Lecture I

In telling you this I am giving you a very important detail of the life of the Spirit. As we in physical life always know what we see and always know that we are looking at this or that—as we see these roses here on the table—so in the spiritual life we always know when a spiritual being is looking at us. When we pass through the spiritual worlds we always feel that this or that being is looking at us. In the physical world we are conscious that we go through it observing the things around us, but in the spiritual world we feel that this or that being is looking at us. We are constantly aware of being seen, of being appraised, and this leads us to form decisions to do something or other, knowing that we are being approved of or the reverse; and if there is anything we ought or ought not to do, we either do it or not accordingly. Just as we pluck a flower because it takes our fancy after we have seen it, so in the spiritual world we do a thing because it pleases some being, or refrain from doing it because we cannot stand the glance that is turned on such an action. This is a state of things to which we must grow accustomed. Over there we have the feeling of being seen, just as here we feel that we see. In a sense what is passive here is active there, and what is active here is passive there. From this you can see, my dear friends, that we must acquire absolutely different concepts if we are to understand aright the descriptions referring to the spiritual world. You will see how difficult it is to coin in ordinary human language the descriptions of the spiritual world which one would so gladly give. You will realize that for many things the necessary understanding must first have been created.