Secrets of Life
Disclosures about important questions of life
- Chapter 17 -
HUMAN DIGNITY
23 October 1872
WELL, on this topic, or what "human dignity" really means, or should mean, there prevail as many viewpoints as there are cultured or educated human beings. For primitive peoples and coarse, depraved persons have certainly no idea what the term "human" is meant to convey, and how to make themselves worthy of it.
Only where man is ethically, morally brought up and educated, can one expect to find a notion about the true dignity of man, which, however, must again vary in keeping with his education, his station in life.
However, all these current and prevailing ideas about the concept of "human dignity" are not the reason why I want to explain this word and tell you what human dignity actually consists in. I only want to help you to link My very teaching with practical life, so that you may become worthy, as a being placed between two worlds, of corresponding in spirit as well as in soul to the great creational thoughts of your heavenly Father. For although you have received much from Me, you too do not have as yet the right idea of what "human dignity" actually means, since you see it only too well in others how they, while claiming this rifle for themselves, seek to twist and expound it in keeping with their desires and passions so as to be worthy human beings after their own desires, each one in his fashion!
In order to better understand human dignity and to better grasp the following, let us again begin with the concept of the word, tracing it back to the root of its origin, and then determine its actual concept and value, how it should be used by you and how I envisage it.
(Note by translator: In the following text we are dealing with a play upon words which is applicable only to the German language but makes little or no sense in English. Therefore, the terms under consideration are given in both English and German. In addition to the term "dignity", "worth", being of Germanic origin, is used, as it facilitates comprehension somewhat.)
Look, the word "Würde" (dignity, worth) is derived from "Werden" (becoming), and the word "Werden" is actually a word out of the creational thought which, as the basis of My Being, was given to the entire visible world. For without the "Werden" (becoming) there would be neither a sun nor a planet, neither a great material nor a great spirit-realm, since I animated the whole of infinity solely with the word: "Es werde!" (Let there be!) for the beatitude of the created beings, and for the beatitude of My own self, which is love personified. This expression "loves", however, should mean only doing and working everything for others, and finding one's own bliss, one's own happiness in the understanding and perfecting of others.
With the word "Es werde!" (Let there be!) were also given the law and the road for every spirit or soul product, or the degree of perfection for which it was destined, where of course the incarnated spirits imprisoned in the material world had to take a different road from that of the free spirit-hosts of My infinite spirit-world in their selfawareness.
Well, with the "werde" (let there be) there of course also arose the question as to whether the released spirits in particular, who were left to their own devices, had really become what they were meant to be, in other words, whether they knew what My goal with them was.
Through the word "wurde" (became) a state began which, if it corresponded to My intent, was equal to the title "würde" (dignity) or "würdig" (worthy), just as you in the world bestow on the one a "würde" (dignity, office, title) or call him "würdig" (worthy), who has deserved this office or the predicate "würdig" (worthy) owing to his attributes as a spiritual man (that means one who conforms to the idea of his office).
Hence, what you designate as "würde" (dignity, office, title) really expresses that this person, who holds an office or deserves to be called würdig" (worthy), possesses all those qualities which ennoble man as a spiritual being and which should mark him as something better than it was possible for his fellowman to attain.
This idea of dignity (würde), which you generally hold, I too have concerning the beings created by Me, only applied with a different yardstick.
When I created the first man on your earth, I installed him in the manner you invest a higher official with a title, by giving him the power to rule over much and to be superior to any other created being on earth. By virtue of his spiritual attributes as a descendant of Mine, I invested him with the full authority to become what I actually wanted to make him, namely, "lord of the earth". In this way, he was to use his faculties for his own good and for the advantage of the whole world around him.
So that he might understand his own dignity in the sense I want the same understood, I set him free, let him use all the propensities laid into him, for either good or evil. I thereby wanted to make him realize that the dignity bestowed on him by Me consists solely in that he, as a free, independently acting being, not as a machine, knows how to regulate his character qualities, propensities and desires, and that he can only through the controlling of his passions attain spiritual dignity. All the means to attain it and become a worthy intermediate member between the bound and the totally free spirit-world were given him by Me.
I called to him the "werde" (become), and he became, what? You can see that now everywhere; alas, not that for which I have called him, for instead of a free lord he became a slave to his passions, thus contrary to his vocation disgracing and misusing himself and the nature surrounding him. Hence all the calamities which now spiritually and materially pursue man with evils and suffering of every kind. For, contrary to his high destiny, instead of making himself worthy of Me, he has left the right road, has become "unwürdig" (unworthy) to be called a "man", into whom I once instilled My spiritual breath wanting to mark him a child of My great spirit-realm. This great spirit-realm he now can only reach on great detours, battling with all kinds of adversities and suffering.
Since mankind with their pretended science and scholarship have arrived at a point where they interpret this word "dignity of man" at their own convenience, after egotism, as the counter-pole of My love and of love generally, has become the main hobby of the presently living people, through this insane behavior the measure of errors on your part and likewise the measure of My patience are nearing their end. And so this word is again given you so as to save many a man from general decline, lest he completely lose his dignity, his sole share in the spiritual world.
