Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/2373

2373 School of the spirit on earth and in the hereafter....

June 18, 1942: Book 32

A person's life on earth can be called a school of the spirit, and if he utilizes all possibilities he can be full of knowledge at the end of his life and thus be able to carry out the new task in the beyond.... This task consists of being a useful member of the community, which is again responsible for the work of education.... the education of ignorant and immature souls on earth as well as in the beyond. For ignorance is an unfree and deficient state that must be remedied. This task must be borne by deep love, because it is arduous and requires infinite patience. The knowledge must be conveyed to the ignorant on God's instructions by beings who are capable of it, i.e. who are in knowledge themselves, thus the former must consciously want to serve God through it, then they can be admitted to teaching activity. The earth is a schoolhouse in which every human being can attain maturity if he does not resist the education on the part of those teaching forces. Everything is made clear to him through creation, and his thoughts will always be directed towards realization, but they can also go their own way, thus the work of education can also be unsuccessful for the individual person or his soul. Then this work must be continued in the beyond, often with great difficulty and resistance. However, the being is not a useful member in the kingdom of the eternal until it is likewise willing and able to be active as a teacher, for unspeakably many souls still have to be educated in the school of the spirit, and this also requires many forces which are willing and able to pass on the knowledge. The spirit in every human soul is able and willing to receive all knowledge, yet it is often held captive by the soul so that the connection with the divine spirit outside itself is made impossible...., which is therefore to be understood such that the spiritual beings, which would like to impart the knowledge on behalf of God through mental emanations, are hindered in their endeavour by the soul, by the human being's will, which denies these thoughts access to the spirit within it. This is exactly how the endeavours of the knowing forces are resisted in the beyond and their teaching activity is prevented. But as long as the soul lacks knowledge it is also unhappy, it is immature, knows nothing, recognizes nothing and is blind in spirit, and if a soul in need of help approaches it, it cannot offer it anything because it possesses nothing itself. This is a shortcoming that has a painful effect and yet is not taken into account in earthly life, otherwise people would make it their business to successfully pass through the school of the spirit. They do not realize how much they need the knowledge and how their own fate and that of many other souls depends on this knowledge, for only the imparting of knowledge brings with it a state of happiness, and the being can only impart knowledge once it has first acquired it in the school of the spirit. Life on earth can be entirely sufficient to give the human being the right realization, thus he can have absorbed a degree of knowledge during this time which will ensure him a happy state in the beyond, because he is now able to impart his knowledge and, as a teaching force, once again fulfils a task which is assigned to every soul, for this task is the epitome of the act of salvation, because through its fulfilment the darkness is banished and all beings are guided towards the light....

amen

Translated by Doris Boekers