Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/5750

5750 Earth - School for the spirit.... Means to an end.... An end in itself....

August 19, 1953: Book 62

Consider the earth merely as a school for the spirit, as a place for your soul to mature, which still has to pass through a school before it can enter the spiritual kingdom. You cannot be forcefully shaped in a way that makes you suitable for the spiritual kingdom; you have to transform yourselves.... And for that reason life on earth was given to you.... But you humans don’t recognise the purpose and goal of earthly life.... you misinterpret it, you only strive to benefit your body without thinking of your soul.... you look at the earth as an end in itself, whereas it is only the means to an end.... the means for the spirit to attain final maturity.

The real task is to pass the test of volition which you should accomplish during your life on earth and which must be taken in complete freedom. For that reason you will only receive enlightenment about the meaning and purpose of earthly life when you consider this question seriously yourselves. However, God gave you intelligence which allows you to pose the question as to why and for what reason you are on earth.... There are enough incentives around you which can cause you to ask this question but it has to come entirely and freely from within yourselves in order to be answered correctly as well. Even the worldly human being should occupy himself with this question, even he should occasionally think about the cause and purpose of earthly existence, providing he takes the time to occupy himself with such thoughts....

He certainly should not see the purpose of his life in the satisfaction of his body’s wishes and desires, but if he does then the thought of death will always frighten or unsettle him too.... or he will reject all thoughts of that nature by believing that he will cease to exist after death. Only someone who doesn’t think much could have this opinion because he would find enough proof during his earthly life to teach him to think otherwise, if only he seriously investigated the problem of life after death. The human being was given intellect.... but if he does not use it he will exist from day to day like an animal because the correct use of intelligence will enable him to think and behave differently.... it will enable him to live consciously. However, the worldly human being who believes earthly life to be an end in itself has not used his intelligence correctly yet. He has only activated it into one direction, he has not yet thought about a spiritual world which also can be accepted to exist outside the physical world.... otherwise the human being would have the unrestricted right of determination over the whole of creation, therefore over the natural processes and his own destiny too....

For as long as the human being himself is dependent on a higher power, on a higher will, which is proved to him by the course of his earthly life, he also has to acknowledge a world or a region where this higher power presides. Since he knows that he is at the mercy of this power, that this power determines the course of his life, he also has to ask himself why and for what purpose his earthly life happens as it does.... and whether he is achieving this purpose, which cannot be merely a physical life of pleasure but is more likely to be a spiritual development.... The human being can come to this mental conclusion as soon as he has the will to receive enlightenment about whether earthly life is an end in itself or only the means to an end.... The gift of intelligence should and must be considered because one day he will be held responsible for his will to oppose everything that God gave to him to attain his goal on earth....

Amen

Translated by Heidi Hanna