had imagined it when she was alive.
 So he acted as if she were there and was listening to him. But he did not see her and had no idea that she was now actually next to him and really listening to him. She was very pleased that her son was telling her everything, but she was a little depressed because he could not see her. She also spoke to him, she also made her comments, but he could not perceive them. And so it went on for a long time.
But when Jacob lay down to rest and his spirit separated from his body, then his mother was also next to his spirit and they could talk to each other. The mother gave her son advice on how he should do things without her in the future, and Jacob answered. They discussed the things that they believed were necessary to discuss. Because this mother soul - and this must be said - still felt so earthbound and was not able to elevate her son's spirit; instead they remained on this level of the earth and discussed human things with each other. But it was not to continue like this forever, it was only temporary, as long as this mother was still tied to her son and to the place of residence.
The angel world observed everything and regretted that this mother soul could not immediately decide to start her new path. And when these two were together again and Jacob was talking to himself about everything that had happened during the day and believed that his mother was listening to him - he believed it in his mind, but actually didn't think at all about whether it was actually so, but was simply compelled from within to talk to himself like this, because he felt liberated by it, just talking out loud to his mother - when he was once again talking to his mother in his mind, an angel came along. But the angel could only be seen by the mother, because she was a spirit, while the son was embodied. The angel then asked the mother to leave her son and make preparations for him in the spiritual world, because he too would enter the spiritual world one day, and he would certainly be very happy if his mother had also made provisions for him in the world beyond. This made an impression on the mother, who was so closely connected to her son. She saw that it was actually pointless to sit there and listen to him. She then decided to go away with this angel, but asked that the angel world keep a watchful eye on Jacob and protect and look after him. This was promised, and she was also told that she could also check on him from time to time. She was also told how long her son would have to live in this world; he would not live as long as she did, he could enter the spiritual world sooner. And so it was time for her to make preparations for him. So she decided to do so and fled from the earth with this angel into the higher spiritual planes.
It is a heaven that this mother was allowed to enter. The angelic world praised her for the goodness and love that she was able to express during her lifetime, and she also praised the noble life of her son. But she was also told that she had to undergo purification for a temporary period in order to completely abandon human thinking; after that a wonderful task would await her.
At first she could only marvel at the glory of this new world. Everything was new to her; as a human being she had not been taught about the reality of this other world. Now they did it, and it soon seemed to this mother soul as if everything was actually familiar to her. It did not seem so strange to her. As a human being she had believed or suspected that the heavenly world must be a world of glory. For during her lifetime she was pious; but she had her own idea of ​​heaven. She had not suspected that she would continue to live as a spirit being as she did now; but she had assumed that heaven must appear in glory.
Well, there was a reason why these feelings were expressed in this way. She was an elevated being in spirit and had been led to these heights in spirit even when she was sleeping or when her body was resting and had already had some experiences there, but these could not penetrate into her consciousness.
The angelic world now explained to her that some things still had to be cleared up and that the best thing to do would be if she went to a quiet place during the time that had been set aside for her; that is, she could go to a house and listen to beautiful heavenly music there. And while she heard this music, she should try to completely detach herself from earthly things in her thoughts and only realize the spiritual. She should absorb this spiritual music and experience it. All the beauty that she heard through this music and that refreshed her soul was supposed to give her a spiritually elevated mood and peace.
And so it happened. By allowing this music to work its full effect on her, she felt elevated as a spiritual being, and it seemed to her as if this sublime music could make her forget all memories of the human life she had lived. It seemed to her as if this music was leading her into a familiar, familiar world where she was now supposed to fulfil her tasks. This wonderful music, which served to make her forget thoughts of her lived life and to resonate with the high and noble, really did that. During this time of purification she felt like a new or different being. One cannot speak of a birth, because she had already experienced this spiritual birth when she laid aside her earthly body, but she felt strengthened and elevated because she was in this purification for a time predetermined for her. And this purification was not a distress for her soul, that is, for her thinking, but rather this purification meant elevation, strengthening, power, joy, confidence, hope for her. This wonderful time of purification under this sublime music gave her all of this.
The angel then fetched her again and noted the change with joy. Now she was to start her new task. The angel revealed to her: "You shall become a servant of the angels of God." She was happy about this, but actually took it for granted, because the lower spiritual world was foreign to her, purification in distress was foreign to her, spiritual suffering and pain were foreign to her. So she considered her task of being a servant of the angels to be a matter of course. The angel said to her: "You will preside over this house," and he named the house in which she was to preside as the servant of those angels. Her task was to see that everything was in order in that whole house. She was also to take care of the garden and the forest that bordered the house. There, too, she had to keep things in order and see that everything was in order.
She was introduced to her work by another servant, who was then allowed to move up after the mother soul had taken up her new job. She was informed about her occupations and work, about everything that had to be done in the house and where everything had to be done. She was informed that she had to take care of sending out invitations to other angels and that she should also make sure that the table was always well-stocked. She was also to take care of the flower decorations inside and outside the house. She was also to ensure that the flower beds in the garden were constantly being changed and she also had her tasks in the forest. To manage all of this, however, she had a number of male and female servants at her disposal who would carry out the respective tasks.
This mother soul was delighted about this, and so her son Jacob was actually forgotten more and more, because this task and life in this world made her happy. It was a wonderful world, and she thought it was wonderful to be a servant of God's angels. Because she was allowed to accompany these angels to festivals herself, and whenever they invited her to come, she was always allowed to be there as a servant. So she had a beautiful and varied job to do, and she found herself content and happy.
Then the hour came when she was told that her son Jacob would now also pass over into the spiritual world, and she was asked to collect this spirit. And so she stood there at her son's deathbed and was now able to receive the spirit. When Jacob had laid down his earthly body, he was happy and delighted to see his mother dressed so beautifully. The mother was able to receive her son. What joy there was for both of them! Jacob was happy and proud that his mother was so beautiful, and the mother was happy that she was able to take Jacob with her to her heaven. She did not yet know any further connections. She was very satisfied with the task she was carrying out and now hoped to be able to share this activity with Jakob.
Just as she had, Jakob also had to undergo purification; for he too had to forget earthly memories and overcome human thinking. He therefore had to adapt to this higher atmosphere. He too was led to this place, where this sublime, wonderful music was supposed to do its part to raise this newly arrived spirit into this sphere, to make him happy, to erase his memories of human life as best as possible. And so Jakob also stayed there in a room and heard this beautiful music, which made him happy.
His mother had been able to say to him beforehand: "I was there too." In just a few words she could tell him how wonderful heaven was, how wonderful it was to be near God, and that one could be happy even as a servant of the angelic beings and could always go to the most beautiful festivals and be present at the highest invitations; one could experience the highest spirits and princes of heaven, and talk to them. Even if one was only a servant of the angelic world, one was valued, respected and loved by the high spirits. She could only quickly communicate this to her son.
It was much less difficult for him to adapt to the new circumstances and this new world; for nothing bound him to the earthly realm, it had been different with his mother. And since he could break away much more quickly, this was a certain advantage for him. He had no desire to think back to earthly life, to ponder those memories, but he had only one desire: to be happy and content in this heaven, in this heavenly world. But he did have some inhibitions in one respect. His mother had adapted quickly to this new world, while he had raised his mind and only longed to live in such a wonderful world and asked himself: "Do I really deserve this? Am I not too humble and simple a spirit? Am I not too ignorant to live in this sublime world?"
So he thought about it, but these thoughts only came when he was taken out of purification. This purification was - it must be noted in passing - not a purification of distress, as is the case in the lower planes; rather, this purification under this sublime music serves the spirit to adapt to this new world in order to be able to better overcome memories of earthly life, as already mentioned. Jacob succeeded in doing this; but he could not overcome his excessive modesty. He felt too low, he felt too ignorant to serve in this wonderful world. And when the angelic world wanted to take him to his mother, he asked that they not take him into such a high world, because he felt too ignorant and was worried that he would not be able to fulfil his tasks. The angel had to explain this to him and say: "If you feel so ignorant, then we will have you taught first. You should go to a school where you can absorb the most necessary knowledge; and later, over time, you will be taught more and more about everything worth knowing, about everything that will be necessary for you." 
