On Forgiving Others and Yourself

On Forgiving Others and Yourself

By Gerrit Gielen

Posted on June 15, 2025

Much has been written about forgiving others, less about forgiving oneself. What strikes me is that everyone agrees that to forgive is indeed a good thing to do but why it is a good thing to do is usually not clearly explained. We think it is good to forgive because we will be rewarded for it in heaven. A good person is a forgiving one, and we want to be good. Self-forgiveness is altogether a different and more difficult story. Is it even possible to forgive oneself? We may find ourselves asking if it is even right that a criminal forgives himself? If anyone can forgive them, isn’t it the victim’s doing? Isn’t that act reserved for them?

There are a lot of questions that come up around the subject of forgiveness and in this article, I hope to shed some light on them by looking at forgiveness from the perspective of inner growth.

Why is it good to forgive?

Why forgiving is hard to do.

We have all seen movies that revolve around revenge. These movies are fun for us to watch; we enjoy it when in the end, the victim takes revenge and gives the perpetrator a good beating. How liberating it feels to see it, the opposite of forgiving, but for some people extremely satisfying. Why is that so? Is it because revenge is morally legitimized violence and we feel entitled to experience it? It may be true that we watch a movie about violence and revenge, so we don’t have to feel guilty as long as it’s the villain that gets killed, beaten up or something horrible happens to them. It makes us feel good, and after all, aren’t we allowed to feel good about that?

In other words, one reason forgiveness is difficult is because we believe villains are one-dimensional figures with no back story, bad through and through. Thus, forgiving them makes no sense; but taking revenge does. Films in which the victim forgives the perpetrator are less exciting and spectacular than those in which the victim takes revenge. The belief in an eternal hell where villains are punished forever is widespread because we believe in the existence of villains who are incorrigible.

In the Middle Ages, people thought one of the greatest pleasures of going to heaven would be to watch all the people in hell below them. Revenge at last. Is it primitive? Are we that much different than those who lived then when we enjoy watching the villain get punished? At least that is the case when we are outsiders, because desire for revenge lives mostly in the mind of observers who don’t really know what it’s like to be a victim.

If you talk to victims, you discover that they usually don’t want revenge at all. They want to be seen and heard, they want their suffering to be recognized. They want the perpetrator to realize what he/she has done to them. They don’t want revenge as much as they want justice, and at the deepest level, they want the perpetrator to grow in consciousness. That is something completely different. The victim seldom gets their wish, because this rarely happens. As a rule, perpetrators deny or downplay their crimes. Consider, for example, the discovery of pervasive child abuse within the Catholic Church. How many priests have expressed regret to their victims? I can’t recall ever seeing a single report in the news of that happening. On the contrary, they deny their guilt and cover up their offences. If a victim waits for the offender to show repentance and remorse, they will unfortunately wait for a long time.

So to sum it up, we find forgiveness difficult because deep down we hold a dualistic worldview where evil is evil and good is good. In order to forgive, we must learn to accept that there is good in every person and be willing to see that good. It is that good that binds us together and makes humanity one.

Why forgive?

We forgive each other so we can let go. If the victim does not forgive, they remain under the perpetrator’s influence, and their life is determined by that energy. As long as a victim doesn’t forgive, they remain a victim. Forgiveness is not for the offender; it is for you. It is an act of strength, an act of I-saying. It is how you move on with your life, follow your path, and free yourself from the offender’s energy. To forgive is to stand up for yourself. To forgive is to take your sword and use it to sever the bond with the offender. It is a masculine act. To forgive is to choose to no longer be a victim.

How do you let the perpetrator go and banish them from your mind? Realize what the offender has actually done to himself. The universe is one and that oneness is within us. A person who hurts another breaks their connection with it. When a man abuses a woman he damages his own inner woman. He damages something within himself.

When you look into the perpetrator’s eyes you do not see happiness; you see emptiness. Every time a person commits a crime, they break a bond with themselves, with their child within. The bond with the universe is severed too, as is the bond with their fellow human beings, with nature, the past and the future. Every broken bond inevitably leads to a loss of happiness. Maybe the perpetrator is rich, and lives in a beautiful environment, but you will not find happiness in their eyes.

The victim longs for the offender to become aware, but in the end, the universe will take care of that. It will do everything it can to restore wholeness to the person who did harm. Again and again, the offender will be given opportunities to become more aware and have more insight into himself. However, it can take several lifetimes to arrive at this. Reality encourages awareness. As the victim, you do not have to do anything. “Living well is the best revenge” is a well-known English expression, and a profound truth. Live your life to the fullest and let the universe do its job.

Let go of the perpetrator, forgive, live your life. Don’t waste your life’s energy on the perpetrator, give that energy to your loved ones. Forgive and free yourself so you are there for those who deserve you. Forgiveness is an act of strength; it is choosing for yourself. Someone who can truly forgive continues with their life and doesn’t let it be determined by what was done to them. To say, “I forgive you” is to say, I am no longer a victim, I am free from victimhood. You no longer give the perpetrator access to your inner life.

It is becoming whole again, becoming one again; letting go of duality.

Perpetrators and their long road to self-forgiveness

Perpetrators need to forgive themselves because without self-forgiveness consciousness will be blocked and growth is not possible, only stagnation. Self-forgiveness sounds simple. I do something wrong and think, “I’ll forgive myself and get on with my life.” But that’s not how it works. Self-forgiveness is possible only when you know what you have done to the victim, and understand how much sorrow, pain, and suffering you have caused. Until you do, you don’t know what to forgive yourself for, and if you don’t know that, self-forgiveness is impossible.

Time passes, we say, and for the perpetrator the memory of the crime fades into the past, and eventually he will try to forget about it, and be less bothered by it. We say time heals everything. Psychologically, it does not work that way, it works exactly the other way around. A human being’s consciousness wants to continue to grow, become lighter, enrich itself, evolve, go with the flow of life and the universe, but when someone commits a crime, growth ceases. The hurt the perpetrator has caused a victim, the suffering he has caused is like a river that flows in front of him and blocks the path. To heal, he has to swim through it, experience it from within and understand what he has done to the other person, only then is self-forgiveness possible. Immediately after they commit the crime, it is not yet a terrible problem, their life goes on. But if the culprit never lets himself feel his victim’s feelings and remains unmoved, the longer it goes on, the darker his life becomes.