It is true, this one, and all My words which so far I have given you through My scribes, are only accessible to few; but, patience! The calamities of human life will soon lead one or the other into your camp, so that finally he, having tried everything in vain, will call on you entreating you with the words:
"Friends and brothers! Have you no comfort, no refreshment for my sick soul? I feel it, I have lost the dignity of man, have trampled upon it and now that I demand comfort and peace in the face of all the bogeys that used to be praised to me as wisdom, as religious dogmas, they all prove to be faulty, not lasting. The whole dream of a rational, logical sham-knowledge evaporates like a nebulous form. Give me back the dignity of the spiritual man, so that I may feel like a true man, like the spiritual being who, once gone forth from the hand of a loving Creator, now wants to return to Him, having again become worthy of Him!"
Then, My children, it is the words which I am giving to you among the presently living, which bring refreshment and comfort to the thirsty one, forcing him to call out with his face turned heavenward: "What am I, o Lord, for You to remember me?"
It is this purpose, namely, to again show you clearly and brightly "the dignity of man", so that the seeker, the sinner, the doubter, may realize how far he has distanced himself from it and where he has to look for the means by which to regain the lost Paradise.
Do understand this: When Adam had acted contrary to My command, he lost his Paradise, that means he lost the awareness of his spiritual dignity. This very loss plunged his descendants to this day into the chaos of erroneous ideas, notions, concepts about life and about the world, which are merely the eternal striving to regain a spiritual dignity which raises man far above all matter, all sensuality. It lets him look far beyond the ruins of devastation and disaster with hope to another world where all, these calamities, which after all concern only the physical welfare of man, completely disappear; where it is clearly and simply understood that they were only a means to an end, namely, to again elevate man, who was submerged in matter, to the spiritual cosmopolitan I had once created him to be, and what he must again become no matter how many capers he may cut. It is only a different time, but the final goal is the same. What has gone forth from Me must again return to Me, for it was Mine and must again become so.
Now that I have shown you with few words what "dignity" is, how it was given you by Me and how it was misused by you human beings, I must also prove and strictly and conclusively demonstrate to you what, according to My idea, human dignity really means, so that you too may get a clear concept of that which I gave you and which I can demand back from you so that you may conform to My wishes.
Now look, My children! Human dignity is really nothing else but "the constant acting, thinking and willing in accordance with My laws of love!"
I, love personified, have created you out of love, and so you, the created, must strive to emulate this Creator, who laid the spark of love into you as much as it is within your power.
This is the actual fundamental meaning of love, of the dignity of man, who, curbing his passions of anger, hatred or revenge, does, suffers and feels everything only out of love, only for others.
Thus the material, physical man with his human needs is hallowed, spiritualized through the sublime warmth of a divine love, more worthy of his actual descent and more capable of understanding his Creator and of drawing near Him.
Therefore, man's dignity consists only in the subjugation of anything ignoble, be it in thoughts, word or deed! In this way alone man is superior to the animal, which certainly has many qualities in common with man, namely, by using these same qualities for more noble purposes, by sublimating also the coarsest sensual desire, giving it a more noble air, higher motives. This ennobles man and gives him back his innate dignity whereby he becomes a citizen of a spirit-realm which one day will be his permanent abode.
Man is not ennobled by the conventional adherence to social rules and state laws. Not at all! Man is ennobled by his own conscience, when he is aware of having done everything out of the most noble, most exalted motives, of having done everything out of love for his Creator and love for his fellow created beings.
Not the deed determines the worth, but the "Why", why an action was performed! To be sure, man sees the action, but the motive is known only to two, to Me and the one acting, in which case I represent his approving or disapproving conscience.
What are "pangs of conscience" if not the uneasiness to have acted contrary to one's spiritual dignity! Therefore, whenever you do something, whenever thoughts assail you, pay heed to them lest they debase you. For everyone carries within him his book of life, and at the end of his earthly career he will be shown in a picture the kind of physiognomy his spiritual man will assume on his demise. And so the reflection of the life as it was lived on earth will be the expression of the soul-garment, where the sum total of all the thoughts, wishes and inordinate desires will reveal the spiritual man to the other spirits, not according to his physical, but his spiritual form.
It goes without saying that this form of the most noble human image must have millions of gradations, even ending in caricature. Everyone stamps his own face according to the way he lived; the more in accordance with his dignity, the purer the outer soul-forms expressing the inner Spiritual! And it is true that to some people, though not to all, it is quite obvious what kind of a soul is hidden in one or the other body although so much deception is still possible in the human body. However, in the other world, this is no longer the case. This is why I am sending you these words and calling to you:
Do live worthy of yourselves! Make no pretences and show yourselves also to others as true human beings, like the first one I created; people who carry the spark of the immortal spirit within them and who, through all the earlier events, such as My incarnation, were destined and created for such great purposes!
Do not revile your dignity, be strict with your world of thought; it is the first seducer that easily leads you across the bridge of propriety, from the noble to the base.