He agreed to this. So he attended spiritual schools that could give him a little more knowledge, and this knowledge also gave him greater security. The fact that he initially had such inhibitions was due to his earthly life; because it was still in his soul, it was still in his memory, that he had not received any significant, great training as a human being. He had only attended modest classes, and so he had not felt very clever in his human life and had a certain shyness towards people. These feelings remained in his soul, and so he believed that he was ignorant in the spiritual world too and that this could be a hindrance to him.
He learned quickly and easily in the spiritual schools, because he too suddenly felt as if everything was so familiar and known to him. He was not only taught about the necessary order of the spiritual world, about those laws and tasks, about the plan of salvation and redemption, but there was also much more that one had to be taught about as an elevated spirit.
When this time was over and he had now been able to absorb a good amount of knowledge, he felt much more secure, and so he was now able to fulfil the tasks together with his mother. He too was to be a servant of God; he too was instructed to look after the order of the house and to see that everything that these angels had in terms of spiritual possessions was in order. They now did this together. But now they were entrusted with further work. Elizabeth and Jacob now had several houses in which the exalted angels of God lived, and here they had to see to it that everything was in order. There was really a lot to do. There were always invitations; there were always guests, and one was invited back in return. Invitations had to be brought here and there, orders had to be given; the two of them certainly did not lack work. They were very satisfied with the work they were allowed to do, and their mutual bond actually grew ever closer.
In life they had been mother and son, but they were also related in spirit. But the two of them did not yet know this; they only felt this special togetherness. And so they allowed themselves to be instructed by a high angel in their own matter. As servants of these high angels they had more opportunity and possibilities than other working spirit brothers and sisters to talk to them, and indeed one could also have one's own spiritual life explained to one another in more detail. One's position also gave one a certain advantage, and so such a spirit of God endeavored to explain their real connections to the two. It was now indicated to them that they were also mother and son in spirit, that they belonged to the same spiritual family. The angel of God also explained to them that they could now carry out their tasks together for a period of time determined by the spirit world of God; when this specific period was over, they had to separate and each would take up their own, independent work. But it was also indicated to them that a new earthly life awaited them, even though they had reached such a spiritual height through their meritorious, patient life. In their new earthly existence they were to provide confirmation that they were capable of later carrying out even higher, wider tasks than just being servants of the angels; however, that was still a certain way off.
Now that these two felt this connection and knew that they belonged to the same spiritual family and were bound together by the bond of togetherness, they wanted this connection, this spiritual togetherness with all the associated sublime feelings of helpfulness, courtesy and mutual attention, that everything that was happening with them, to make an impression on the other spirit brothers and sisters and to be an example. For there were also other spirit beings active who could not be specifically described as spiritual servants, but who had to carry out a lower work; for even in the elevated heavens there are various activities that must be carried out. These activities are assigned to the spirit beings according to their spiritual merits. There are also spirit beings active in these heights who are not perfect and who still have to learn. Although they have entered a higher plane, one may lack understanding, another may lack kindness, another may lack compassion, another may not be generous enough. So vices are still there, and so these beings should be able to learn from their superiors in order to overcome the lower ones. These superiors should be shining examples for them, for their further ascent. Elisabeth and Jakob were such shining examples for the other active spirit brothers and sisters, who also had to fulfill their tasks in the houses of the angelic beings.
In general, it was explained to you that the spirits of ascension work in their workshops and that, depending on their spiritual achievements, they stand in lower or higher planes and live there and wait for their further elevation. Anyone who has reached this spiritual greatness in human life, but is still afflicted with some vices, can indeed take such an elevated level, but he still has to overcome what is necessary there. And that is exactly what happens with these working spirit brothers and sisters.
Now the time came when Elizabeth and Jacob were separated again in the spiritual world. Each of them was now to take on their own task independently. A new earthly life awaited them, and they were to be prepared for it now. The higher a spirit can rise in the spiritual world and the more he settles into this elevated spiritual world and allows the atmosphere of spiritual sublimity to work on him, the more difficult it can be for him when he has to return to earthly life and assume human existence. There is a great difference between life and work in an elevated spiritual level and life in this earthly world.
The earthly world has a completely different influence on people; it surrounds them again with its laws and with everything that is usual in this world, and it influences them. And when an elevated, elevated spirit takes on this incarnation, a soul sometimes does not really find its way in its earthly body. It may be that this person, through his - one cannot say "fall", through his incarnation, leads a dreamy existence; he is not yet fully connected with this world, which is so different from the spiritual world from which he comes. So it very often happens that such spiritual beings, who have to accept human existence, simply cannot find their way in their lives. They may have great artistic gifts, they may be intelligent, but otherwise they cannot find their way in the world.
 This is because the spirit simply cannot familiarize itself with this new atmosphere, that it finds it difficult to accept and understand this new world, just as it is the other way round: that a spirit that is so connected to the earthly world, that has a materialistic way of thinking and only lives for the transience of the world, when it passes over into the spiritual world, cannot find its way in this new world either. It does not feel comfortable here and wants to go back to its old home; it wants to do and live again as it lived as a human being. It cannot accept the new.
The same can happen to a sublime spirit that has to start a new human life. It simply cannot find its way here for its entire life. But it must be said that these are people who have a spiritual greatness, who do no harm to anyone, who are not materialistic, who are prepared to give everything to others and to stand before nothing. They have no greed and no inclination for possessions, they are always ready to give everything at any time. Such people are therefore very often embodied spirits who once occupied a sublime position in the spiritual world and can no longer find their way in the earthly world. This is just an explanation. And basically it should actually come to this: if man is to become spiritual, then he must be able to detach himself more and more from this earthly possession, as was recently explained to you [at the meditation week 1970]. He must be less and less interested in it, he must attach less and less importance to earthly things. He must be able to detach himself from earthly things and should have no inclination or addiction to possessions; he should not give away anything he has and not begrudge others anything. All of this is not spiritual and is not a sign of spiritual superiority.
What I have now told you about these two should give you food for thought. You should be able to judge your fellow human beings better and should judge less those who are not attached to earthly goods and cannot cope with them and who, if they have something, often simply give it back. What sublimity a person has when he gives something he has to others! This is a spiritual virtue: it is better to give up possessions yourself and give to those who have nothing. Because you should think about what the world beyond will look like, which you conquer through such a human life. You will be raised to heights in the spiritual world if you showed modesty in your earthly life, if you did not harm or deceive people in any way. These are things that count for a lot in the spirit.
It all depends on how you lived in this world. Anyone who raises himself to a high level in his life - whether apparently spiritually or in materialism - will certainly be brought down and humiliated in the spiritual world. He will no longer possess what he once possessed, and it will be difficult for him to erase the memory of his former possessions from his mind, to lose the memory of them. Then he will suffer the same fate as many others: he will want to return to earth and live there and possess what he possessed in his human life. Anyone who can detach himself from all things as a human being and at the same time lives spiritually will one day be carried to the heights by the spiritual world. But it is not enough to simply say: "I can detach myself from all these things, they mean nothing to me," while on the other hand you want to possess them and not detach yourself from them. Empty words alone are of no use. It is like a prayer that you say without connecting it with actions. Everything has to be coordinated if it is to be noticed in the spiritual world. So I was able to tell you, dear brothers and sisters, about these two people. When I said that they lived about a hundred years ago, you can perhaps imagine how modest the world was then, how little could be offered to people. But even in such a time, one had to have a good heart and understanding for the environment. Those two proved that they had it. When they entered the spiritual world, they reached these heights, these magnificent heavens, and became servants of heavenly beings. But although they have become so refined and elevated in spirit, they cannot avoid assuming the incarnation again in order to prove their virtues once again in a world that has become so completely different, that offers many more opportunities for error and greater temptations than before. Even elevated spiritual beings must enter such a world in order to prove themselves anew. The divine world hopes that those spirit brothers and sisters who were so permeated by everything divine in the world beyond will not succumb too much to materialism when they have to take on the incarnation again; that as human beings they will be able to distance themselves somewhat from this materialistic way of thinking and from everything that today's modern world has to offer a human being.