We all have an inner sun, and the light of the soul will follow its path. But the inner sun of the offender will slowly disappear, replaced by an inner emptiness, and the darkness will deepen and deepen. If there are no external stimuli that encourages self-reflection, for example, loss, or illness, the darkness continues to grow. When someone commits a crime, the dark cloud within them grows larger and larger and will eventually totally obscure their inner sun. By the end of the perpetrator’s life, his eyes are empty, and his facial expression is bitter.

When this person dies and enters the astral sphere that reflects their inner state, it is a dark sphere of desolation and lifelessness. When they lose contact with their inner light, they lose their ability to create light and beauty. However, sooner or later, they will want to free themselves from the darkness and will be open to receiving advice from their guides.

Perpetrators do not view their victims as human, they view them as inferior based on racist ideology, for one example. And that is not easy to let go of. Slaveholders were totally convinced that because Black people had darker skin than whites, they were more animal than human. Thus, slaveholders felt they had a perfect right to own them, rule them, and treat them cruelly.

For centuries, men have believed they are superior to women and even do so to this day. They refer to themselves as so-called “masters of creation” giving them the right to subjugate women, forcing them to be obedient, and turning them into sex slaves. The Nazis regarded people who did not look like them, who were of a certain faith and culture to be “Untermenschen” (underman, subhuman) and therefore believed it was acceptable to mass murder them. Virtually every ideology assumes that one class of people is better than others, thus, “the good guys” have the right to hurt “the bad” guys.

Ideological beliefs are often so deep that they cannot be released while in the astral sphere. Reincarnating as a victim is the only way out because when they experience life from that perspective, the suffering and pain they caused is experienced and internalized from within. This is not a punishment, rather, it provides liberation from the stifling worldview of the perpetrator, and it is only with experiencing and feeling what the victim went through that there is the possibility of self-forgiveness.

A perpetrator’s worldview is a prison for their consciousness. Any worldview that provides a justification for mistreating another denies the inner oneness of life. When you treat someone violently, you suppress that oneness within yourself and diminish your consciousness. It is the inner unity of life that enables the growth of consciousness. Inner oneness allows consciousness to continually seek new forms and new experiences.

Three roads

When the perpetrator realizes what he/she has done to the victim, there are three options.

1) The offender forgives himself

The universe will always give someone who forgives himself the chance to make things right. Self-forgiveness leads to the blossoming of something beautiful. The inner light of self-forgiveness is creative. Some offenders go on to create social and societal change, and fight for equal rights, social justice, and cooperation.

2) The perpetrator does not forgive himself

Overwhelmed by the pain he caused his victim, the perpetrator remains stuck in his guilt, continues to punish himself and does not come to believe in anything positive. This is a very unpleasant situation. What helps the perpetrator the most is to receive forgiveness from the victim. When the perpetrator truly feels that his victim forgives him and sees that they have continued on their path and encourages him to continue as well, there is usually movement towards self-forgiveness.

3) The perpetrator distances himself from himself.

This is an undesirable situation that is unfortunately common. An offender chooses to experience the life of a victim, but his consciousness remains stuck. He does not recognize the perpetrator within, so he projects it onto the outside world, people, and situations, thus, no integration takes place. A healing inner wholeness does not happen. He slips, as it were, from one dualistic worldview to another. First there is a belief in the inferiority of victims, then in evil forces outside himself. This creates a holy belief that there are evil forces in the outside world that must be fought.

People who believe in conspiracy theories do not recognize their inner culprit that projects everything onto something or someone outside of themselves. Psychologically, this explains the reasoning behind these conspiracy theories. Many people are caught in this blind alley and cause misery in the world. Their belief in duality reinforces existing duality. Belief in powerful perpetrators creates an energetic space in which such perpetrators can manifest. The outer world energetically follows the inner world. A self-perpetuating dualistic worldview is thus created that is almost impossible to put into perspective. A lack of inner integration, for example, between the masculine and feminine or between perpetrator and victim, always results in a dualistic worldview.

Fortunately, there is a solution, which is to love yourself.

Loving yourself

Self-forgiveness is ultimately choosing to love yourself because if you can love yourself, you can forgive yourself. To love yourself is to look at everything in you with love and bring it into the light, both the perpetrator and the victim. You have been a perpetrator, you have been a victim, and perhaps both at the same time. You have been powerful, and you have been powerless. You have been everything; thus, everything is within you. Loving yourself means loving yourself as an offender and as a victim.

As long as you believe in perpetrators that exist outside of you, you deny the inner oneness of the universe and as long as you do, you deny your own inner oneness. That is a sign you lack self-love, and it is connected to why you reject the offender within. It can also manifest as contempt for the victim within, resulting in feelings of inferiority.

People may despise themselves for letting others walk all over them, take advantage of them, and ultimately, they blame themselves. We live in a world where weakness is scorned, where people who are vulnerable and sensitive despise themselves. Think of the victim in you, think of all the times you have let others walk all over you or worse. Maybe you were beaten, abused, or robbed and in past lives, I am sure worse things have happened.

Go to that frightened part of you now, the one who is hiding out feeling inferior. Love it, comfort it, and let love flow into it. It is a part of you, an extremely sensitive and vulnerable part, and therefore, oh, so precious. It provides you with a deep understanding and insight into others. It is the source of your ability to feel empathy and love. Accept it, love it, and realize that at a very deep level you have chosen to experience it. It is part of being human. It completes you.

There are exercises you have surely heard about where you look in the mirror and say positive affirmations to yourself. That’s fine! But I suggest you do something different. Look in the mirror and say, “You’re a sucker! You’ve let people walk all over you, but I still love you very much.” Learning to say “no” to victim feelings and stand up for yourself begins with feeling love for the part of you that is weak, vulnerable, and sensitive. The part that is considered weak by this world in truth is full of beauty. Love it and it will blossom. Do not despise that part of you, love it. There is a huge shortage of gentle, weak, and sensitive people in this world, and when you are vulnerable remember it is a sign of your inner beauty. Just look at the world around you, everything beautiful is vulnerable.

Then think of the offender in you. How many times have you unintentionally hurt others? How often have you hurt another in your fantasies or been violent to someone in your dreams? What you fantasize or dream about often has to do with past lives. Accept this. Go for a walk in the forest by yourself and imagine you are a tree. Each root of the tree is a past life, and all of them are connected to the earth. Connect with the roots that are connected to a lifetime when you were the offender. Those roots feed you, too. They give you energy and strength and they too need your attention and love. Let your love flow to those roots, and to all the offenders within you.

