As we know, death is a process in which the physical organism is separated from the mental being and the I that it has been connected to. Since it is only the physical organism that is visible to the physical senses, the mental part being inaccessible to these senses, it is not so strange that what we can see physically falls apart, becomes a corpse and decomposes. And human beings at a certain stage fall victim to the superstition that the being in question is dead, destroyed or has completely ceased to exist. But this applies only to those beings that are in their thinking still incomplete. True thinking beings would long ago have understood that what existed above and beyond the being's physical organism has never ever been seen directly, and therefore quite naturally cannot be visible either when what is otherwise visible in the being is separated from it. The true being is a so-called spiritual being, that is to say a being that appears in a mental construction or organism that can be symbolised as radio waves etc. This structure can perfectly well be held within a fixed structure, even though it is in ray-formed matter.

Due to our mental structure or our spiritual body, we therefore survive death, which is not death at all but merely a removal of the physical body. As the physical body is merely a tool for the consciousness and not the consciousness itself, we do not lose this consciousness even though we lose the physical body. We can therefore continue to think and experience, we can continue to travel round the world and register experiences and facts, it is just that we can no longer under normal conditions transform them into physical matter. We can only transform them into mental phenomena, in other words into thoughts, ideas and concepts. If we want to transfer them into awake, physical day consciousness, this can only take place through thought transference or vision. The indirect method, for example with the spoken and written word that we have to use on the physical plane, does not exist on the spiritual plane.

But just as there are clouds in the physical world that block out the sun, so too has the spiritual world its clouds that to varying degrees block out the spiritual source of light. These clouds are the living beings' violations of the law of life or the law of love. The misery, war and tears that are released here create life eclipses on the mental plane. In the same way when the living beings comply perfectly with the laws, this naturally creates a corresponding atmosphere of joy and happiness on the mental plane, that is to say the brightest mental sunshine, a radiant, bright and sparkling mental summer or a glorious Whitsuntide glow over life.

We will now attempt to give a little impression of this true world behind the physical world by following several beings from the physical plane who are about to die. Since we are familiar with these beings' mentality we will have the opportunity of seeing how the spiritual form of existence adapts itself to the particular mentality that each of the beings possesses. They each represent a certain level of consciousness in the mental sphere of terrestrial human beings. I have chosen these particular figures that we have learnt about when we were at school because they represent the levels of consciousness or spiritual states and attitudes that it is perfectly possible for a modern, terrestrial human being to have, and which in turn determines his mental or spiritual existence once he has lost his physical body.

Let us begin with the first robber. It was he who mockingly called out to Jesus that if he was the Christ he ought to be able to free all three of them. We can see from this robber's mentality that he, like many other human beings, thinks exclusively of himself. He thinks it is completely justifiable that both he and Christ have an equal right to be freed. Indirectly this shows that the robber feels himself to be a victim. He cannot see that his own actions, his own murdering and torturing of others has brought himself into the same situation. He has completely forgotten that those who were the victims of his banditry were given no mercy or compassion at all, but were coldly robbed of their very last penny and then left wounded, if they were not actually killed. He himself knew nothing of forgiveness, but he nevertheless cries out that others should forgive him. But the law of life states that no one can be forgiven by someone without them first forgiving others. Such a robber will rage against his executioners as long as he still has the strength to make the slightest movement. He would not think twice about giving vent to a furious attack of vengeance or retaliation if he were to be set free.

The closer he comes to death, the greater is his terror and anxiety of it. He is actually so preoccupied with this terror of death that he is really completely unaware of the actual moment of death, when his physical body is separated from his spirit or mentality. In his thoughts he continues to shout, scream, curse and threaten his executioners and society. But at the same time he can see no end to time. He has so little breathing space in his thoughts of revenge that he cannot realise that he is already free of the cross. He thinks he is still hanging on the cross, until other incredible forms of torment torture his soul. As he is now completely free of his physical body his thoughts are racing at high speed, and he can see his victims, he sees their terror and he hears their cries. He imagines how they are planning acts of revenge against him. He can sense that he is fleeing from them but an invisible force prevents him from doing so. At a nerve-rackingly, slow pace his persecutors are closing in on him, at the same time as he sees insurmountable obstacles ahead of him. He tries to escape to the side and here comes up against unimaginable obstructions, and in this way he lives in an apparently never-ending flight from his victims' vengeance. The day seems to never come to an end. It constantly seems to him that time does not move on, that is if he has any time at all to give any thought to time. And yet he has thoughts of torment and eternal hell: "You will now live for ever and ever in flight from your victims' vengeance". He runs on and on, stumbling, sweating, gasping and moaning. There is no time to think of enjoying food. The persecution does not ease up for one single moment. Everything that he touches seems to be poisoned, everything seems to be in conspiratorial alliance with the enemy.