Perhaps you can imagine in your mind how difficult it must be for a sublime spirit when it has to take on the incarnation again. It does not know how great the temptations will be and whether it will pass its tests. If it does not pass them, people will be sad about it when it returns. It will itself be sad and cry that it has not achieved what it had in mind because it has not passed the test. And so the spirit world of God knows where you, dear friends, stand in your world and what temptations it brings you; but the world of God also knows what teachings are being offered to you on the other hand, that you are being told how important it is not to become slaves to materialism.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, I will withdraw and would like to emphasize that these two spirit beings, Jacob and Elizabeth, are at my side and listened to what I said to you. They would like me to send you greetings and tell you that you should not forget the spiritual world. That you should never forget these many stories and teachings that are always being given to you, this look into the other world as it is, what it demands of you and what awaits you; that you should spread your hands out to the higher and nobler. For then your soul will be happy and look forward to returning home. May God's blessing accompany you all. God's greetings.
Experience report by spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich Template: tape recording
Next case.

November 4, 1970.
Heavenly training for beings with the simplest of minds and humble dispositions.
Insights into the life beyond of a family that lived on earth without schooling and in poor conditions.
Josef: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, it is I, your trusted friend, and I will speak to you this evening; for it is not possible to let all the ascending spirit beings that we select for these experience reports speak for themselves. I have the opportunity to leaf through the life book of these returned people, to get my bearings. I look back at their lives and how they fared when they passed over into the spiritual world. And so I would like to tell you in this hour about a couple of parents and the son who came with them. I will try to explain it to you as I was able to experience it in that review. I will also reproduce in your language certain conversations that took place.
So a couple with a large number of children lived in great poverty, and these parents had difficulty supporting their children; but it always worked out, they got the bare necessities to eat, they simply created the opportunity to do so. Nor were they so strict about domestic order. Nevertheless, they still had time to sit on the bench in front of the house, for hours at a time. When these two parents became old and their children had grown up, the children had to support their parents. They all lived together in a modest house, and the old parents sat on this bench in front of the house whenever possible. They talked to the neighbors and also had to look after the small children. And so the time came for these two when they had to say goodbye to the world.
I would not omit to say that they both believed that they had lived piously - piously in quotation marks. They went to church and they prayed; They prayed exactly as they were told. They worshipped the saints exactly as they had been taught. They had no particular idea about life after death, but they expected that after death one would go to heaven. The two of them also had great reverence for the Madonna and also for Christ, but the Madonna came first.
First the old mother died. She was carried into her new world by the spirit world of God. Everything was prepared for her. She was allowed to live in a house with a small garden. There were no other buildings in the immediate vicinity, but there were large fields. The mother now took her place in this house. Then spirits of God came to her and informed her that it would not be long before her husband came to her too. Until her former life partner returned home, spirits of God came to her and told her about her fears. And relatives  also lived in the spiritual world, but who were actually far removed from it. Some were more deeply developed in their spiritual development and were unable to visit their relatives who had returned home; others were partly very advanced and had ascended and would visit them when they had the opportunity.
Well, this mother soul had the desire to pray to the Madonna. She also asked when the Madonna would take her home. By this home she naturally meant entering the splendor and glory of heaven. She was told that she was now in a pre-heaven and would stay here for a while. Then she would be allowed to experience the heavenly glory, but it would still be a good while before that. First she had to get together with her husband and they would live together for a while. When they had both reached a point where their souls and thoughts had been somewhat elevated, they would be allowed to leave this place.
Well, this mother soul, her name was Maria, was very pleased; because the house was very tidy, everything was clean. She had never known such cleanliness in her human life. What particularly surprised her was that there was also a bench in front of the house. And so she sat there exactly as she had sat on her earthly bench in front of the house when she was alive. In general, she had the impression that everything was so similar to what was on earth. She had a garden, and in this garden there were only a few bushes. There were no flowers, but there were vines. And so she was happy and content about that, after all, she had the feeling that she would never have to be hungry or thirsty, because to her admiration there were the most beautiful grapes.
She had been told that it would not be long before her husband - his name was Alberto - would come too, and then they could be together for a while to adjust to the new world and settle in here. She was of course very happy that she was told this, because she had already been worried that Alberto would not be able to find his way without her and that she would have to see to it that things were in order.
And so it happened: Alberto was brought to her and she received him with great enthusiasm. He seemed a little tired and sleepy. The house was very simple with everything in it; but it had three beds. So Alberto could lie down and rest. She did not leave his side. The beings who brought him said to her: "You can stay next to Alberto until he opens his eyes. But you can continue to do as you like. You can sit on the bench and watch what is going on and then check on Alberto again from time to time." And so she did. First she knelt down in front of his bed, believing that this sleep would only last a short time, and so she did not want to miss the moment when he would open his eyes. But it was taking too long for her, so she sat down on the bench in front of her house again.
She saw that various beings were walking past and were always nodding and smiling at her in a friendly way. They were also dressed very elegantly and had a very special, friendly, loving smile for her. Maria had gotten used to it, because they regularly walked past her house. And when she saw them coming, she would wave to them, and these noble beings - let's call them now - would also wave to Maria and go on their way.
But now the moment came when Alberto woke up and Maria was next to him. So she had to explain to him and say: "We can now live together for a while. We are in heaven, but actually we are in a pre-heaven." And she explained to him that they had to wait there until the Madonna would come and take them both to heaven. Alberto listened, and he found this environment quite pleasant. He said: "It is exactly the same as on earth. But here we have enough space, a house for both of us." And it seemed to him to be very good and nice. Alberto also sat down on the bench and so they watched what was going on.
Their house stood alone, so to speak. Wherever they looked, they only saw fields, but they knew that there was a village not far away and that these beings who were passing by were going to this village. Now these noble beings passed by again and smiled and waved to the two of them. Then Maria said to Alberto: "They are very noble beings and they are very well disposed towards me. And so I believe: If they are well disposed towards me, they will be well disposed towards you too." But Alberto was not at all enthusiastic about the friendliness of these supposedly beautiful or noble beings, because he still had a lot of human thoughts and many memories from his past life in his soul - unpleasant memories of people, who acted noble. He still had this feeling and he said to Maria that one could not trust these nobles here either; it would be better to avoid them, because he spoke from experience; in his whole human life he had not had good experiences with such nobles. And so he told about his life, by whom he had been deceived and betrayed by such nobles. And so Alberto thought he knew better that it was probably no different in the new world. So he said: "There is so much that is similar to the world in which we lived, even if the matter here is a little less condensed." He could see that, but it was too similar to what was on earth for him. And so he asked Maria to go into the house with him when these nobles came back; you had to avoid them, because that's how they started: first they would smile at them in a friendly way, and then very soon they would come and possibly send them away from the house, or they would have to pay God knows how much for the house. Maria said to him: "Alberto, we don't have to pay anything." But Alberto didn't trust this, and when these nobles actually passed by again and Alberto saw them, he took Maria by the hand and walked quickly into the house with her, so he was full of mistrust. Maria didn't like that, but she had been used to obeying Alberto.
Then they sat down again on the bench and found life heavenly, since they were in the pre-heaven. But Maria said: "I'm interested in what's going on in the village. I'd like to go to the village sometime. I see so many people who are always passing by, and I'd like to know where they're going." Alberto said: "Good, you can go." But he warned her not to have any conversations with any noble people she might meet; she had to hold back because they were not to be trusted.