In conclusion: wholeness

When you accept that you have been both perpetrator and victim, and love both of them, it creates an energetic space within where perpetrator and victim can meet each other and forgive. This is self-forgiveness. This is wholeness. This is being human. When you accept your humanity, you accept that you are both perpetrator and victim. The power and energy of the perpetrator can now cooperate with the empathy on the victim’s side. The result is a loving creative person; one who enlightens others with understanding and compassion. One who loves and forgives himself will approach his fellow human beings in this way, ensuring that the artificial duality of this world is no longer empowered. Instead, a new energy is empowered; one that restores harmony and unity to the world and spreads the belief in the power of love.

Love the offender, love the victim. When you do, they both feel supported by your love, they can look each other in the eye, which makes self-forgiveness possible. An inner flow is created, and you begin to live from your soul. The soul can flow through the personality only when there is inner harmony. The manifestation of that inner harmony creates a new world, a new earth—a world in which humans live in harmony with each other, with plants, animals, and the earth itself. And then, the era where humans have been separated from nature for so long, finally ends.

Man made whole is a creative man, a healing man.

© Gerrit Gielen

• https://www.jeshua.net/articles/by-gerrit/on-forgiving-others-and-yourself/

Edited by Suzy Conway

A Path to Transformation

A Path to Transformation

Love Centered Thinking

By Gerrit Gielen

Posted February 17, 2024

Everything in nature is subject to a rhythm.

Think of the seasons, for example, or the alternation of day and night. This rhythm is part of nature and we experience it as self evident. The natural unfolding of life is only possible thanks to rhythms. Without night, our Earth would heat up into a boiling, lifeless desert, and without day, she would freeze. Both are necessary for the evolution and growth of life.

Less self-evident is that we find that our inner life is also subject to a rhythm. There, the alternation of light and dark can also be found. Periods of light, in which everything runs smoothly, are alternated with difficult periods of fear, anger, despair, and doubt. Still, these periods also serve their purpose. Just as all life on Earth is developing, because of the alternation of light and dark, we as humans also grow because of rhythmic variation. Especially difficult periods, in retrospect, often turn out to be very instructive times that bring about inner growth and deepening.

However, the balance sometimes seems to be lost. Darkness starts to dominate and we lose our connection with the light; we cannot imagine that it will ever return. The night no longer becomes day; the darkness appears to be permanent. The natural rhythm of life comes to a standstill, and there is no more rhythm, no more growth, only stagnation.

Why is that? Why is it that we sometimes do not go along with the natural rhythm of life and get stuck in the dark phase?

In this article, I want to demonstrate that this sense of being stuck in the dark is often caused by a wrong way of thinking; that by thinking from fear, we artificially lengthen the darkness in our life. I want to also show what we can do about this, how we can teach ourselves to think from love. Thinking from love is the natural way of thinking and is aligned with the rhythm of life and stimulates inner growth.

OUR THINKING

We have a great many ideas and opinions about the world around us, and many of them do not come from ourselves, but are handed to us by the world around us: by the newspapers, television, the internet, and all the people we meet who are often immediately ready to voice their opinion about something.

Our thinking always starts with assumptions about the world around us. This is comparable to mathematics, which begins with the assumption of a number of axioms: principles that cannot be proved. From there, you use reason. You can, for example, assume that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, where you arrive at traditional geometry. If you assume that this is not the case, then a different form of geometry arises that is useful: non-Euclidean geometry that turns out to be very applicable in modern astronomy.

Our thinking is just like mathematics. If you look properly at the origin of people’s opinions, you can then see that they are based on a number of assumptions that are considered to be true. Generally speaking, an idea can always be taken back to either fear or love.

THINKING FROM FEAR

Thinking from fear always leads to a dualistic view of reality. One thing or situation is good, the other is bad, and we have to be watchful for the bad thing or situation. That view of reality makes our world unsafe.

Let us say we feel threatened by a certain group of people, then we begin to think of them from fear. Our thinking is then inclined to emphasize the differences: they have a different religion, other standards and values. And they want to impose their standards and values on to us, so they are dangerous. That way of thinking leads to a belief in duality, which only confirms and magnifies the original fear.

And what happens within us as a result of that way of thinking? The original, irrational fear is being made in to a definite worldview. With the help of our thinking, an immense structure of thoughts, meanings, and “facts” is constructed that create a permanent dwelling for the fear. This structure starts to work in us as a kind of filter through which we perceive reality: everything that is congruent with that fear we perceive enlarged, and the rest we no longer see.

Thinking that way causes our inner world to get filled with “thinking castles.” And because of these thinking castles, it becomes almost impossible to recognize the original fear that forms the foundation of the construction. This fear is hidden behind a “masonry” of opinions and concepts that validate and support it. However, the true inhabitants of the structure are fear and anger. Wherever there is such a castle, the energy is no longer flowing; light and life disappear from our inner world. We radiate inflexibility and bias, and our inner development stagnates.

A tangible example can clarify this. Suppose a woman has a certain fear of men. From that fear she is going to think about, perceive, and interpret the behavior of men. She then concludes that men are unreliable, domineering, violent, and superficial. Not only does this way of thinking influence her relationships with men, it also leads to her suppressing her own male side. She does not acknowledge the positive aspects of male energy, like drive, standing up for yourself, and purpose. Thinking this way damages her own ability to stand up for herself and purposely set boundaries. Her female qualities of empathy and sensitivity can get “over-developed,” which can weaken and exhaust her. The consequence of this is she will experience the world around her as even more masculine and hostile. Her fears will start to dominate her even more.

This is how thinking from fear leads to a negative spiral that sustains itself: we begin thinking from fear, and then this thinking leads to an explicit dualistic view of things. A worldview, a “thinking castle,” is created that hides the original fear and makes it difficult to honestly and lovingly face it. Thinking from fear blocks the natural flow of energy and suppresses something within ourselves. Eventually, this dualistic worldview reflects back upon ourselves and reinforces the fear.

THINKING FROM LOVE

When we begin to think from love, we will become aware of the inner unity of all things. When we look at people from different cultures with love, for example, then we no longer see the differences, but mostly the commonalities. We realize these people also long for a happy family and a nice job. They also want the best for their children and a harmonious existence with others. The differences are only external.