Eventually this fugitive from himself and his own guilty conscience cries out in his agony to the unknown Providence. And to the extent that this cry is combined with the first signs of an understanding of his victims' sufferings, the persecution ceases, the world becomes brighter and guardian angels approach him and begin to help him. Their help consists of freeing him from his guilty conscience. Using suggestion they remove his life-destroying thoughts so that all that is left is the little bit of his consciousness that works in the direction of sympathy or love. And even though in this area there is not so much he can do, since he has not developed very much of a talent in that direction on the physical plane, what little consciousness he does have is nevertheless filled with bliss. But he passes swiftly on through the higher planes, which he sees merely as wonderful zones of light, and from there he enters his own inner world, the kingdom of bliss, from where he will be born again into the environment and the background that he created for himself in his last life before he died. Here he will begin once again to overcome his fears through his own efforts. In the spiritual world he did not overcome them, he was merely temporarily freed from them.

The other being was also a robber, but he had advanced further than the first one. He understood that the world redeemer was not one of their kind, and could not therefore justifiably hang on the cross. He reprimanded the first robber for having mocked Christ. There was much that was correct or loving in his thinking, and he understood that Christ belonged to a higher and better kingdom than the robbers, which is why he begged Christ to think of him when he arrived in his kingdom. And as a result Christ said to him: "This day you will be with me in Paradise".

Next we come to the suicide, Judas. We know that in his despair he took his own life. The offence he committed against his beloved master, the world redeemer, weighed so heavily on him that here on the physical plane he saw his whole life destroyed. He could not gain access to the world redeemer, who was surrounded by a powerful, heavily armed guard. Judas' thoughts therefore took a completely earth-shattering turn. He had no longer any wish to live. He felt unworthy to live on a plane on which he had deprived the world redeemer of the possibility of existing.

But after his suicide he realised that things had gone seriously wrong. He now saw that it does no good to take one's own life. He saw that the I is really just as much a murderer when it takes its own life as when it takes another's life. And his torments became condensed into dark, heavy clouds. All around him he could see other beings that had committed suicide. They were living in dark holes and caves, slimy, damp and misty zones in which there was no other lighting than the greyish half light given off by the combined murky auras of the beings. An atmosphere of tears, wretchedness and hopelessness pervaded everything.

But Judas was certainly not bad, he was no robber, he was after all a disciple of the world redeemer. But he wanted to anticipate events. He did not think that events were proceeding fast enough. He therefore wanted to give world redemption a little push. Without really knowing what it was he was doing, he wanted go ahead of the Lord – and this is where he failed. It is God's will that regulates the universe. He would have understood this if he had listened a bit more closely to the world redeemer, who always pointed out that it is God's will that is the most important. But now the unfortunate disciple had fallen into a mental abyss. But remorse and his love for the world redeemer were two very important factors in his liberation. From where he was he could not come to his master, but the master did not forget his unfortunate disciple; he came to Judas. And Judas was liberated from the agonies of purgatory, the dark mental burden of his own conscience, and followed his master to higher spheres, to beautifully sunny regions, where he had already led one of the robbers. And from there Judas was once more born into the world and continued his discipleship in the service of world redemption.

Next we come to the beloved disciple, John, who until his peaceful death gave expression to and manifested the fulfilment of the master's commandment: "My little children, love one another". In his case he experienced no purgatory. He was a human being who lived exclusively in order to encourage everyone to love everyone and who was himself filled with this highest power in life, or the universe's own wavelength or keynote. To such a being the transition is extremely easy. He went directly to his home in heaven, where together with his beloved master he could go further in his experience of the wonders of God's world.

And finally we come to the perfect or finished human being's passage through purgatory and paradise. Since the world redeemer was already here on the physical plane day-consciously awake in the spiritual world, for him there existed no form of death. In his case all there existed was the bodily pain. And as he died unnaturally by crucifixion, we heard him cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" That was therefore the moment at which his consciousness disengaged itself. In the next moment the world redeemer was set free from all terrestrial-animal ties. And we can also see that there streamed from the world redeemer a mental stream of light of such enormity that still to this day it glistens around the Earth in its sphere of light or its radiant aura: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do. It is finished. Into thy hands I commend my spirit."

From here this being, like a great sun-being, passed through the dark labyrinths of purgatory to the tormented, lost souls. And the words resounded through space: "Come to Me, all you who labour, and I will give you rest". Here he met, among many others, Judas, who was so guilt-ridden that he did not dare to approach his master. And again space resounded with the loving voice: "I have come to seek out and save those who are lost". And thousands of unhappy but repenting souls followed Jesus up towards the beautiful spheres of light, to the dwelling places that exactly suited each and every one of them, where they stayed in the light until they should once again be connected to the physical world.