And so Maria went into the village. Of course she had to admire everything. In this village there were many buildings and there were also gardens, she even saw some animals. She began to be interested in them and she stopped there on the spiritual road and asked someone who was passing by. She was very careful not to speak to anyone of noble or noble rank, she only wanted to speak to a very humble being. Then she asked this stranger and he answered her: "You certainly haven't been here long enough to not know anything about it." "Yes," she said, "I live nearby with Alberto. But I'm interested in what's going on here." And he replied: "We have to work and we have to go to school." And then he asked Maria: "Don't you go to school?" And Maria answered: "No. Why should I go to school?" "Well, could you read and write when you were human?" "Not write," she said, "read very little. I could write my name. But we got through life anyway." "And are you alone?" he asked. "No, I told you, I'm with my husband Alberto." "Oh yes, and he, could he write? Could he do arithmetic, could he read?" "Oh no, that wasn't necessary. You got by with what little you knew." "Then it's time for you to make an effort to go to school with your husband, because you have to learn to write, read, do arithmetic and a lot more besides." Maria didn't like that and she asked: "And what else do people do here in this village? It doesn't look like there's school next to school." "No, we have to work too. There are all kinds of crafts that you have to do and you have to learn to work." He patted her on the shoulder and said: "We haven't worked all that much, Maria." And he was gone. So she stood there and wondered. She was, as she had been told, in the pre-heaven, and so she thought: "In the pre-heaven, you don't work and you don't go to school; the Madonna will come and then she will raise you up and everything will go its right way." And then she met these nobles again. They went from one house to the other and it seemed to her as if they were in a hurry. These nobles smiled at Maria again, but now she didn't dare wave back or even smile; Alberto had forbidden her to do so. Now she was very uncertain. She didn't like the school thing and so she thought: "Perhaps they're smiling at me so that they can take me with them after all, and Alberto too. And what would Alberto say if he still had to go to school!" Now she went back and told him everything she had experienced and that there were schools there for adults like Alberto and her; there were no children at all, she had not seen any children; she had seen some animals, but: "The adults must go to school. Don't you think it's good if we go to school too? Shouldn't we sign up to go to school too?"
Alberto did not agree. "No, now I'm in heaven," he said, "and I want to measure the kingdom of heaven." So he was content on his bench, just as in human life. He had never worked much, and he didn't want to know anything about learning. He was afraid he would embarrass himself. He couldn't write his name, yes, but nothing else, and he couldn't read either. So he said to Mary: "No. It could be that the Madonna simply makes it possible for us. The Madonna can come and in one word she can declare: 'You should be able to write and read, you should know everything and be able to do everything.' The Madonna can do that," claimed Alberto, "and so we are waiting for the Madonna. She will save us. The Madonna will give us what we need."
Maria was a little skeptical and said: "You know, we actually pray far too little. In the Kingdom of Heaven you have to pray. And the Madonna will never come to us if we don't pray. We also have to pray to Christ and we have to ask God to take care of us." Alberto didn't think that was necessary, he said: "We are in the Kingdom of Heaven and we couldn't have it any better than here. Nobody bothers us, we're not really hungry, and when we feel like having something to eat, the grapes are there." He was so used to sitting on the bench and sunbathing in his life, and so the idea of ​​not being allowed or able to do that anymore was difficult for him. And so they always sat on that bench, and there was always some kind of conversation. But when these noble figures passed by, they walked quickly into the house.
Now they thought they were safe in the house. But they were wrong. Because now the two noblemen who always walked past and always smiled at them so kindly came into the house and greeted them. Maria was actually delighted because she thought they were so beautiful, but Alberto was not. These two beings were friendly, greeted them and said that they should also decide to come to the village to find out which school they were going to and where they could find a place. Maria looked at Alberto. He was not enthusiastic and said that it was not necessary for them to go to school; they were happy as it was. They had been used to poverty and modesty their whole lives and wanted to continue to be that way. The angels, however, did not seem to agree and said: "Yes, we ask you to come with us sometime when we pass by. Then we will show you the schools and then you must start learning." They said their kind goodbyes and left again.
Alberto was not at all happy with this. He thought that there should be no compulsion in heaven and that people should be able to live as they want; only then would life be heavenly; but under no circumstances should there be any kind of compulsion. That was what Alberto thought. But Mary prayed that the Madonna would show her the way she should go and that the Madonna would come to her if it was not too much to ask.
The Madonna did not come, but the two noble beings came again. Alberto refused to go because he was afraid he would embarrass himself, and he simply did not want that. He was content and happy with the little, the modest things that were there. And so he said: "Please let me go. I don't need to become so intelligent and I don't need to go to school. I'm happy as it is." And the angels said: "Yes, it won't be long before one of your sons comes. There are three beds in your house, so he can use one of them when he comes."
It was the eldest son who was to come; his name was Carlo. The angels of God brought him to his parents' house. At first he too was very dazed, sleepy, tired, and the angels laid him on this bed. He should rest, and so they said to Maria and Alberto: "You can keep watch over him, and when he wakes up, he should stay here in this house for a while, look at the surroundings and try to settle into the new world. Then we will have tasks for him too, and then all three of you can go to school together." Well, that's what happened: they brought them this Carlo, and at first he was tired and not really able to take in his surroundings. They let him sleep for a while. Alberto and Maria watched over him and were there when he woke up from this sleep and opened his eyes. They said to him: "You can be with us. We are in a pre-heaven. Our life here is heavenly." 
And they were happy to have at least this Carlo with them, of their many children. It took him a while to get used to this environment. Then he looked around and walked back and forth outside the house and saw this beautiful surroundings, the garden, the grapes, the bench in front of the house. But then he paused and asked: "Are you all alone here in the house? And is this really heaven where you live? Where are the angels of heaven? Is there no music here?" And Alberto and Maria said: "Yes, we are only in the pre-heaven. There is music in heaven, but we have to wait until the Madonna comes to get us." Carlo understood that too. But the parents did not say anything about the village or the school, because Carlo had not been educated either. So they stayed together for a while and were particularly happy to have at least one son with them. Of the many children they had on earth, Carlo was now the only one who was allowed to stay with them. Carlo adapted quickly to this environment, because he thought it was all too similar to the earth. He had had his own household and children, some of whom were already grown up. As he walked back and forth in front of the house, he saw these large fields and probably recognized the village in the distance, and he asked Maria: "What does this village look like?" She answered: "You can go there yourself and find out." Carlo claimed that he had plans: there was so much space here, and his children and his wife would also go to heaven one day, and so he was going to build a house for them. There was enough space, and he wanted to get ahead of others, he wanted to build a house for his family. Maria said: "Yes, I don't think you can do that." Alberto also expressed his concerns, but Carlo was not convinced: "There is enough space here, and if I don't claim this space, then others will. That's how it was on earth, that's how it is: first come, first served." And his parents, Maria and Alberto, could only be astonished: "Perhaps Carlo is right," they thought, "perhaps we should have been more diligent." They had done nothing but sit on the bench. But Carlo now took action; he wanted to build a house and chose a place. He said: "Since there is no one to claim this land, I will do it. And I will take as much as I want, because I want to take advantage of the opportunity. I want to get rich. That's how it's done. I will build one house after the other, there is so much space, and I will be paid for it; my work must be paid for." So Carlo spoke, without considering where he would get the materials to build it.
Then he also wanted to go to the village, and he asked: "Are there no donkeys here that you can ride? Do I have to walk to the village?" "Yes," said the two of them, "there are no animals here. We haven't seen any donkeys here." And Alberto said: "If you are interested in the village, you just have to make an effort and go there on foot." "Of course I'll go to the village," he replied, "because I have to find out how the material is. I want to buy it." Maria had reservations and said: "How are you going to buy material? We are poor. How are you going to pay?" "Yes, I'll give them a piece of land and they'll give me the material in return." Alberto and Maria started to think: "Actually, the land doesn't belong to anyone. There is no one there to claim it. So much land and it's all empty! Surely you could build a house there, and the hard-working should be rewarded." They were just a bit simple-minded in their thinking, they had been that way as people and they remained that way even after death.
Now Carlo set off and went to the village. First of all he wanted a donkey, because he would have had to use it to transport material. But now it seemed to him that there were no traders who offered donkeys like that. There were animals, dogs, cats, birds and all sorts of other small animals, but they all seemed to have their owners, and no matter who he asked who this or that animal belonged to, he never got a proper answer, no one knew. So he couldn't do anything. He saw the creatures walking back and forth in this village, and he also saw the schools, he saw them sitting in the rooms and saw the teachers talking to the students. Yes, that made him a little suspicious, but he thought that a visit to a school like that was not necessary for him. But he didn't dare to talk to anyone in more detail. First he just wanted to feel around and see what the village looked like. He noticed that there were very nice houses there. They were all just one floor, one storey, simple, everything very simple, and there were modest gardens. But he didn't make any demands, he was also aware of the fact that he was a little bit too keen on the quality of the houses.
h was not used to anything better. So he was content and did not think about the fact that heaven should actually be in all its glory. His thoughts were still too tied to earthly things and he had only one plan: to build a house, after all he had lived in a half-ruined hut on earth. Now he had enough land at his disposal and he thought that somehow he would manage to build such a one-story house. It did not seem to be difficult to him. But he went home empty-handed and could not have a closer conversation with anyone. Maria asked: "Have you brought anything with you? Don't you have a donkey?" "No, not yet, but that will come."
