The metaphysical bent within a person is God’s gift, because through it he or she has the opportunity to get closer to God, provided the quest is diligently pursued. Do the people who are chosen to have such a disposition earn it in an earlier incarnation or are they given this advantage as a test? And if they will not use the talent, will it not be given to them in the next incarnation?

The Guide: As to the first part of your question: both situations occur. When someone has worked and fought for the metaphysical connection, he or she will bring the fruits into the next lifetime. You can also notice this in people’s astrological charts. The talent can open up easily in one case, while another person has to struggle to acquire it. If he or she does that, then perhaps in the next life everything will open up without any difficulty.

There are also cases where the metaphysical bent is used as a test, where an experience of metaphysical reality is offered with the purpose to further an accelerated development. This might happen in the following way: someone may have earned certain merits in a lifetime which may not necessarily be connected with a gift for spirituality. As this entity enters the Spirit World, the merits earned will work themselves out exactly according to law.

When the next incarnation is discussed – every incarnation is carefully planned, and often, especially from a certain stage on, the individual being can participate in the planning (Lecture #34 Preparation for Reincarnation) – the decision of how to enjoy the fruits of the merits of the past lifetime in the next incarnation is entrusted to the individual. Although the particular being may not have earned, by his or her own labor, the grace of a spiritual opening, he or she can desire a metaphysical experience to take place in the next life on the basis of past merits.

When the desire has a positive result and creates the ability to experience spiritually, the experience does not have to come through a successful struggle to open up the spiritual contact. As one person can wish for good health and another for prosperity, so can yet another wish for an opportunity for rapid spiritual advancement, having already come to understand that the temporary comforts of Earth life matter little in comparison with the happiness of spiritual ascent.

Thus, the beings who make the decisions for the next incarnation would say, “We cannot give you effortless unfolding of the spirit. On the basis of your merits, however, we can help you so that in your next life you can exercise your free will to seize the opportunities offered to you in this direction. The decision must be made by you, the struggle must be won by you, so that you can come to the bliss of spiritual liberation.” This, then, is different from the first case.

And now to the second part of your question. Of course it is so. When a human being has the opportunity to go on this Path and does not take advantage of it, then the door to the spiritual experience will have to be shut for quite a long time. I do not have to confirm this. If you think about it, you will realize that it cannot be any other way.

The person does not take advantage of the possibilities to reach this wonderful goal, for whatever reasons – laziness, love of comfort, vanity or shame – all of which make him or her feel that it is impossible to open up. When that is the case, a personal fault is always responsible, however great the self-deception.

Faults need to be overcome, especially those that bolt the door to the spiritual path. This must have its consequences. Such a person will have to fight harder for a spiritual opening; the overcoming will prove to be more difficult and in no way diminished for the delay. It is, however, only a delay. The experience of the spirit cannot be ultimately prevented.

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