“This earth is a product, a picture so to speak, of the longing of the spirits who have fallen off and who have lived in darkness for a long time. And I have also said that this earth is equally a product of the longing of the spirits who remained in the world of God, for the fallen brothers and sisters to come back into divine light. And thus you can find here on earth beauty, love, and harmony; and you can also find the opposite, again with all the shades in between. This is the proof that this earth sphere is a product of God’s world and the longing of the fallen spirits to reunite with God. And on this earth sphere, man has the possibility with his free will to develop and to decide what side to follow. In his own nature, there are of course both currents: the good current that once came from God in its own perfection, and the evil current that was accumulated, so to speak, during and after the fall. And between these two currents, the conscious self stands and has the possibility to decide to either take the line of least resistance, which is always man’s lower nature, or to follow his higher self, which must be the difficult and narrow path.” (PL #22)