While Maria and Alberto always lived with the uncertain feeling that they would be called to school, these appointments did not materialize for the time being. The two were quite happy about this, because Carlo did have plans, he wanted to build a house and they thought that they should not deny him this; it would be understandable that the other relatives would come here too.
Carlo then went back to the village, and this time he had enough courage to ask someone who crossed his path: "Could you get me some materials? I want to build a house." The man looked at him in surprise and asked him: "You want to build a house? You want to build a house? You haven't been here long. Are you a stranger here?" "I live with my parents, I'm not a stranger here; I'm just a stranger in this village, but I live very close by." "Well, why do you want to build a house if you live with your parents?" asked the other. "Yes, I have to build a house for my relatives who are still coming. And then I want to become a respected man. I want to work hard here, because there's enough land here." "Ah, you think you could just build a house?" asked the man in surprise. "Well, why not?" "Yes, I'm sorry, I can't give you anything because I don't have anything. And I don't know where you could get materials for a house. And anyway, you can never build a house, it's built by others." "By others? By which others?" asked Carlo. And he was told: "Oh, by which others, by those up above, of course." But Carlo didn't understand this language, he didn't understand who was meant by "those up above". And so he went home again and was disappointed that he hadn't achieved anything. He slowly came to the realization that it wasn't that easy to get this material, and that there was enough space in the house where he lived with his parents; after all, on earth people were used to many people living together in a small space. Slowly he gave up on the plan, but he was unsure and thought: "I'll wait, wait, the opportunity will surely come." And one thing was certain for him: no one else was allowed to build, because he and his parents had been here first, or so he believed.
And then they came again, these nobles, and asked all three of them to come with them to the village. There were three of them, so to speak, to be a support for each of them, and they were so friendly and so loving. But their friendliness did not succeed in persuading these three to come with them. And so these nobles left again without having accomplished anything, because they were not strict. But things turned out differently, because these three nobles naturally passed on the news that there were three unruly beings in the house who did not want to go to school or obey anything. And then they had to send other beings over who were less friendly, but much more serious. And so three others came into the house, also a support for each of them, so that they could accompany each one individually. They went into the house and here they were not at all enthusiastic, after all they believed that they were living in heaven with this freedom and not being bothered. The serious beings came and took the three of them with them without further ado, and there was no argument. They were led into the village, and there was not much to talk about on the way, because these three Alberto, Maria and Carlo suddenly became quiet and shy. The severity of these nobles - they were also noble - had impressed them, and they had understood immediately that there was no argument here. So they went with them, and Carlo saw his plans for his house disappearing more and more.
And so they were led into a school. There they were greeted by the students and the teacher. They were asked to sit down and they had to start learning. They had to learn to read and write, in the language they had spoken in their human lives. All the students who were there spoke the same language they had once spoken. There was no turning back now, they had to start now to learn. But these strict people left again, and there were friendly, loving teachers there. And so they had to go to these schools and just start learning: writing, reading, arithmetic and much more besides. At first they were taught the bare essentials, after all there was so much they had to be taught about: where they were, how long they had been staying here, what intellectual level they were at, what they had missed, what they had done wrong - there was so much they had to be taught about. And now they suddenly found it very interesting that they were being taught and instructed in this way, and so they became diligent. They also saw that they did not have to be embarrassed in front of the others, that the others did not know much more than they did. In this way they were also taught about God's creation and about the saints of heaven. Now they heard who the Madonna was, and they heard about Christ, about his task, and they heard about the necessity of human life, about the meaning and purpose of life. And they heard about the influence that both the good and the evil spirit worlds have on people. They also heard that one must work in the spirit world. And so they were promised that if they studied hard, they would one day be able to pursue a wonderful profession in the spirit world.
So these three kept going back to their house and back to the village, and Carlo, who had believed that he could claim land on his own, now had to experience and see that a higher power controls all of this and that in the divine realm everything is God's property and that it must first be earned and acquired if one wants to come into possession of an object or anything else. And so he was able to experience how beings came and began to work and build very close to the house in which he lived with his parents. But they were unknown and strange beings to him. He certainly got into conversation with them, and now he saw where this spiritual material came from, with which a house could be built, and he saw how work had to be done: exactly as people did who worked hard on earth. Now he came to the realization that work had to be done in the kingdom of heaven, too, and that this pre-heaven, where he was with his parents, was nothing other than a place of work and learning for those who were still spiritually low, who were not malicious in nature and not too guilty, but who had retained a certain simple disposition from their earthly life. These are brothers and sisters who rise from below and who still need to be treated with a lot of patience and kindness; they are taught to work and to be obedient, and they also need to be initiated into the virtues.
These three did not stay together for long. They had to separate again and go to a communal house to prove that they are capable of living together with others who are strangers to them, of sharing with them, of dealing with their peculiarities and their own will, which everyone has, and of living alongside each other in peace. This task still lay ahead of these three. In this way they had the opportunity to take a big step forward in the spiritual world. Later on, the path to their new earthly life was to be smoothed for them in such a way that something of what they had been taught in the spiritual world would remain in the depths of their souls.
In this way, the spirit world of God takes care of those who return, who are on the ascent, who live modestly, even feel happy in poverty. In this way, they will get to know many things in the divine world that they did not know and did not want to know on earth. They will be taught with a lot of patience and with a lot of kindness. And those who come from a modest earthly life are very quickly satisfied with life in the spiritual world; they make no demands, they are quickly satisfied. And the spiritual world takes all of this into account. It is different with those who come from a spoiled life; they have to be treated very differently.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I gave you a detailed report about these spiritual brothers and sisters and their ascent, that it is also difficult for them to settle into the spiritual world and to be obedient, and that only as much is demanded of each one who returns as one may demand of him. Of those who were so simple and modest in spirit, not so much can be demanded of them. But the further one ascends, one is obliged to greater spiritual merits and achievements, and one will be tested on all of this. And so one can progress and advance.
This heavenly world, this new world, is also to be a world, he will be happy. For they have no demands, they are quickly satisfied and sometimes happier in spirit than someone who is several steps above them, but who experiences great disappointment on his return home and does not find his way around in the new world so quickly and delays his own ascent through his personal attitude, through his dissatisfaction, through his opinion that he has, but also through his vices, through his immodesty, through the demands that he makes, through his need for recognition that he has. For many come and believe that he is a respected spiritual being and that he deserves to be received by the high spirit world of God and that he will be granted a very special, glorious heaven. So disappointments are experienced by some and surprises by others.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I have given you an insight into the life in the afterlife of those who have lived a modest existence on earth and who are on the ascent. So may you, dear brothers and sisters, be blessed, and may your thoughts and your will for good be blessed, so that you can work under the blessing of God. Greetings from God.
Experience report from spirit teacher Josef through his mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich Template: tape recording
Next case. 
December 2nd, 1970
Paula, a viable belief in God is of great importance.
How an unbelieving woman became aware after her death that life goes on.
Control spirit: Greetings from God. Dear brothers and sisters, a sister named Paula is speaking to you. She speaks of her retreat and her ascent. So may God's blessing permeate you in this hour. May you be able to raise your hearts and souls and expand your knowledge. Greetings from God.
Paula: I greet you with your greetings: Greetings from God. My name was Paula, I say: was Paula. I will tell you about my earthly life. I will only touch on it briefly, but will then explain in more detail my entry into the spiritual world.
As a human being, I could not believe in God; of course, I could not believe in life after death or that there is a spiritual world. So I did not believe in spirits. For me, there was no God. I always mocked and laughed at my fellow human beings when they spoke about God or religion. Based on my knowledge, I explained to them that there could not be a God at all. But I tried to be fair in life. I tried to live right and sometimes did something good for a poor person. I supported poor people, I loved justice and peace. So I did everything I could to lead a better and higher life. I was not poor in earthly goods. But I simply could not believe, because so many terrible things had already happened in the world and were still happening, and that seemed to me to be an obstacle to believing in a God.
Well, I don't want to dwell on that any more, I would just like to mention the following: I was in a painful sickbed for a few weeks before I was allowed to leave this world. When I was in my sickbed in the last hours of my earthly life, I could see things that seemed strange to me. I could still think clearly, and so I imagined that what I saw was fantasy or a dream. I was ill, I was in pain, I was getting injections, and so I could think that I was no longer in complete control of myself and that such images would appear before me. I also heard people talking. I saw my deceased mother, and she seemed to be pleading for me. She always said: "My child was good and tried to live a right life. The fact that my daughter couldn't believe cannot be her fault alone. One should be a little lenient with her in this regard." That's what I always heard her say.
Now and then I saw, as it seemed to me, strange figures. They were dressed very elegantly, but they were dressed in the way you often see in plays in the theater, where the actors are dressed in long, wide, flowing robes from an old time. So sometimes when I was watching I thought to myself: "Am I actually in the theater, am I watching a play? What is it?" I did not believe in life after death, as I mentioned I did not believe that there are invisible beings that can make themselves visible to the dying. But the way they were dressed did not seem to me like people you usually see walking around on the street and in houses. They had such long, wide, flowing robes, and they seemed very elegant. I could not understand them properly either. It seemed to me as if they were far away, as if I had to listen from a distance to what was being said.
But then they were gone again, and I saw

and I no longer heard them. I only saw my relatives around me again. But I was too tired and too weak to speak. But this looking, this seeing kept coming back. Again and again these beings were there, and again and again I heard my mother praying for me. And so the moment came when I could separate myself from the body. Then I clearly heard my mother's voice saying: "Now it's done, the separation has taken place." I also saw my mother very clearly, but then I saw her disappear. I had the feeling as if I was being lifted out of my bed by a gust of wind and as if the wind was carrying me away - that's what I felt. But I suddenly felt light, I was no longer in pain. It was a pleasant feeling to be lifted and carried like that. But I didn't see anyone and didn't hear anyone speaking. The only thing I thought I heard was a very specific rustling in a specific tone; and I assumed it was the wind that had the power to carry me away. So I escaped, I fled from the house where I had lived. They carried me out and it happened so quickly. But then I felt myself sitting down. Suddenly it became a little dark around me, I could no longer see any light, it was twilight.

Now I had the strength to get up - I was lying there in a forest. I got up and looked around. I was frightened because I thought: "At this time of day I am still in the forest! But now it is high time that I leave the forest and go home." I must say that when I was alive I loved the forest so much and spent a lot of time in the forest. That was how I thought, humanly, I didn't even know that I had died. On the one hand it was like a dream for me, on the other hand I felt it was a great liberation and release. I felt that something had happened, but I couldn't explain it. I could think just as I had when I was alive, and since I was an unbeliever it was difficult for me to change my mind; because I didn't believe that there was life after death. I didn't believe that there was a world invisible to mankind. I was full of disbelief and so I thought in a human way: "I'm in the forest and now it's time for me to go home." But everything seemed strange to me. I knew the paths I had taken exactly, I even knew the trees, very specific bushes and the forest clearings, I knew everything and now I ran away and looked for my familiar paths. But I couldn't find them, everything was strange.

Now I thought about how long I had been here and whether I had somehow got lost. I couldn't really get my mind right, everything was strange to me. And so I just went on, I just kept running. I must have moved for hours according to your human terms. And what I found strange: the twilight always remained. I was afraid of the night, because then I could have lost the way completely. But it didn't come night; it was always the case that I could still see the way. The twilight, the atmosphere, was such that you could always have expected night. And so I became uncertain and began to be afraid. Then I called my husband's name, and I called the names of my children, who were probably already grown up but who came and went a lot. None of my relatives answered me. I could call as loudly as I wanted. And yet, the closer I listened, when I stood still and was attentive, I had the feeling that there were others near me: I heard a rustling, I heard talking. That then prompted me to call even more, but no one answered me; it seemed as if they didn't hear me. With all the strength I had at my disposal, I called the names. But nothing, absolutely nothing came near me.
Then it occurred to me that I could still call the dog. We had a dog and he loved me and was always so attentive. His name was Nero. And so I called out that name as loudly as I could. It wasn't long before a dog came to me - Nero. But it wasn't the Nero who still lived with us, it was the dog who had died years before; it was our old dog, who I had loved very much and who was so devoted to me. He was also called Nero. When he became old, sick and blind, he had to be killed. We were very sad about that and it hurt me so much that to overcome our pain we got a new dog as quickly as possible, and gave him the same name in memory of our Nero. And I was quite astonished: the old Nero was there, who had long been dead to me! He jumped up at me and showed his joy at meeting me. He even licked my

hands and didn't want to leave me; he showed his great joy at having found me, jumped away a little and came back to me, circled around me and showed his joy. Then I thought: "Yes, this Nero is dead! That isn't the Nero who is alive now, that isn't the same dog. This one is the old Nero." I knew him well, and he knew me. Well, in my desperation I said to him: "Now listen, finally lead me out of this forest. Lead me home, you know the way, lead me away from here." And Nero seemed to understand that; he walked ahead of me and I followed him. We had to cover a long stretch of the way before it started to get a little lighter and I had the feeling that we were soon reaching the end of the forest.
So we came to the end of the forest. Nero walked further with me. There were now large fields in front of us. But they seemed a little desolate to me and completely foreign to me; it was an unknown country for me. But I felt a little safer now; Nero was with me and he was supposed to lead me. He kept going forward and I followed him. So we came to a pasture or an enclosure and I noticed that there were countless dogs in it. This enclosure was quite large. Nero was still standing next to me, but then he left me and went in to the other dogs.

Yes, on the one hand I was just amazed and on the other hand I asked myself: "Where am I actually?" I couldn't remember ever having seen a kennel with so many animals. This wasn't a kennel in the usual sense, it was a large area, just surrounded by a hedge. There these animals were together, and they were peaceful together, they were playing with each other and doing what dogs do. So I stood there and thought. A little way away from me I saw two beings - that's what I have to call them today, but at the time they were people to me, because they looked like people. They also seemed to enjoy these animals and admire them. So I spoke to them. But I was a little unsure, and my uncertainty was evident. These two, who were standing there admiring the animals, said to me: "It is wonderful to see and know that they are alive." "Yes, that they are alive," I repeated after them; and what they were saying together was actually strange to me: "It is a satisfaction and a joy to know that they are alive." I didn't know what else to say: "Yes, it is nice that they are alive, it is nice." And then they asked me: "Do you have anyone here that you know?" "Yes, of course, he fetched me from the forest," I said to them, "I had strayed from the path and so I called him and he fetched me and brought me here." "Ah," they said, somewhat surprised, "then you haven't been here long?" "No," I replied, "it's all strange to me; but perhaps you can tell me where I am. What is the name of this country, this village? What is it called, where am I? I have no idea." I said this half-desperately.

The two of them could see how uncertain and uneasy I was. Then one of them said: "Don't you know that you've died?" "Died? Impossible!" I replied, "I can't possibly have died, I'm still alive." Then they laughed: "Yes, your body died, you left it behind for the world. But you had an immortal soul in your body - the soul is immortal after all. The soul also has a body, a spiritual body, because you are in the spiritual world." "In the spiritual world? Strange. Do you live there like a human being?" "Oh yes," they said, "you see: you can talk, you can think, reflect, call out, you can scream, cry, laugh. You see, that's it: the immortal soul carries so much power within itself and brings back everything that was present in human life. You have freed yourself from the earthly, perishable body that clothed the soul. But now you have your spiritual body and you are alive." Then I said: "But I am a complete stranger here; and I am surprised that there are not more such spiritual beings here." Then they said: "Oh yes, there are many here. You will probably meet them, perhaps not exactly where you are standing now; but if you go a little further, you will meet them. You will find a busy and varied life and activity here, similar to that of humans. Only here one is under a higher rule. Here it is not humans who command, here it is God and those who are on God's behalf and carry out his orders." They had spoken of God, and I thought about it and asked: "You are talking about God, is there God here, have you seen God?" "Oh no," they answered, "we have not seen God, we still have a long way to go to him; but we are on the way to him. And so

it will happen to you too: before you come to God, you will meet many other, high and exalted spirits, to whom you must obey; for they are the ones who will then rule over you, guide you and decide over you."
