Secrets of Life
Disclosures about important questions of life
- Chapter 20 -
THE WORD
14 November 1873
SIMPLE is the title and yet so weighty, so full of depth, that you will be amazed at it; for the entire creation once came into being through the Word and even now every word is the initiator of a coming-into-being or creation. The following will elucidate for you how you have to understand this.
In order to grasp its significance in the profoundest depth, we must first of all explain: "what is the word?"; for without a safe basis, without the clear awareness of that which one actually wants to explain, no rational result can sprout from the concept in question.
Therefore, to tell you in a few words, the "word" is nothing else but an embodied thought which, grown into a concept, only manifests as a word, and for this very reason is a creational act. It also comprises the trinity, as is obvious with all creations, namely spirit, soul and body, analogous with the thought, the concept and the word.
Just as in everything created there dwells a soul but, mark My words, not always one with full self-awareness, which, guided by My Spirit, forms, sustains and changes matter, a word is the embodied concept, created by the thought.
In creating there was at first the spirit, which means My Spirit, which assigned to every thing its inner stability, its time and its transformation.
This endeavor is its soul, which, in accordance with primordial laws, forms, sustains and, again destroying it, further perfects and spiritualizes or leads it back again to Me, the Primordial Spirit.
Thus the thought is the inciting principle that forms into a concept. This concept only gains form, substance and meaning through the word, the visible sign of an invisible creation.
And just as My divine thought, manifesting as creational idea or as concept, receives only in the visible world an envelopment however thin, it is only through the latter act that everything created, thought and understood, taken singly, is a whole in a whole, yet existing individually.
Only through this explanation, applied to "the word", does this gain its meaning because also the isolated word is something separate and yet connected with the entire spirit-world. In itself it constitutes, according to the expression of a thought or concept, something different, unique in depth or wisdom and yet a whole intertwined with all there is.
Just as in creation one thing influences another so that no created being or materially produced thing can escape this influence, likewise no "word" is without any success, without any effect on others in the spirit-world. For the word is an autonomously creating, inciting spiritual product of thought and concept, influencing all aspects of creation, and, through the utilization of the visible material world, a materially visible sign of a spiritual life.
As the history of creation by Moses tells you, I created the world through the word.
With the word: "Let there be!" I set apart all individual spirit-parts of My Being, allotted to them their proper developmental periods, their initial process and their permanence and transformation, so that after a thorough test, again purified, perfected, they might return to Me and My vicinity. There they could begin on higher levels, by means of spiritual potencies, a new life of wandering and perfecting themselves, which, leading higher and higher, will never come to an end because I, its Creator, likewise am infinite.
However, since I am infinite and, as Creator, must be thus, it is natural that nothing that was created could ever be faulty or have shortcomings, for the fault would be just as infinite as the principle according to which it was created.
Thus no object created by Me allows for an actual improvement or ennoblement, but certainly for a perfecting process gradually leading to ever higher levels of development, which process has already been predestined and well-planned in the first embryo.
These attributes of My creation in general and individually, materially expressed, are also repeated in the spiritual as well as the soul-life. For the thought, the concept, and by that the arisen word have the same spiritual correlation, the same infallible principle as My creation in general. The only difference lies in the fact that an erroneous thought arising in the soul must engender an erroneous concept and word, whereas My thought, concept and Word must forever create only good. In other words, the bad, wrong thought, through the wrong effect produced in the word and its result on others, must, in keeping with its origin, unfailingly have a bad and erroneous consequence.
From all the aforesaid you see that the words out of the mouth of people or spirits are just as infallible as Mine, only in a different sense, because the perfection of the soul-or spirit-life of created beings cannot be compared to that of Myself. For I, as God, as personified Love, can only think, act and speak according to these principles, whereas subordinate spirits, who are created free, can think, speak and act with or without their volition in the contrary sense. However, their very behavior is already the natural consequence of such a conduct, which gives rise to the saying that anyone offending against My laws must blame himself for the consequences, because the transgression of My laws always brings about its own punishment. All this had to precede in order to point out to you how significant and important it is, prior to uttering a word, to ponder as to what actually you wish to express; for although the word is within your power, its effect, its sphere of consequence is far beyond your reach. And every spoken word no longer belongs to you, but to the entire world of spirits and souls, to infinity, where, forever continuing to act, it creates something good or bad, according to its origin.
Here is the place where I must also inform you as to the How and Where of My influence on your way of conduct, without encroaching upon your own free will.
I allow you to think and speak; but the effect of the embodied thought, the effect of the word on others, I reserve for Myself. For here I link together the connections between souls and spirits, so that also the projected evil must serve a good purpose, albeit often only in an indirect way, as you express it in the saying: "Through experience one becomes prudent!"
I do not divest the word of its good or bad effect. I merely arrange the circumstances so that man will be reminded either to grasp with all ardor of love and put into effect the word of good or at the right time to become aware of the evil and then act in such a way as to safeguard his own individuality.
Therefore, your proverb is not untrue where you say: "Man thinks, but God guides." Yes, so it is, you can think and also say, as an expression of the thoughts, whatever you like; but the intended effect of the speech has come into My sphere because it is an inquiry to My spirit-world, which you are endeavoring to influence with the "word", and there I too have "a word to say."
Just as I have already indicated to you in "the world of thought" the great sphere of action and the inherent active life of the spiritual products as thoughts, I am here passing on to you the great importance and consequence of a word, quite apart from the actual investigation into the depth of every word, or of the visibly expressed concept or thought contained in it.
Therefore, do always aspire for two main things: firstly, to ponder deeply your words as to the harm or benefit you may thereby cause and, secondly, to pay close attention to the content or the meaning of a word. For "words" are carriers of spiritual potencies which oftentimes hide a great deal with little to show outwardly.
With the word, a creation full of greatness and beauty came into being through Me. With a word, spoken at the right time and in the right place, you can spread light, do good, so that the greatest angels near Me still feel an after-effect of this simple expression of a soul loving Me.
Words of love spread love, joy, bliss everywhere; words of sorrow, hate or envy do the opposite. They must have this effect because the germ for it is already inherent in the utterance. Therefore, do strive to first of all listen to My words, to utter only words containing something divine and meant to have a good effect, and you will create tranquility and peace within and around you.
I must again quote a saying since such phrases, mostly grown on pure ground, never fail to have an effect, and this saying is: "A good word finds a good place." Indeed, a good word will never fail to produce with the worst enemy, if not exactly the desired, but a similar effect. It is the power of the content, which either conquers or disarms the opponent!
Consider My teaching years; how friendly, how well-chosen were My words, for I did not speak, talk and preach just for these three years of My teaching sojourn on earth, but for eternity.
And even though these speeches are not yet fully understood and grasped in their full significance, the germ of the divine still lies in them and no power is capable of destroying this inner germ or replacing it with something else.
My words were, are and remain carriers of the light, carriers of the Love that descended from heaven so as to again lead you little earth dwellers and an immense spirit-world up to heaven.
Thus the word, this spiritual grain of seed, shall always contain only what is good so that, fallen on good soil, it may again bring forth something good.
The word is the mustard seed, which, laid into good soil, will grow into a tree of faith under the shade of which the angels and spirits, as well as all souls, shall enjoy the heavenly blessing.
In this way grasp the concept of a word and the depth and consequences inherent in it; and you will then be able to regulate and judge your own words and will also apply more care in the utterance of words, once you have understood and grasped their infinite after-effect in its full significance.
Once you can clearly imagine what infinity can be hidden in a word, you will be better able to understand that I could create a whole world with One Word.
The purpose of this word from Me was to prove all this to you, to explain and to draw to your attention many a misuse on your part with the gift of speech. Then you may again realize how small the beginnings are of many a great infinite thing at the greatness of which you marvel, not having considered the origin.
So read the first chapter by My John: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of man. And the light shines in the darkness; but the darkness did not understand it."
For this very reason every word from Me shall now gradually illumine this darkness, or the benighted hearts of mankind, so that finally "the darkness" may understand the word, which was from the beginning "the Word" with God and which, through God, or Me, brought you light and life, although most people did not understand it and to this very day have been rejecting it contemptuously and scornfully.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word will forever remain the Word.
The Word was God, that means the Word, which out of love created a world full of great creations, material and spiritual, so that the created might realize that Love cannot be alone but that it must have an object to which it may prove its love and by which it will in turn be loved and honored because of its love!
The Word of Love created worlds full of splendor, full of glory; The Word of Love could only create loving spirits. The Word of Love aroused love, being itself love, and so every word may arouse love within you.
For Love is the almighty bond, which links hearts together and which only fully enjoys its own love when the loved object reciprocates it.
Thus I created the Word and the world, thus you create your spiritual world around you. Love is life, it is the light of mankind. Light warms and illumines. And so let your words, as words of love, always give warmth, illumine and spread around you love and life, so that the effect of the love-word, reaching to infinity like once did My own first Word of creation, always spreading love and bliss, may unite spirits, souls and bodies through this gentle bond. Then the trinity of creation, the trinity of the Word will have a threefold effect and will spiritualize matter, ennoble the souls and free the divine Spirit so that it may return, united with all, to the place from where it was once sent forth through "the Word".
So let "the Word", giving bliss and joy everywhere as a bringer of light and life, be received by you and imparted to others.
To grasp this in its full extent, here is a brief summary: "consider the word before it is uttered; for its consequences for you are incalculable."
Thus you will be spared many a sorrowful hour when perhaps you have to regret a rash talk, condemning it before the tribunal of your conscience.
In order to spare you this, I shun no effect to make you understand in various ways that everything visible is only of minor importance, the spiritual being the sole carrier, sustainer and judge of all that exists.
Thus you may again better understand that in the simple word, as well as in the serious one, there is always more meaning than you often surmise, and that the consequences and the sphere of action of the word, lasting forever, may remind you of your own responsibility. And that is, that you shall not squander a precious possession such as speech, language, on useless things, but use it together with the time spent only in such a way that no minute is a lost one!
You are children of an eternity and of an eternal, infinite God. Conduct yourselves accordingly, so that from every word your beginning and your future may shine through, and the word in your mouth, as a carrier of light and life, will spread the same and it will find its echo in receptive ears and devoted hearts, as befitting a "love-word".
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was I! Thus also with you, the Word shall signify your Self. No wrong, bad word shall pass your lips which did not witness that you are children of that Creator, who once called forth a creation out of the chaos, where even the smallest atom bore witness to His love and His goodness.
This is how your conduct shall look in the spirit-world, when one day you will have to account for what, where and how you have spoken, lest one word will make you blush with shame, but instead you can prove that, remembering My Word, you have always chosen yours well and used them for the benefit of mankind! Amen.