In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message

In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message was written by Oskar Ernst Bernhardt (1875–1941), and first published in 1926 under the pen name Abd-ru-shin. An expanded, complete edition was published by the author under the name of Abdruschin in 1931, entitled Im Lichte der Wahrheit (In the Light of the Truth). It was a collection of 91 lectures, written to build upon each other, presenting a complete picture of Creation. Between 1931 and 1934, a further total of 59 additional lectures were released.

Abd-ru-shin went on to write and publish more than 50 individual lectures after 1934, however the deteriorating conditions in Europe prevented him from publishing any further books during his lifetime. When the Nazis seized power in Austria in 1938, Abd-ru-shin was arrested, extradited to Germany, and kept under house arrest until his death in December 1941.

During his final years, Abd-ru-shin was forbidden by the Gestapo from working on the Grail Message. Nevertheless, he was able to revise the Grail Message, and, after his death in 1941 and the second world war, this revised version was published in its current three-volume form, as his final legacy.

Some contend that Abd-ru-shin is a self-proclaimed Messiah because they have read the original 1931 edition of The Grail Message.[1][2][3][4] Abd-ru-shin called himself the Messiah in the Conclusion of the 1931 edition.[3] He removed that claim from the 1937 and later editions.[3] But it still is the meaning for the Message of the Grail that Abd-ru-shin is the apocalyptic Son of Man.[3]

Synopsis

Abd-ru-schin's Grail Message addresses various topics, ranging from God and the universe to the "Laws in Creation", free will and responsibility, intuition and the intellect, the ethereal world and the beyond, justice and love. The Grail Message addresses eternal questions such as what does it mean to be human, what is the purpose of life on earth, and what happens after death. The Grail Message also addresses the causes and significance of crises facing humanity and humanity's responsibilities to the future.

The publishers write

"This book ... answers with clarity all the unsolved questions of human existence. The recognitions mediated with this book are so immense that they force the unprejudiced reader to ponder, investigate and go forward. The Grail Message will appeal to any human being who is seeking to understand life, his or her place in Creation, and the source of one’s being."

In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message was written to address and provide spiritual support for the problems and questions in life: Where do we come from? Where do we go when we die? What about fate and karma, Divine justice, free will, the Mission of Jesus, the Son of God, the Laws of Nature and Creation, and many others. In the Light of Truth also gives information about the Holy Grail. While ancient sagas and legends, and modern art, depict the Grail as an earthly myth, without being able to provide a conclusive explanation of its significance, Abd-ru-shin describes the Grail as a spiritual reality of the highest order, the connecting point between the Creator and His Creation.

According to the explanations of Creation given in The Grail Message, human beings are actually only guests on this earth. They came from a spiritual realm, which is far above the world of earthly matter, in order to begin a course of development leading down to this earth. This path continues for each person through repeated earth lives (reincarnation). Through experiences each person's inner, spiritual consciousness develops, grows, and matures. This is the prerequisite for the way back to the spiritual realm, which is the goal of our path of development: people can and should return to the immortality of the spiritual realm as a conscious spiritual entity, and thus enter "Paradise."

In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message posits that "The Laws of Creation" provide each human spirit with support on their pathway though their existence. Unchangeably interwoven from the beginning, they bear within, like the Ten Commandments, the Love, Grace, and Justice of the Creator. To truly know and understand the way these laws work is essential for successfully navigating one's way through life. Therefore, the explanation of these Laws runs like a thread through the lectures of The Grail Message.

The book also describes the relationship between the sexes: "male" and "female", each representing a specific, separate "principle", each of equal value for the total Creation. In the Light of Truth describes that there is a polarity between man and woman, which having been misunderstood in the past has often resulted in confusion over the intrinsic nature of their respective activities and the purpose of the sexes.

Publication

The Grail Message: In the Light of Truth in three volumes, containing 168 lectures (including lectures published in separate books and in individual form after 1931), was first published in 1950, and is currently available from the Grail Foundation.[5] and from booksellers around the world.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Wilson, Bryan R. (1975). The Noble Savages: The Primitive Origins of Charisma and Its Contemporary Survival. University of California Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-520-02815-9. ... but their prominence and relative success when compared with such figures as Louwrens van Voorthuizen (Lou) in Holland, Georges Roux in France, and Oskar Ernst Bernhardt in Germany and Austria, all of whom claimed to be the messiah—is striking.
  2. ↑ Introvigne, Massimo (1 March 2004). "Grail Movement". In Clarke, Peter. Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge. p. 244. ISBN 978-1-134-49970-0. A complicated esoteric work, which includes a history of the universe partially derived from the Theosophical Society (see Theosophy), and hinting at Berhnardt’s own messianic role, it found interested readers within the esoteric milieu (see Esoteric Movements).
  3. 1 2 3 4 Vojtisek, Zdenek (February 2006). "Millennial Expectations in the Grail Movement" (PDF). Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 9 (3): 61–79. doi:10.1525/nr.2006.9.3.061. In order to calm the public and hide his messianic claims, in 1937 Bernhardt ordered that the “Conclusion” be cut out of all unsold In the Light of Truth books. ... Four lectures and the “Conclusion” published in 1931 are omitted in the authorized postwar version. The reason for dropping three of the lectures is probably the same as the reason for omitting the “Conclusion” in 1937: they were too explicit in pointing to Bernhardt (Abd-ru-shin) as the Messiah. Of the omitted lectures, the fourth was probably unacceptable after the war due to ideas that might be considered racist.28
  4. ↑ Kürti, László (April 2001). "Psychic Phenomena, Neoshamanism, and the Cultic Milieu in Hungary". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 4 (1): 322–350. doi:10.1525/nr.2001.4.2.322. Cultic milieu books, long familiar to Westerners, are being translated into Hungarian and sold in legitimate bookstores. The latest examples are Akashic Records by Victor Charon and The Message of the Grail by Abd-Ru-Shin [Oskar Ernst Bernhardt (1875-1941)]. Both are fashionable books involving esoteric worldviews with messianic claims, and both are widely distributed on the Hungarian publishing market.
  5. ↑ In the Light of Truth - Grail Foundation- Grail Foundation
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