Of course, I wanted to know more: "What happens to those who did not believe in God during their earthly life?" They answered: "Yes, that is one of the worst things if you did not believe in God. Then you will have a hard time getting close to him. You'll still have a long way to go," they said somewhat dismissively, acting as if they were no longer particularly interested in me. And so they said goodbye and said: "You just go along this path here now, and then someone will look after you at some point." So they no longer felt the need to continue talking to me. "What a pity," I thought, "now I've found someone who could have looked after me." Because I didn't dare to speak to each one of them straight away. In addition, I was becoming more and more afraid.
I started to think. I looked at all these animals for a while and thought about the sentence: "It's a joy to know that they're alive." Then I thought to myself: "Isn't it also a joy to know that you're still alive? If these animals are alive and so am I, then there's nothing that can be dead. Once it's been filled with life, everything, everything, lives on, in a world that is called the invisible world, which is only invisible to people. So there is a world where God lives and where he rules."
So I thought: "Then I have neglected a lot in my life. What can I do to look a little better?" I looked at my appearance as best I could. I didn't feel as well dressed as I had been when I was alive. I was no longer in pain, I felt light and comfortable, but I was wearing shoes that I had never worn in my life. Then I thought: "Where did these shoes come from? These shoes look like a beggar's. I must be ashamed to walk around here in such shoes." Only now did I notice. Up to this point I had not had time to look at myself and think about how I looked. I was too preoccupied with the question of where I was, because I still felt like I was in a dream. Now I was sure that everything I saw was reality. I looked at the shoes properly. The soles were worn through and the upper leather had holes in it too, so these shoes did not look good at all. I did not like them, and so I immediately tried to take them off. I thought: "I would rather go barefoot than in such shoes." But strangely enough, I could not get them off. It was as if they were sticking to my feet; I could not take them off. I sat down and spent a long time trying to get these shoes off - it just didn't work. "A strange world," I thought, "I am alive, here with shoes that I have never seen or worn in my life; I should be ashamed."
Then I looked at myself further and saw what else I looked like: I was wearing a skirt made of the coarsest material possible, and the shape was probably impossible. I didn't know what my face looked like; I had no mirror, I couldn't see myself. But I saw that I wasn't in a particularly good state. And I was actually surprised that the two who had spoken to me had paid any attention to me, because they were much better dressed than I was. But then I also thought: "That's why they left so quickly, because they don't want to have anything to do with me," because I really didn't look particularly good.
I thought: "Should I go on now? Now my true attitude is showing; everyone can see who you were in life." Now it was clear to me: it wasn't about the fine clothes you had in life that mattered. No. It was about something I didn't have: faith. But I had also done good things, I hadn't despised people, I tried to help them too; and I loved truth and justice - that was something that could speak for me, I thought. 
And I thought: "Perhaps I can still get rid of them, my shoes; perhaps it is true that you can buy something else here." But I was penniless; I had nothing, not even any companions, I was completely on my own. What should I do now? Should I retreat into the forest? Should I call to my dog ​​again and stay in the forest for a while? Perhaps someone will come who will take pity on me. Should I go into the forest and try to ask the God I had never known in life to help me?

May he stand by me and help me? Or should I stand by what I have stood for in life - should I admit everywhere that I lived without faith and laughed at people when they talked about God and faith and religion? What should I do? I thought about it. And so I thought to myself: "There is nothing else, you must stand by what you were. Only the truth can help you move forward. So I will go as I am. I will no longer make an effort to take off my shoes; I cannot take off my clothes either. So I stand by it: I was a sinner, I was a poor person who came to eternity and who was blinded by the world and could not believe what was being proclaimed. So I must stand by it." That was my thought.
So I wandered off and met other spirit beings. Now it was clear to me: They were all spirits like me. Some were better dressed than I was; others didn't look much better, and so I felt I had nothing to be ashamed of. But sometimes I saw people who were well-dressed, and I wondered if I should approach one of them. But I thought: "Not right away, I have to deal with myself first."
When I came to this village, I also had the opportunity to withdraw a little. There was also a small garden. It didn't look particularly well-kept or beautiful; there were bushes and flowers, but they seemed to be wilted, dead. But I could hide in this garden for a while. There were bushes, and I got down on my knees there and wanted to deal with myself, to talk to myself. That's how I imagined my past life, how it had been. I had done good things, but it seemed to me that this didn't count for much here, otherwise I wouldn't be in this state. 
I thought: "I have caused people pain because I laughed at them, humiliated them; they  believed." How to envy them, those who could believe without seeing, who could simply believe, how to envy them! Well, what should I do? "Can I now ask God to have mercy on me and forgive me for never having believed in him?" I wanted to try.
They spoke of a merciful God, and this world must have someone who shows mercy, I thought. "Because if there is eternal life, then there must also be a good God; there must be a God who is interested in eternity. There must be a God who takes pleasure in beauty and who takes pleasure in love, mercy and justice. If there is an immortal soul and a God, then this immortal soul must enter into the bliss of the Godhead - that must be possible! So I will try." And I began to ask and pray.
Yes, at first I only did it with my thoughts - I could think like a human being. I silently asked God to forgive me. I asked him impose a punishment on me, I would accept it; because I wanted to believe in him too and whatever the future might bring me, I would never be an unbeliever again. That was my promise to myself. So I began to pray: "You kind and merciful God, who exists, who lives, who works, who has mercy on the poor, have mercy on me too, listen to me and send someone to me who will take me into his house, who lives with me, with whom I can live in peace. Make it possible for me to live in peace here. Give me a task, I will do anything." That's what I thought, and it was still so quiet around me.
I was already satisfied that at least it wasn't dark. When I left the forest, it had become lighter and it remained blue; it didn't get dark, it didn't get night. But I had no one, I was abandoned. And it was clear to me: "If you deny God in life and leave him, you are also abandoned by him; you don't immediately find a loving welcome - that can't be possible. 
But I want to ask." I did this in my mind at first. But when it remained quiet around me, I began to call out. I wanted everyone to hear it, I didn't want to keep any secrets. I called out everything I could and knew, what I had done wrong and what friends and acquaintances I had offended. I asked them as a spirit: "Forgive me, forgive me. When you return to eternity, I will serve you. You may ask everything of me, I will do it, but God should forgive me for not being able to believe in him."
How long I knelt and cried and cried I did not know, I did not know time. And so I prayed in my own way, admitting what I had done wrong. I was willing to do better and submit to everything,whatever might happen. But it seemed to me as if I would be left alone forever - it seemed so. I was very upset about it. And I had the impression that I deserved to look the way I did.
When I was so deeply contrite, salvation came. Someone touched my shoulders, very gently, and said to me: "Paula, get up and follow me." I stood up and asked: "May I give you the things so that you can lead me?" because I was afraid that I would be left alone again, just as the other two had said goodbye. This being was ready to give me its hand. It took my hand and I held onto its own so that I would not be left alone again. The being seemed very distinguished; it was dressed so distinguished. I followed and I didn't know where to turn my thoughts. I asked myself: "Is that an angel? Who could it be? Has God heard me? Has he sent me someone? How is that possible?" And yet a joy came over me. It seemed as if this being could read my silent thoughts. It asked me: "Just be calm, be completely calm and full of confidence. The world you have entered is a world of justice. But it is also a world full of love and full of mercy."
How good these words did me! I didn't look left or right, I didn't want to see where I was being led; I felt safe, led by this being.
So we suddenly stood in front of a house and the being asked me to come in. The house seemed to be of simple construction, but there was a garden around it in which the flowers did not wilt. There were also bushes and trees. I saw birds; they flew around and sang. And I suddenly liked the world. On the way here, I had the feeling that the surroundings had become more and more 'worldly', and yet it was not the world; but it became more and more beautiful, and I felt more and more secure. We went into the house. Everything was simple, but very well-kept. Everything was permeated by a strange light. I did not know where this light came from; it seemed to me that it was coming from the walls of the house, from the ceiling; there was simply light there. I thought to myself, in accordance with my still human way of thinking, that it was artificial lighting; and yet it could not be like that. And I thought: "This world must be completely different, impossible things are possible here." 
