The Earth
THE SPIRITUAL EARTH
- Chapter 58 -
The devil of play and the rearing of children
Other kinds of human beings have, from early youth on, a particular inclination towards all kinds of games. They are unable to spend their time on anything else but dallying and playing. This inclination is awakened by shortsighted parents who ceaselessly provide little children with all kinds of toys, with the intent of guiding them towards activity.
Verily, this is just another way by which evil souls of departed human beings gain entrance into the flesh of such children. These children are constantly driven by the spirits that dwell within them to possess more and more toys. Some children have so many toys that it represents a considerable amount of money for their parents. The children become so occupied with these games that they no longer take interest in anything else.
This Devil of Play that takes root in early childhood unites within himself a constant addiction for play and entertainment, later on for material greed, and finally, in addition to this, a disguised lust for power. This devil is the most difficult to cast out of a person.
If children must have pastimes, would it not be better if they were given such things for toys that, in one respect or another, relate to My childhood on Earth? (Reference The Childhood of Jesus, by Jakob Lorber. -ED.). Thus good inclinations would be implanted in the children. And they would, as they grow older, enthusiastically inquire in detail regarding the significance of their toys. Under such circumstances, a spiritual teacher would certainly have a more pleasant task in setting up a new vineyard, would soon harvest remarkable fruit as well. But in the instance here, the opposite course has been taken: instead of I leaven, the child is being prepared, at a very tender age, for I fell, which will triumph in the end.
Such human beings consider themselves to be good, righteous, impartial, and, in accordance with their worldly bent of mind, completely virtuous; that is why they think that as far as they are concerned, no improvement is necessary. But it will take much time and effort in the spirit world to complete the task of setting these human beings on the path of perfection. Because for them I do not exist at all, or I am nothing more than a wretched moralizer of olden times, whose morality has no value now, since a much better one has been nowadays invented.
In the spirit world, circumstances are, of course, quite different; as the saying goes, "There blows a different wind." It is, however, a Wind of Grace, but for those people it smells worse than the plague. That is why they avoid those places where they could meet such a Wind of Grace. But I tell you, in days to come many of this class of human beings will enter into the final filth of matter. (Where Lucifer's spirit is being held (?) captive. -ED.).