Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/1959

1959 Struggle of the spirit with the body for supremacy over the soul....

June 18, 1941: Book 28

Every being longs to become free because the unfree state is agonizing for all spiritual beings. But in the embodiment as a human being the spiritual certainly feels its lack of freedom, but not the body and the soul. The soul is likewise initially without realization of its situation and consequently only listens to the body's desires. The body, however, feels free, and indeed the freer the more it can take the world, i.e. earthly pleasures, into account and therefore hardly imposes any restraints on the body. Thus the soul yields to the body's urging and the spirit remains unheeded. And so the spiritual in man must endure the banished state until help comes from the soul. For only the soul can help it by thinking more of the spirit within itself than of the body. And that is why being on earth, although it is supposed to bring liberation to the spirit, is the greatest danger for the soul as long as it has not yet freed itself from the desires of the body. Consequently, the body fights with the spirit for supremacy over the soul.... And this is the struggle of light with darkness.... The beings of light wrestle with the powers of darkness for the soul.... for the spiritual that has distanced itself from God and is not yet fully aware of it that it belongs to the eternal light.... to the deity.... Provided the soul has attained realization, it will voluntarily turn to God. The dark forces, however, prevent the soul from attaining realization by all means. And the body will be the greatest obstacle for the soul to turn to the spirit. As long as the body is still placed in the foreground there is little possibility for the soul to become aware that it comes to the realization of its situation.... i.e. its distance from God.... Only when it no longer pays attention to the demands of the body does it begin to think about the actual purpose of life on earth. Only then does the adversary lose power; the dark forces no longer have so much influence on the soul.... It turns away from the body and towards the spirit within, and once this bond is established, it becomes bright and clear within.... Thus the spirit within it has triumphed and gained dominion over the soul, which is now completely united with the spirit and the inevitable consequence of this is the liberation of the being. Yet the battle is unspeakably difficult and requires the full commitment of all good forces as well as the human will, which alone brings about the soul's decision. The will of the human being alone is decisive as to where the soul turns.... the will can decide in favour of the body, but also in favour of the spirit, but only the latter will bring the being final liberation from the form....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers