22 QUESTION: So the idea that existed for a time that Hitler was the Antichrist is wrong.

ANSWER: It is entirely wrong. Hitler came from the world of darkness. That is quite true. But, particularly in the case of Hitler, the chances were that he could have done well in this life. Before he was incarnated, he was in a certain school in the Spirit World. He had, through previous incarnations, deserved certain merits and even though he was still very much connected with the world of darkness, these merits warranted that he be given certain instructions.

Before he came to Earth, he was told that he would, by a conglomeration of many circumstances that all play into the divine laws, be given great power, and it would be according to his free will how he would use this power. He even had a great deal of psychic power. Up to a certain point, the chances were there that he might have used these powers in a good way.

That may surprise you. I do not mean by that that he could have become a savior, a saint, or anything like that. Of course not. He was much too bound to the world of darkness for that, not enough developed by far. But he could have gained some progress in his spiritual development. He could have overcome some of the darkness that was still in his soul. And he could have done some good.

Yet, he was weak and he did not take this chance. He used his powers first only a little, unwittingly, and then more and more for the powers of darkness. But that was not determined from the beginning. There was a certain time in his life, in his youth – and we can see this picture now – when he was almost at the point of going over the borderline. He just did not quite make it.

Once entangled only a little with the dark powers, he could never muster the strength anymore to disentangle himself from them. So he was not a Lucifer by any means. He could not have lived on Earth in the first place, if he were anything like it. And particularly in his case, more than in many of the others that surrounded him, who were much darker spirits, the very strong inclination existed – comparatively speaking – to strive upward, to reach into the world of God. If you were to study his life thoroughly, you would find many indications that would confirm my words.

QUESTION: In other words, he was a tragic figure?

ANSWER: Yes, much more tragic than some others.

QUESTION: And with regard to Mussolini?

ANSWER: Mussolini was not quite the same case. His case was different insofar that he did not come from such a dark sphere as Hitler. But on the other hand, he did not have as much of the possibility for light as Hitler had. His personality was more “even,” if I might use this expression.

There are people – and you may encounter them every day, and perhaps some of you fall into the same category – who have a very strong inclination toward the good, but the discrepancy between good and evil in them is much more extreme than in others. They are much better than some other people, but also, at the same time, much worse.

Correspondingly, one type of person will have some very dark spheres as their homes, but several spheres of the same type, with not too much difference among them, belong into a world of medium gray. Roughly speaking, this is the difference between Hitler and Mussolini.

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