Strong, outspoken opinions often emphasize a certain duality: this is good, that is not. Behind these opinions, fear is hiding. Opinions that are voiced from love are much softer and more nuanced. They always show understanding for what is different and stress the inner unity and connection that exists. On a deep level, the universe is one; on a deep level, humanity is one.

Instead of building thinking castles for our fears, we can focus our attention on our fears. We can use our thinking to look through the masonry, break down the walls, and face the fear head on. Fears are like children that have lacked love. Those children do not want “castles” for protection, they yearn for warmth, love, and acknowledgment. They want to be seen and are longing for light.

Love is the power that connects the outcast with the unity.

Our inner world is not separate from the outer world, everything is part of the same unity. By thinking lovingly about others, the love flows toward them. They are touched by it and it can influence and change them. The realization of the inner unity of everything resides deep within every living creature. By radiating love, you touch this knowing and activate it. Love dissolves the duality, both in your inner world, as well as in your outer world.

This is the reason that Christ says: “Love your enemies.” For love changes your enemies into friends. This goes both for the enemies outside us, as well as for the enemies within us: fear and anger.

LEARNING TO THINK FROM LOVE: PRACTICAL TIPS

The shift from thinking from fear to thinking from love is not an easy one, because fear always has an inclination to move its attention outward: to the object of our fear.

Let us say we are afraid of a spider, then we focus all our attention on the spider, which is outside of us and not on the fear itself. Instead of settling down with our fear, we focus our thinking power on the question of how we can destroy the spider, how we can avoid more spiders coming inside in the future, etc.

Things become even harder if we have built an entire thinking castle around our fear, which makes it almost impossible to feel it, because it is hiding behind walls of opinions and ideas.

Below is an action plan that might help you.

1. Be prepared to honestly face your fears. Be willing to accept that behind a lot of your opinions and ideas there is fear and/or anger. This is a very difficult step. Ask yourself the following question: “Could it be that a lot of my notions, which I have for years proclaimed with definite certainty, are based on fear and anger, and not on love?” To find the courage to discover an honest answer to this question is the first and biggest step.
2. If you are prepared to do the above, then find a quiet moment and guide your attention inward. Try to feel your fear. Steer your attention down to your abdomen, where negative emotions usually are hiding, and say: “Come on out, you are allowed to be here.” Be silent and imagine that scared or angry children slowly come walking toward you from the darkness. Let love flow toward them and welcome them.
3. Think about opinions and ideas that you adhere to with a certain vehemence; they can be about the world, about people around you, about your relationship – whatever. Now imagine that another person is proclaiming that same opinion to you. And do not pay so much attention to what he says, but to what he is emanating. Is it love, or something else? Does the energy flow from his heart, or does it come from somewhere else? And if it is something other than love, what is it?

Examine that, and also look closely at the person you have chosen to express your opinion. Who is it, and why did you choose that person? This choice also has meaning. You can, of course, do this exercise with you expressing the opinion, as well, and watch yourself from a distance. What are you radiating?

By repeating the above steps regularly, we can gradually dissolve the inner blockages that disturb the natural rhythm of our lives, the thinking castles. A thinking castle works like a dam, which blocks the natural flow in the river of our lives. If we eliminate the dam, then life and light can again flow through.

Periods of darkness are part of life, and the flow of life leads us back to the light by itself. But to be able to go along with that flow, we do have to be willing to face the darkness in ourselves, honestly and lovingly. This is the power of thinking from love.

Gerrit Gielen

• http://jeshua.net/

How the Astral World Affects Us

How the Astral World Affects Us

By Gerrit Gielen

Posted July 21, 2024

How do scientists think about human beings? They are usually concerned with our brains, or slightly more accurately, the app operating on the biological computer we call our brain. From their perspective, a human being is someone temporarily residing in a small box called the skull. If the computer or brain breaks down, then the app is no longer active, and we are no longer here. Simple and straightforward, if somewhat cold.

This is not my vision of human beings. I believe that the truth about the human being is far more expansive. The universe is infinite and everything in it is interconnected. Consciousness pervades everything and every human being is part of this one consciousness. Man is not small and finite, boxed in by time and space, but infinite and eternal.

You are not your brain; you are the universe. There could not be a greater difference.

The idea that you are your brain is based in duality, which at the deepest level is a belief that denies your oneness with the universe. A self that is not unified with the universe is a self that is separate and opposed to it. When separation takes hold, other human beings easily seem strange and mysterious, and in some people’s minds that spells danger, which calls for control, domination, and confrontation. This is how duality works, it leads to struggle and suffering on the physical level, and also on the psychological level where there is always the threat of subjugation, nothingness, and death.

Man has no death to die; (s)he is the eternal universe itself.

The conviction that we are separate distances us from the source, from unity. Some people hold on to this conviction, take it with them after their physical death, and cling to it in the afterlife. This creates an energetic sphere or field around the Earth due to their stubborn beliefs in duality. This sphere, which reflects our dualistic ideas, is called the astral plane. Even though we are on Earth, we are connected to it, it influences us and ratifies dualistic ideas and ideologies we hold within us. The astral plane around the Earth is a strong energy field that is an obstacle to making the shift from thinking dualistically to embracing and choosing Oneness. We live in an (almost) closed energetic circle called the astral sphere that perpetuates misery on Earth.

How the astral world influences us, and how we can detach ourselves from it and break the hold it has on us, is what this piece is about.

Before I discuss that, however, I will explain in detail what duality is and how it is rooted in fear.

What is duality?

Duality is two principles that are opposed to each other and cannot be reduced to each other. Duality plays a key role at the level of human thought, but it is not something that exists in reality. It is not a real thing. Everything that exists is part of the same one universe and therefore can never exist separately from the other because the universe is One. An example of duality would be to think that the opposite of light is dark, but in reality, darkness is simply the absence of light.

Human thoughts are full of fear with duality playing an important part in perpetuating it because after all, we are afraid of lots of things on this earth. We are afraid of the dark and feel something may be hiding in it that could hurt us. If something is foreign to us, we see it as unlovable. The dark is seen as something opposite from the light. We feel safe in the light, we don’t feel safe in the dark.