Inside the house it was so beautiful that one would not have expected it to be from outside. From the outside it was simple to look at, and it was simple inside too, but the light created a special atmosphere, a warmth. That helped me to feel relieved.
There I was standing in a room with this being. It had a table, a large book on it, and there were chairs around the table. Then I saw them, these angels of God - now it became clear to me: They are angels of God. And how I felt in my worn, coarse clothes and my shoes with holes in them! They could see who I was. They didn't have to leaf through the book and search for long. I wanted to tell them that, but I couldn't. Now I noticed that these beings who were there and had been waiting for me didn't seem to have such a stern face. They were serious, but I had the feeling that a certain kindness and sweetness radiated from them. But I was still desperate, unsure of myself, standing there in front of so many sublime and shining angels of God. I didn't know what else to do, I fell to my knees and began to cry. Then someone lifted me up and said: "You don't need to cry here. If only you had cried in your world about your unbelief! You don't need to cry here. Sit down, we want to talk to you." 
Yes, they wanted to talk to me, that scared me. "What do they have to ask me? What do they want to talk to me about?" I thought. "They can see who is standing in front of them." Then one of them spoke up and said: "Why couldn't you believe? Wasn't the world you lived in beautiful? Couldn't you believe that there was also a master who created the things you benefited from? Have you never considered that there must be a master for everything and that there must also be a master for the world as it was created, with everything that lives and thrives in it?"
 "Oh yes," I replied, "everything is clear to me. You see, there is a great sinner standing before you. I have realized what I did wrong. I will never be an unbeliever again." And one of them said: "You never want to be an unbeliever again?" I looked at him in astonishment, because I was really serious. I noticed that they looked at each other questioningly, as if to say: "She never wants to be an unbeliever again, do you believe that?", or so it seemed to me. But another said: "She is full of good will. Alas, she has stumbled over her unbelief.
What could she have achieved! She had a good heart and a good will. She loved people and had done a lot of good. Of course she hurt people because she laughed at them because of their faith. This did not make her a shining example for those around her. If she had believed, if she had had an inner piety, a piety of heart and soul, what an impression that would have made on those around her and how many would have been strengthened in their faith through her! Yes, it is a piety; much has been left undone." I said: "I admit everything"; because it had become clear to me that I had gone down the wrong path.
So they were actually much friendlier to me than I had expected. They spoke together about my life, and one of them took the book and leafed through it. But he did this only in passing, as if he had read it all long ago. He said: "I don't really need to look into this book of life, because you are carrying the truth on you." Of course, I looked down at myself, ashamed. And one of these angels said: "It can soon get better. You can get rid of your shoes if you want to." He acted as if he had seen it or knew that I would like to get rid of them, these shoes. "Yes," the other said to me, "you can get rid of them, and you can also change your clothes. But first you must be purified a little more. You have judged yourself. We have seen and heard that, and we are pleased that you are serious. That is why we are taking care of you, too; for it could have happened that only an angel of God would stand beside you and inflict punishment on you. And look, there are seven of us standing before you and talking to you. Look at us." Yes, I looked at them; they were all so beautiful. They were dressed as I had seen them in the hours of departure from this world, when I had thought I was in the theater: they wore these flowing clothes. These beings had actually been with me then, I was not mistaken if they were not even the same ones who were sitting in front of me now.
They did not respond to these thoughts, but said: "We want to move forward with you. You now have a time of purification ahead of you, and you should now go into solitude. There you should learn to pray and rethink your life. You should choose a job and we will tell you what you can do. You can choose one or the other, and you should think about it; because good must come from your work. Now you can prove that you are of good will and you can prove that you want to keep your faith."
 "Oh yes," added one of them, "let's tell her right away, she should just focus on one thing: when the purification is over, she can go to people accompanied by another spirit and try to influence people's thinking and guide them to higher thinking." 
He explained that this was not so easy, because people have all kinds of thoughts and it is not so easy to take control of people's thoughts. So it is a matter of directing people's thinking to higher things; one should also try to put good words into their mouths. I should try to help in this way. But I must also take up the fight with the others; because I would not be alone with these people and would not simply become master in my efforts to lead them to good. Because where the good spirits are, there are also those others who want to lead people to evil. And so there is a need for struggle. One must try to prevent evil; it is a matter of winning people over to the higher life, of influencing and inspiring them and leading them so that they do good, so that they can pray and align themselves with God's laws. One must always admonish people when it becomes necessary, but one must also be a comforter to them; one should take up residence with people and thus work for God.
These were beautiful words that were spoken. I wanted to do that and I said: "I am going into purification; then call me if you like, I will come, I will fulfill my task."
 "Oh, that's good." And then a servant came, I must say, and accompanied me out of this house. I had said goodbye to the angels of God. I was a little dazed and let this simply dressed servant lead me into purification. I was led into a room and there I experienced the twilight again, like back then in the forest. But that couldn't be bad for me, my thoughts and my will were set. And so I wanted to wait. Then the time came when I was picked up and led to the tasks.
But when I left this room of solitude, I would like to say this, a being stood there and offered me other clothes. Now I could easily take my shoes off my feet. Yes, it was as if they fell off of their own accord, and I put on good, beautiful shoes. I was also given a decent dress, and I was happy with it. It was simple, but I had the feeling that it was beautiful, it was beautiful for me. And then they said to me: "You can earn more later. These are not your last clothes and your last shoes. You must climb up, move forward step by step and find the way to God. You still have a long way to go. And you must prove what you promised: that you always want to believe." 
Later they explained to me what was meant by the fact that I had to prove this: I was to prove this faith in a new human life.
But I was taken in by the angels of heaven and I fulfill my task as I am commanded. I take up the fight with those spirit beings among people who do not want to take the higher path, who are still far from God. I do everything for God, for the holy spirit world and for the king of God's spirit world. I have been taught all of this. And so I am in the service of God and my services can also be performed for you.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I say goodbye to you and ask you: direct your thoughts upwards and let yourself be guided so that when you enter the spiritual world you can be shown a beautiful world and that you do not end up like me and are initially surrounded by twilight. Let yourselves be embraced by your acquaintances, by those who have passed away, by those spirit beings who look after you in life. May God's blessing fill you and accompany you. Greetings from God.
Experience report of the ascending spirit being Paula by mediator Beatrice Brunner in the hall on Münchhaidenstrasse, Zurich.Original: tape recording.
In addition to the experience reports of ascending spirit beings, Beatrice Brunner (1910-1983) gave over 2000 lectures in deep trance in the 35 years of her work. They were given by two teachers from the otherworldly world who taught the listeners the Christian spiritual teachings. In their lectures, these two spirits of God, named Josef and Lene, gave comprehensive instruction in the teachings of Christ, about God's creation and the origin and meaning of all life. These lectures are published by GL Zurich in various book series and in the magazine "Geistige Welt", which has been published since 1948. The speeches, each lasting around an hour, preserved on video and tape, are played in a teaching facility specially built for this purpose, a hall with 500 seats, in Zurich.

the end. last is content or
Foreword.listing.
Introduction.
Richard escaped spiritual poverty through ambition and hard work.
Kathrin died in an accident on a main road.
The deeper causes of an addiction.
A couple and their great love for the child left behind on earth.
Hermann received intensive instruction on the love of God.
Elisabeth a kind and cheerful mother of eleven children.
Adelheid how to acquire property in the kingdom of heaven.
Bella received a poor Sicilian shepherd in the afterlife.
Ferdinand the pitfalls of a comfortable, spoiled life.
Elisabeth was won over to spiritual belief by her school friend.
Laura everyone will be caught up in God's order one day.
Otto the awakening of an eccentric in the afterlife and his experiences with earthbound deceased.
Anastasia was once a duchess, then a beggar. Innocently convicted of the consequences of a great injustice.
Resi, a fortune teller who did not take the truth too seriously.
Elisabeth and Jakob are closely connected through the bond of spiritual kinship.
Heavenly training for beings with the most simple thinking and modest disposition.
Paula a viable belief in God is of great importance.


Further information about the literature and events of GL Zurich can be found on their website www.glz.org.
GL ZÜRICH, Letzigraben 117 CH8047 Zurich.