Human dignity is your only sanctum; through it, you achieve everything, without it, you sink back to the world of animals, become, like animals, material beings who are not worthy of even a divine spark, and actually sink below the animal. For whenever the animal commits actions that to your eyes look cruel and cunning, it cannot judge them, they are part of its nature. But man sinks below the animal because he has the faculty of judging, considers his actions and thoughts carefully and is well aware of the fact that he ought to act otherwise, but still acts contrarily because it flatters his sensual, and not his divine, nature.
Man's dignity is the shrine which should be kept hallowed, and in this purity there lie quietness and solace in adversity of any kind; for this sanctum leads to the trust in a guiding Father-hand which, though seemingly punishing, only seeks to reform out of love.
This human dignity turns people into angels, just as its loss transforms them into devils in human form.
If this so often misunderstood "dignity" were not the true fundamental pillar and principle behind all thoughts and actions, I would not have explained to you in detail that you should watch yourselves a little more strictly, thereby recognizing hourly and daily how often you sin against this very same dignity in thoughts, words and actions.
The impure thoughts go past the contemporaries unnoticed and unheard, however, they adhere to your psychic man. There others will one day read, full of horror, how many a dignitary of your world no longer possessed a spark of the human dignity I gave him, as My image, on his life's journey.
Therefore, let these notables settle their matter individually; they too will be faced with situations, if not in this, then certainly in the other world, where with dread and horror beings will flee each other who were here attached to each other in friendship.
The disappointment will come, though late, still too soon for the unworthy. Therefore, keep your world of thought pure! There, let your human dignity shine as a pure flame of love, tolerance and reverence, and you will, though misunderstood by your fellowman, enjoy already here on earth the heaven which is here only transient, but which will there be permanently within and around you.
You see, My children, if I did not know what is still in store for you during your earthly journey, I would not enjoin this human dignity on you so much. But a good physician when observing symptoms of disease knows how to arrange prophylactic means so that, if a disease does occur, it can be prevented.
This applies also to Me. Soon, calamity upon calamity will occur. The process of fermentation and separation must move towards an end. The spiritual air of your earth globe, as so often the material atmosphere, is filled with sultry vapors. The discharge must follow, and this is why I advise you:
Flee to Me! Do not violate your human dignity. Only in this way can you brave all storms. For this spiritual dignity elevates you above ordinary life, lets you see all the misfortunes however great in a different light, and fills your heart with trust and confidence in your Father in heaven, who now, because the majority of mankind long ago has lost its dignity, must allow such means so as to achieve through misery and want what was unachievable through kindness.
The dignity of man, or the spiritual awareness: "I am not of this world, but of another, better and eternal world," elevates man, though he has to suffer under the general adversities, far above this earthly world and he is like one standing on a high mountain, who looks with equanimity at the hustle and bustle beneath him in the enjoyment of a greater, wider and more beautiful view when often the thought may arise in him:
"Oh, why are these people so blind! Down there, in the mire of their lowest passions, they forget for the sake of the worldly things what is essential, what they should really be. Oh, if they had the courage, if they dared to come up here to me, how foolish they would find all that which now appears to them so important, so absolutely essential. How they would shudder at the thought that everything they believe to have attained they have bought with the loss of their only possession, the loss of their spiritual dignity as man!"
This is how many a person will think who, having grappled with the mire and dirt of the basest passions, has regained his dignity. This is how you too shall think, whom I have been showering for a considerable time with words of grace and light so that you, conscious of your human dignity, may enjoy the exalted position in which I have placed you and, always remembering your own dignity, endeavor to become yourselves worthy of being that which I have so often called you, namely, My dear children!
This fatherly call is only for those who are able to retain their human dignity; for by retaining it, they also attain more and more the dignity to become My children, what I wanted the first man to become when he was created, but unfortunately he failed to become!
So be strict, "watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation", as I once called to My disciples. At that time I knew why, and now I am telling you again: Watch and pray that you do not ever debase yourselves. And always remain faithful to that which by so many words from Me you could easily fathom, namely, that only through nobility of the soul can human dignity be attained, consolidated and retained. Without it, all reading and praying is of no benefit! The inner man must be in My likeness, then his outer image will one day correspond to his spiritual surroundings in the beyond. And so endeavor to enter the other world endowed with a spiritual-psychic countenance. It is better to prepare for this already here, instead of trying to attain it only there. Here, what is required is "the dignity of man", there, "the dignity of spirit" is another level for which human dignity serves as basis and which is unattainable without it.
I prepare you to achieve within a short earthly life that which is there by far more difficult to attain. Therefore, heed My words, they come from your Father, who wants to make you worthy of Him. However, you cannot achieve this unless you have become worthy of yourselves.
This for you and all who come and are thirsty and hungry to act accordingly, who try to regain with you that which, consciously or unconsciously, they have often thoughtlessly lost, namely, their own dignity, as the sole anchor in life, in the midst of conflict and privation of every kind, as anchor of trust, hope and love! Amen.