The psychological root of duality is fear. If we fear something, we think it can hurt us, that it is evil and in opposition to us. This is how duality is created and perpetuated. Only when we are free of fear can we experience that we are one with the universe, one with everything.

I can remember talking to a man once who had attended a fundamentalist Christian school in his youth. He said, “I thought back then how lucky I am. I am learning the truth and am chosen, while the rest of humanity is going to hell.”

To think that you are special, and others are not, is an example of duality, which we encounter everywhere. We don’t know the “other,” so we think they are bad, immoral, a threat, and undoubtedly to blame for everything that goes wrong. Think back on history, witches who were burned at the stake, Jews who were persecuted and killed, Muslims who are demonized. We fear anyone with a different skin color and religion, we see opposites as threatening. They must be eradicated, and the result is war, oppression, and suffering.

Our worldview mirrors our self-image. There is a one-to-one relationship between the two. For example, a man who is afraid of women will hold a worldview which judges women to be inferior, dangerous even, and based on those judgements will feel justified suppressing her. Inwardly, he will suppress his own feminine side too, thus negating his consciousness that all is one. If you seek self-knowledge, examine your worldview.

A worldview based on fear puts us in boxes and draws boundaries that separate us—separates us from people, from man and the cosmos, and from man and nature. If we are always afraid of what looks opposite to us, or what is different from us or on the other side of the boundary, we feel justified to control, dominate, and exploit it.

A child who is pumped full of these kinds of ideas throughout his life has to discover for himself that no matter how correct and logical they might have seemed at the time, they are irrational, and fear based. Most people do not change their thinking and escape from the box up in their head. They live their lives in fear and perpetuate it.

Much has been written about fear and duality, and I have touched on it here. Now, I would like to talk about a subject we don’t hear much about, and that is how the astral world plays its part in all of this.

What is the astral world?

Man is a creative being and the astral plane, which surrounds the earth, is an expression of man’s creative power. It is largely the product of human fantasies and desires, whether conscious or not. In the astral sphere, your imagination and fantasies become reality, what you see and experience around you is a direct reflection of your inner state. The separation between inside and outside is removed. You walk around in your own mental and emotional creations, so to speak. Sometimes these creations are incredibly beautiful and rich—beautiful landscapes in the higher astral realms, for example. Sometimes they are not beautiful, they might be dark and violent, or plain ugly and boring. Not every person who dies and passes into the astral sphere possesses a rich and exalted spirit. So, the astral sphere reflects both the exalted and the ugly in man, beautiful pure feelings, and ideals, but also lower feelings of violence and primitive sexual instincts.

Human beings alone do not shape the astral sphere. It is an open field where various kinds of cosmic energies can penetrate and if they are of a pure intention, they wish to help humanity. To give an example, many people who were raised Christian love Mary, the mother of Jesus. The thoughts they have about her take form in the astral sphere where strong beliefs in something, especially if it is a strong collective belief, create an energetic reality. A collectively created “Mary” is thus at work in the astral world, and if this form of Mary is created from pure truth, higher energies can use it to transmit light and consciousness to others. They use human representations to transmit loving energy to them. People on earth can feel that they are being helped and supported by Mary and may even receive messages from her. Through such collective projections, higher energies can penetrate people’s consciousness, and help them transcend the lower astral sphere.

It can work the other way, too. There are many man-made representations of Mary conjured in the mind resulting in different Marys “living” as projections in the astral sphere. To be clear, these Marys are not souls, they are constructs of the human mind, and not all of them have their origins in pure and loving beliefs. There may be heavy Christian ideas projected onto Mary that have to do with sin, service, penance, and guilt.

In addition, the number of Marys in the astral world is multiplied by the fact that there are deceased people who believe they are Mary. If a person on earth believes they are a reincarnation of Mary, they will not abandon this idea after death. They suffer from delusions and will fight to maintain this fabricated identity. They do so by sticking with their dualistic morality, and like to predict disasters, for one reason, because it generates attention and an emotional response from “followers.”

The astral world is a very chaotic place and can be a big source of untruths. There are higher realms in the astral plane where souls can identify the light and source of pure consciousness, but in the lower earthbound parts of the astral world, there is a jumble of human projections, emotions, and desires. As exemplified, there are a multitude of ideas projected onto Mary, and many of them of questionable.

The astral world and life after death

After death, the natural course of a soul is to travel through the astral sphere and leave it behind. After one dies, there is a natural urge for consciousness, to return to the source and from there enter into a new cycle of birth. When you break free from your life on earth, and all the limitations of being human, it is a heavenly experience because there is an expansion of happiness and consciousness. You rediscover your true self, and once again experience oneness with everything. There is a deep remembering, no sense of loss but growth, an integration of your earthly and cosmic being. You realize that at the deepest level you are the source; that you coincide with God. After this natural shift of consciousness, the illusion of duality completely disappears.

This shift only happens when you are in a place of complete freedom. You are free on earth and in the hereafter; no one is coercing you to do anything. But herein lies the trap. It is true that most of us are not free. We are in the grip of rigid beliefs and ideologies based on duality. Until we let go of the fear-based belief in separation, we cannot embrace our inner Oneness. Otherwise, we stand still and remain stuck in the astral plane until finally the wheel of rebirth turns again.

The astral plane is static because what is inside you and what is outside you coincide. You are trapped in a repetition of the same experiences, the same subjective states of mind, which lacks dynamism and growth. The soul will seek to free the personality from this dilemma by immersing it in a unique perspective of experience—a new incarnation.

It is possible that while you are between two earthly lives you may not transcend the astral sphere, and so, you re-enter an earthly life. This is certainly not always the case. For many transcended people, life in the astral world is a pleasant, temporary phase. Most realize that they have physically died and take quiet time to process their earthly life and grow toward the light, aided by loving guides.

The guides help people make sense of their lives and the impact of their choices and actions on themselves and others. Gradually, they release Earth’s atmosphere and all their fear and duality-based beliefs. Love, happiness and beauty are attractive teachers that manage to touch most people and draw them into an upward movement towards the light. And anyone capable of humor and self-reflection is open to this light and further growth.

Most people love discovering that there is nothing to be afraid of, that you have no enemies, that the universe is a magnificent miracle of love. They also experience the joy of their own growth. By letting go of all fears and all fear-based ideologies, they become more themselves.

