Dear children,

All children of the earth, no matter what color skin they have, which language they speak, what name they have, whether they are little or big, belong to the great Creator-God and are His children. In this awareness, I would like to tell you a story about ten little black boys.
While reading or listening to this story, it would be good to try to remember that everything that we hear and see, everything that we experience, has a deep meaning. All of us should gradually learn to look at the things that happen in life from different sides, because then they often increase in value and meaning. And so, the truth and a deep spiritual meaning is also in the children’s song about the ten little black boys. This and much more is expressed in our story.

Our story begins with one little black boy. What happens in our story could happen anywhere, but since we’re talking about “little black boys,” let’s assume it takes us to Africa. People who have a dark-colored skin live there. This is necessary and good because of the strong radiation of the sun. If you had been born in Africa, then you, too, would have this beautiful brown skin color – you would be a black child.
Little black boys are children. And when we feel deeply into these words with our heart, then we sense that greatness, power and strength is also in the little one, a child or an infant. And since we are referring to “little black boys” here instead of just “black boys,” we sense that a loving regard is expressed in this, that something loving and fine is meant. But let us turn now to our story.

One of the little black boys was called Bamba. Bamba was a youth who liked to travel. He didn’t stay long in one place. After a short while, he traveled on. Bamba still didn’t have a definite goal. If someone asked him what he was looking for, he didn’t want to say. He went one time here and one time there and didn’t know that it was his soul that urged him on.

One morning Bamba left the streets and paths of a village behind him and again walked into a fresh clear day. The words of the village inhabitants which he had heard as he passed by, words of greeting and the like, stayed with him and kept resounding in his head.
As Bamba strode calmly toward the rising sun, whose light was breaking mightily on the horizon, as he heard how the birds sang their many-voiced songs, sounding more and more like a symphony, as he saw how the delicate blossoms of the flowers opened for the new day, and as he felt how the gentle morning breeze caressed his face, Bamba felt his heart open wonderfully wide. One word that still reverberated in him from the morning in the village formed in his inner being, and he spoke it out loud: GOD.
Bamba stood still and then sat down on a tree trunk. Once more, reflectively and reverently, he spoke out the mighty word: GOD.
The sound filled his heart; his soul opened and all at once he knew what he really wanted and to where he was being drawn. In this light-filled hour of his human life, he understood and grasped what he had not been able to understand and grasp before. He now knew that he, a youth, Bamba, was looking for the one, eternal life, God.

In Bamba dwelt a great and mature soul. Touched and stimulated by the forces of nature and the light-energies of the new day, his soul now made itself noticed in the person, Bamba. Bamba’s spiritual consciousness opened and let him recognize more clearly, sense more deeply and feel more vividly what lived in and around him.
All of a sudden, he felt a great love, which until now had been completely foreign to him. “Oh yes!” said Bamba, “Deep in my heart I feel a fine and tender love. It is the love for God.” He was very quiet for a while. “Yes, it is so,” he said, “I feel in my heart that I love God. And because I love Him, I feel the urge to be there for Him. Yes, I want to devote my life to Him.”
Bamba remembered his parents and realized, “My parents taught me to pray at least twice a day.” He shook his head and said to himself, “Praying is good. But prayer alone isn’t enough for me anymore. My heart is beginning to love. So I can’t just stay inactive. I want to do something for God. But what? What can I, a young child, do for this great Creator-God?”

Bamba looked around. During this morning hour, the glory of God touched him. He saw it in everything that surrounded him and praise broke forth from him. He wanted to grow closer to this great, mighty Spirit, who is the life, the glory, in everything. But how could this happen?
Deep in Bamba’s heart, a great love for God grew more and more. He let the streams of his heart flow into his world of sensations and feelings. He now felt very clearly that it wouldn’t be at all possible to come to God alone. He suddenly knew – and for him this knowledge was the truth: To find God means to find God by way of his neighbor. He knew that all people are children of God and that God is their eternal Father.

Bamba got up and slowly went on his way. He learned very quickly to pay attention to the voice of his heart and to listen to it alone. The voice of his heart was his fine inner feelings and the sensations of his heart, which formed more and more clearly into thoughts. Bamba sensed and sensed, and thought and thought, and felt God’s wisdom in himself.
The midday heat set in. Bamba became tired and looked for a shady spot. After he had eaten a little and drunk from a spring, he fell asleep.
As he awoke, he knew right away that he had dreamed. He remembered so plainly and clearly what he had dreamed that he was sure that God, the eternal power, also wanted to tell him something through this dream. It showed him that the great community of people is the unity in God. Bamba understood: Only when all people are one, living in and for God, is life on earth worthwhile. In his dream he recognized that a great unity can help God more than the individual can. He dreamed of a journey through Africa on which he would meet nine other little black boys. In the dream he saw that they were strong together. His dream also showed him that they had something in common, a task together. And this task was to travel throughout the world in order to meet people who in their inner being were also looking for God, the eternal life, and who were ready to begin a life according to His commandments.

The dream faded slowly, but the knowledge it brought stayed with him. Bamba now knew for certain what it was that urged him to travel. It was his soul, which wanted to go the path to God.
He thought: “What can only one do on his own? I will journey all over the continent on which I live. Soon there will be more little black children who feel the same desire as I do: to grow closer to God and to serve God.”
Strengthened in his inner being and with the power of his decision, Bamba set out on his way again, full of trust in God who guides all things.
Bamba prayed a lot and he continued to pay attention to the fine feelings and sensations of his inner being. He spoke to the animals, the plants and to the stones as well; he praised and glorified the Creator-God, the light in all things, and recognized many things. Above all, he recognized that God, the life, always gives. He put it into words: Life is giving. He felt that this giving life was the love that filled his heart and that this love is God.