The key to letting go of the astral sphere and returning to source, to an awareness of your oneness with All, is the willingness to enter into inner growth and to open to love. The reward is great—beauty, truth, and love. It is a liberation from a cocoon of fixed ideas and beliefs. The universe with all its beauty and wonders opens up. Who doesn’t want that?

Unfortunately, there are people who don’t. They do exist. Surely there are quite a few people who hold tight to rigid dualistic ideas. Here are some examples.

– People who have hurt others in the past and refuse to face up to it.

For example, war criminals who believed they had the right to persecute and kill people. After all, to them, they were evil, a threat. Many perpetrators cling to the belief that they were within their rights to do this, even after their deaths. When you have hurt others because you hold tight to a particular belief, it is exceedingly difficult to let go of it. The more misery you cause, the stronger the belief becomes and the more difficult it is to let go of it.

– Ideological and religious fanatics who practice dualistic thinking.

Many religions, curiously many monotheistic religions, proclaim dualistic ideas. We are good, others are bad. Those who disagree with us (pagans, unbelievers) will go to hell and must be persecuted. There is a deep belief in the separation between man and God. God is great, good, and all-powerful, man is small, sinful, and void. If you identify strongly with such an aggressive religious and moralistic worldview, you will not easily let it go in the afterlife.

– Victims who cannot forgive.

To forgive is to let go. To forgive is to allow growth to occur and to accept the inner Oneness of life. To forgive is also to say yes to the offender in yourself. Not to forgive leads to bitterness. It  blocks the flow of love and suppresses and denies the offender in yourself. You can remain stuck in your identity as a victim even after death.

– People who are completely focused on the outer world and identify strongly with their possessions and careers.

In the astral world, it is possible to continue your earthly life to some extent. You can surround yourself with material wealth and create a bubble of prestige and success. But you will feel basically alone. Life will become increasingly empty and meaningless over time, and before you begin to figure it out and truly long for contact with your soul, a great deal of time may have passed where you stay in the lower astral sphere.

– People who cannot let go of other people.

If you are excessively attached to people still living on earth, a partner, or a child, out of a keen sense of duty, care, and emotional dependence, it can keep you from journeying through the astral sphere and letting go of Earth. If you are excessively attached, you can still feel stuck in the emotions of loss, pain, and powerlessness even on the other side. The inability to draw boundaries and say goodbye can hinder the dynamics of your inner growth. This is true on earth, and death does not necessarily put an end to compulsive, obsessive relationships. The astral sphere is full of a great many souls who cannot detach themselves from Earth. They continue to cling to their loved ones out of fear or dependence.

– People who believe they hold the truth and have nothing more to learn.

An example would be the so called “gurus” of cults. “Spiritual leaders” who believe so strongly in their “teachings” that they want to continue practicing it after death and may even find followers in the astral sphere.

– People who do not listen to their inner voice but blindly follow others.

To allow your decisions to be determined by an outside authority (parents, a partner, school, societal norms, religion) makes for losing touch with your own soul. During your earthly life you will discover that this comes at the expense of your joy, fulfillment, and self-respect. Many people who succumb to this eventually find it unbearable and head into a crisis that eventually brings them back to themselves. But if you continually ignore these feelings and submit to the authority of a guru or any outside authority, alienation from yourself can occur. This alienation goes with you after your physical death and keeps you in the astral sphere which will reflect back this state of inner emptiness.

This is not a complete enumeration, but it gives you an idea of what kinds of people populate the astral sphere. In addition, the astral sphere is full of all sorts of non-human energies that are attracted to it for assorted reasons.

In the astral world, like-minded people attract each other and create a reality that confirms their beliefs. The outer world fits seamlessly with their inner world. This creates an “island of untruth” that the inhabitants mistake for reality. They live on this astral island in a closed system and are often inaccessible to spiritual guides who could show them a different, unique perspective. On these so-called religious islands, which the residents—even if they feel very unhappy there—mistake for heaven, the guides are usually considered representatives of the devil.

In the astral sphere, much more than on Earth, the outer environment reflects the inner life of the person. Because people in the lower levels of the astral sphere are not attuned to their soul, or their inner beauty, their environments are not beautiful, instead there are drab buildings in drab surroundings. Fortunately for the inhabitants there, the desire for beauty is a way to escape that environment. Desire for beauty restores contact with the soul and creates a way out; an opening to the higher realms where a person can accept help and free themselves from the “islands of untruth.”

Besides these islands, there are much larger places in the astral world inhabited by groups of people who share similar beliefs about their identity. This sense of identity may be based, for example, on a common language, nationality, or skin color. If such an area is exceptionally large, it is called a sphere. Inhabitants of a sphere are generally less attached to their identity and more willing to change. Therefore, there is more light and beauty here than on an island defined above. People realize that the goal is to grow toward the light, they take the time to do so, and may realize it is necessary to reincarnate so they can internalize a new and unique perspective.

In general, the larger the area or sphere, the more light there is. Again, the point is—separateness is a sign of untruth. There are still some islands with hardly any residents, however, there are still Nazis on them who are unable to let go of their beliefs.

People who live in high separation—an island of untruth—adhere to a strong dualistic worldview. This worldview causes a suppression of their true self. Believing in some absolute “sacred” truth always leads to the suppression of one’s inner sun and thus, to dwelling in the astral world. This is sometimes seen as a punishment, but it is not. In the universe there is no such thing as a punishing God, or any other authority that dispenses punishment. The situation you are in is purely the result of choosing to adhere to a belief that is not true, thereby suppressing your true self. To embrace the truth is to embrace yourself. To reject the truth is to reject yourself.

To believe that something does not belong, and to deny the unity of the universe always means that you reject a part of yourself. To believe that others are bad, that others do not belong, always leads to an inner rift. The views you have about the universe reflect the views you have about yourself.

The psychological impact of the astral world

The inhabitants of the lower parts of the astral sphere, the islands of untruth have an extreme psychological focus on Earth and reinforce the dualistic fear-based world views that prevail there in the collective mind.

A lot of so called “spiritual information” comes from these islands of falsehood, to which you may ask “how does that work?” Suppose there is a sect leader on Earth who, like many other sect leaders, proclaims a certain doctrine, and in doing so, underlines it with the message, “I am special, I have a ‘direct line up’ and know and see more than you do. You better do what I say, and you will be saved.” After this person dies, they continue to proclaim these “truths” and gather followers. Death does not usually cause people to change their opinions or behavior. Thus, an island of falsehood is created in the astral sphere. However, because his energy is still close to the earthly level, this “teacher” can emit his influence on people who are sensitive enough to pick it up. When they do pick up his messages, they can easily mistake them for the truth.  After all, the information comes from “the other side.”

The ideas proclaimed by such an astral guru reinforce the existing fear and duality on Earth. The receiver of such information, who is already anxious himself or has strong judgments about right and wrong thinks, “You see? I am right. It has been confirmed by a higher source.”

This is a clear example of astral influence, but it can also take place more subtly and unconsciously. Many people sometimes suffer from “intrusions,” or unpleasant, violent thoughts that drift in from the astral sphere that scare them. What happens is that the lower astral world resonates with negative or aggressive thoughts you have and greatly magnifies them. The trick is to recognize those intrusions as non-genuine, like noises you hear from the street, but ignore. You let them be and move away from them.

The main problem with the lower astral world is that the inhabitants of the islands of untruth have a common interest in inhibiting human evolution. After all, evolution leads to man’s deeper connection with his soul, expressing his freedom and light. To those on the islands of untruth, this would mean that they would no longer be nourished and would slowly begin to disappear. Indeed, eventually the entire astral sphere will disappear, insofar as it is the result of losing contact with the soul. A unity consciousness will then awaken on Earth—a world without borders, a world without war, a world of harmony among men, and harmony between man and nature.

Many inhabitants of the astral sphere believe that the end of it will be the end of them. Like many people on Earth, they believe in their own finitude and want to avoid it. They realize, sometimes consciously, sometimes instinctively, that the astral sphere is fed by lower energies produced by humans. So, they try to maintain duality on Earth, and that includes struggle and suffering. They see this as their salvation. The forces of light and love are their enemies. After all, light and love ensure their downfall. The central idea perpetuated by such astral forces is “the battle of good against evil,” pure duality. Paradoxically, they present themselves as “leaders of good” and under this guise provide humanity with “advice” that is often moralistic, incantatory, prophetic, and threatening in tone.

The myth of the battle between light and darkness

There is an ancient belief that the forces of light are battling the forces of darkness, which is the ultimate duality, good vs evil. Consider, for example, the idea of monotheistic religions that teach God and Satan are engaged in a fierce battle over human souls. In fact, there is no such battle. That is a myth. Light does not fight darkness. Where there is light, darkness simply no longer exists. Darkness is the absence of light. People can fight against Christ, who teaches, “love your enemies,” but Christ does not fight back against them. Love does not fight hate. It transforms hate.

An imaginary battle of hate against love, of darkness against light does exist. The inhabitants of the islands of falsehood believe firmly in this form of duality. They see all who believe in the inner unity and love of the universe as a threat. They see themselves as the forces of light fighting against darkness. They proclaim the myth of the battle of light against darkness. Ultimately, they are fighting against themselves. Whenever and wherever people believe in this struggle, they are influenced by the astral world.

How do these influences work? See below.

1) Lower emotions

Analyze the emotions of a crowd during a lynching in which a mass of people ruthlessly and hysterically rages against a victim who has been branded a sinner. Those who participate in such a bloody massacre are driven by an aggressive, animalistic emotion. Astral energies intervene and amplify these emotions. Sometimes this energy is so powerful that it takes control of a large area of a country’s population resulting in pogroms (large-scale persecutions) or war. When such a situation is finally over and a person is free of this influence, they often say, “I don’t know what possessed me.”

2) Unconscious influence via hitchhikers

Many people are not properly grounded, that is, they do not fully occupy their aura, which is a space intended just for them. This creates “holes” in their aura which are an opening or dwelling place for astral entities to enter. Such entities are a source of negative feelings and thoughts. The fact that you have one of these “holes” indicates that you have a limited idea of yourself. You maybe condemn a part of yourself, suppress it and therefore limit your ability to be in contact with your soul, joy, and inspiration.

For example, a man may consider that masculine energy is superior to the feminine, or that in order to be a “real man,” he must suppress his feminine side. If he believes that the feminine is inferior, he will push it away to the point it becomes completely inaccessible to him, which creates a hole in his aura where his feminine energy could flow but does not.

He does not allow it to incarnate in him and find ground. An astral energy can take advantage of this entry point and radiate feelings and thoughts in accordance with the man’s limiting belief. This astral influence magnifies the man’s limited idea. The feminine is seen not only as inferior or nonessential, but as bad, dangerous, something to be controlled and fought against. The duality in the man’s thinking is reinforced and the natural bond of love between the masculine and feminine is undermined. This seriously affects his relationships with women. He behaves disrespectfully toward women, is not able to process his feelings properly, and can become aggressive and depressed.

3) Influence through clairvoyance

Humans who are bothered by ideas of terrible natural disasters happening to them are being influenced by the exact same kind of thinking that has its roots in the astral world. It is possible for a traveler in the astral sphere to perceive these ideas as objective reality. In addition, fears imagined and magnified by the astral sphere are perceived by clairvoyants on Earth, who interpret these representations of fear as an actual picture of the future. A cycle of fear is thus created. Passing along this kind of information from a lower astral sphere is what clairvoyants have inundated us with throughout the ages, but their predictions about disasters and “end of time calamities” never come true. However, many people take those predictions seriously and become fearful as a result, thus feeding the astral world as it feeds them and completing the circle.

4) Influence through channeling and guides

There are many people in this world who believe they are spiritual teachers, or an incarnation of Jesus or some other well-known personality. Sometimes they are so unbalanced that they end up in a mental institution. If they don’t break free from this delusion during their Earthly life, they can continue their “teachings,” and gather followers after they die. They create their own island of falsehood. Because these islands are usually close to Earth, they are easily picked up by people channeling information.

Anyone who bothers to check channeled information about Jesus (Jeshua) will quickly discover that the channeled information about his life is always different. According to one source, he died on the cross, according to another, he did not. According to one, he married Mary Magdalene, according to another, he did not. These different fabricated stories stem from all the “Jeshuas” in the astral sphere that surrounds Earth, and they actually believe they are him.

How do you recognize the truth? It’s quite simple. Truth frees, truth expands consciousness and truth is love. Truth makes you aware of your inner unity, the richness and beauty of life.

Untruth works with fear. Astral sources detect your fears and amplify them, transforming semi-conscious fears into permanent dualistic beliefs, hindering inner growth.

For example, many people fear having no control over their own lives. An astral channeled source or guide will say, “you have no control over your life, it’s true,  humanity is being manipulated by dark forces behind the scenes.” The first thing many people think when their fears are confirmed is, “You see, I’ve always known this, I’ve always felt this deep inside.” As a result, everything they think revolves around those dark powers, while the process that can really lead to growth, facing one’s own fears, is never entertained. Because this kind of information emanates from lower astral sources, fear becomes frozen in a dualistic worldview; good versus bad, light versus dark. This causes one’s inner growth, which always comes from going inward to transform fear, to be blocked.

People are led to believe via these types of guides that they have acquired deep esoteric knowledge and that the masses are naive and ignorant, thus increasing the belief in duality amongst fellow human beings.

How to deal with astral energies

Astral energies have power over us only if we give them power. When we believe in duality, and in the battle of light against darkness, we deny our inner oneness. By denying our inner unity, we identify with something we are not and create a hole in our aura. Thus, there is a place for an astral entity to enter, which does nothing but validate our fear and confirm our belief in duality.

We free ourselves from astral energies by taking three steps.

 1) Choose beauty

Beauty is a mystery. Why do we enjoy music, a beautiful landscape, a beautiful flower, or a work of art so much? We don’t know exactly. Often beauty is not considered important. What is most important to us in life is usually money, career, and prestige. But beauty does matter. Beauty is nourishment for the soul; indeed, it is the awareness of one’s own soul. To experience beauty is to experience your soul, it is a memory of your soul. You are the beauty you see.

People tend to seek complicated and arduous ways to elevate themselves spiritually. But there is an amazingly straightforward way to elevate yourself—open yourself to beauty and enjoy it. Dwell for a moment on a beautiful flower, a sunrise, take time to listen to music, look up at the night sky and behold the stars. Take it in. Life will become so much more inspiring, and inwardly you will feel richer.

Wherever there is beauty, there is a higher vibration—there is the soul, there is your true self.

2) Choose unconditional love

There are people who hurt their fellow human beings and cause them a lot of pain. You can believe that these people are bad, must be fought against, and that you are right to be extremely angry with them. Or you can say, these are people who were severely damaged as children, people who need love to gradually return to a normal state.

If you choose to go along with mass consciousness and choose to fight and rage, you are choosing to suppress something in yourself—the angel in you, who loves unconditionally, the Christ in you, who tells you to love your enemies.

To choose to love your enemies and to be open to compassion and understanding, is a deep choice for yourself, for your deepest core. Your real self is a source of unconditional love. Within you lives a deep desire to lovingly heal all those damaged people who are so violent and so full of hate. Your inner eye sees the wounded child in them.

Choose to love. First, that means to choose to love yourself. Look honestly at the fearful part of yourself and accept it with understanding and compassion. It is a part of you, but it is not your boss. By consciously embracing it, you free yourself from the astral forces that are using your fear to manipulate you. It is your fear and when you realize this, you won’t allow it to flow into the world where it can manipulate others. To love yourself is to take responsibility for your fears.

3) Choose truth

Truth is not something that can be proven; only in mathematics is proof possible. Truth, however, can be shown; truth can be lived and experienced. What is truth? My definition of it is that unity exists in everything, and love transcends time and space. Ultimately, something that cannot be put into words.

Trust that reality will always bring you into harmony with the truth. You never have to convince other people of your truth, don’t worry about that, leave that to reality. When you express your opinion, you can do so openly and quietly with respect and love for the other person. Only words carried by love can touch and move the heart of another.

Finally, what is unity consciousness?

Above, I talked about unity consciousness. But what does that actually mean? What is Oneness? “We are one” is something totally different from “we are the same.” The unity of which I speak is in fact the opposite. We are all different, we are all unique. Unity includes multiplicity and plurality, and by embracing the uniqueness in yourself, you participate in that unity.

Think of your body. It is a unit, yet all the parts or organs are different, and each has its own function in the service of the whole. They form an organic unity. Everything is different, everything has a different function and is a unique part of the greater whole.

This unity consciousness does not lead to uniformity. On the contrary, it leads to embracing diversity. The paradox is that the very suppression of this unity consciousness leads to uniformity. It is precisely unity consciousness that allows each person to flourish in their own unique way and make their own unique contribution to the beauty of the whole that is humanity. In contrast, the denial of our underlying unity leads to pigeonholing people, ideas, and philosophies which suppresses our unique way of expressing ourselves.

Unity consciousness has two aspects that reflect each other, the awareness that inwardly we are one, and thus can lovingly accept everything in ourselves (dark and light), and the awareness that outwardly we are one, the entire universe around us is one and connected.

Both aspects are deeply connected. If we adhere to a dualistic ideology about the outer world, dividing it into boxes such as “good and evil,” we will suppress and condemn things within ourselves. By doing so, we will perceive the world around us in a disturbed way. This will influence our behavior and contribute to the creation of a discordant society. For example, if a man suppresses the feminine in himself, he will also begin to suppress women around him. If many men do this, a society will be created where the feminine is systematically suppressed with all the  consequences that implies—creation of hierarchy, control, violence, and disharmony with nature.

Unity consciousness sounds lofty, but it begins with something remarkably simple and obvious—self-acceptance. As long as we do not accept ourselves as we are, and suppress or condemn certain parts of ourselves, we remain incomplete. This leads to a disturbed dualistic worldview and to spiritual stagnation. This spiritual stasis often persists after death. When we die, there are many changes, but we take ourselves with us to the other side, and that includes all of our beliefs as well. If we have an incomplete self-image, we create a world on the other side that reflects that in the astral world. The astral world influences the Earth in such a way that it tries to sustain itself by empowering duality on Earth.

Ultimately, unity consciousness is the same as unconditional love. As soon as love becomes conditional, there is duality, and we lose touch with unity consciousness.

Unconditional love is first of all unconditional love for us, we condemn nothing in ourselves, suppress nothing. We look at the darkness within ourselves and embrace it with love and understanding. By becoming whole, we experience the unity and wholeness of the world around us.

This enlightening experience makes the astral world, and all others forces that maintain duality, disappear. Then, people can take on their natural role in the universe and on Earth—that of star children.

© Gerrit Gielen

Edited by Suzy Conway

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