§

As long as Bamba lingered in nature, among the plants, animals and stones and was linked with them, as long as he saw God, the light, the giving love, in the earth, the water, the air, in the far firmament, in the sun, the moon and the stars, all was good. Bamba felt himself in unity with all these forms of creation.
It was a beautiful life, easy, free and without great problems. Bamba was content and in harmony. In the evening he already looked forward to the coming new day. He now had a very close and profound relationship with God, whose spirit is in all things. More and more, he recognized himself as the child, a son, of this mighty Creator-God.

But Bamba’s path also led him to people again, and many things were different there. People thought a lot and were never satisfied with what they had. They always wanted more. They wanted everything only for themselves, in order to be richer, stronger, better, smarter and more powerful than their neighbor. This is why they often did not say what they really thought. They told lies in order to go behind their neighbor’s back, to gain an advantage for themselves.
Bamba experienced envy, greed, ill-will, animosity, vindictiveness and much more. He noticed that people were often not for each other, but rather against each other. The one pressured the other, so that the other would do what he, the one, wanted. Many were geared toward taking and not giving. Each one thought: “For me! For me! For me!” and “Me, me, only me.” How things went for their fellow man didn’t matter at all to many.
Bamba recognized that all this went against the God of love, and that the person made his ego, his negativity, into an idol, serving it in his thinking and acting, instead of God, the Eternal.
Bamba decided that he did not want to think and live in this way. But as soon as he was among people, as soon as he talked with them, worked and lived with them, he had to recognize that he, himself, was also still not free from envy, from pretense, from greed and other things.
Bamba, who had decided to serve God, the selflessly giving love, and to tell others about Him, was shocked to see so much that was negative and human in himself, too. In prayer, he entrusted himself over and over again to God, his eternal Father, asked Him for forgiveness and strove to discard his faults and no longer commit them.
Out of all his experiences – with himself and others –what lay especially in Bamba’s heart for this earthly life became clearer and clearer: his task. Bamba, the first little black boy, set out as a messenger of God to live and teach the first commandment, which is:

I Am the Lord, your God. You shall have no other gods before Me.

With other gods, Bamba understood this to be the pressing world of desires, the wanting, of people. For instance, the desire and striving to gain power over others, to acquire wealth and prestige in order to be able to control others, the desire to keep people as slaves and to oppress them. Likewise, it served the gods of the ego to acquire prestige by way of lies, as when people talk badly about others in order to look good themselves. This and much more is against the first commandment, because all these are the gods of the human ego, the wanting to be and to have, around which so many thoughts circle.
Thoughts are forces. Low thoughts – which are against the giving, divine love and thus directed against our neighbor – are negative forces. They are energies that build up and condense into forms. They mass together and become invisible shapes, like thought-entities which put themselves above the great love of God.
Bamba said to himself, “One cannot serve two masters. Either one serves the true God, or one serves his idols. The one who wants to serve the true God takes the path of self-recognition and actualization of the commandments of God, in order to find his way into the fulfillment of the commandments of life, of the highest commandment of love. All other paths lead us into the external world, into humanness, and these leave the person stranded. They lead him into a maze out of which the individual can find his way only with great difficulty.”

Bamba felt very clearly: Only through self-recognition and actualization does a person find himself, his way into his inner being, where the divine dwells. Thus, the path to the heart of God is at the same time the path into one’s own inner being. Each one has to find and walk this path himself, but the one who has found it can help his neighbors on their path.
Bamba went on. He knew that day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, he would still have to learn many things and recognize and clear them up on himself, in order to become a wise teacher. He said to himself, “Bamba, before you teach others about spiritual things, you have to first actualize yourself what you pass on. That is the real and true teacher and that is also the true teaching and the right path.”
This is what Bamba resolved to do and he kept to this.

§

On his journey Bamba talked to the animals and to the flowers. He learned the language of the animals and the plants, so to speak, by feeling into them, by putting himself on the level of their fine, delicate sensations with his own sensations. And so, he lived in peace and in friendship with the animals, the flowers, the stones, with the water, the earth and the sun, the moon and the stars. In this way, he was never alone or lonely.
What Bamba recognized in himself, he thought about or spoke out loud. He brought it before God, his and our Father, in deep prayer and in many brief words of prayer during the day. He turned to Him in all things. The heavenly Father helped him to reach a correct realization in wonderful ways. Bamba learned to make clear decisions and to follow his inner recognitions. He also recognized that the true God leaves His children their free will.
God, the eternal, true One, does not turn away from any person. Only the gods turn away very quickly from those who do not pay homage to them. One recognizes the gods, which are the same as idols, from the fact that they cause images to be made of themselves, rituals and dogmas to be introduced and cling to customs and habits. But God is freedom. He has not placed such things into the hearts of people. He wants all people to find Him in their own hearts, deep in the very basis of their souls.

Bamba thought and spoke to himself out loud, “It’s important for all of us that there’s no place for gods beside the true God.” Bamba recognized all of this and much more. He strove for this day after day and kept to it, too. This attitude toward life made him happy and glad.

When Bamba joined other people in order to live with them a few days and earn his bread with the work of his hands to buy a few daily necessities, it could be seen whether or not he was faithful to his recognitions and good resolutions. Because then all sorts of temptations came toward him. What he had recognized in his inner being and found to be good and correct, what he had decided to do and to keep – all of this was now put to the test.
Again and again, Bamba had to decide anew – just like every person, who takes the tasks of his days on earth seriously, has to decide again and again. He didn’t always make the right decision right away, but then he felt a heavy feeling in himself and felt the pangs of conscience. He could become really happy, from inside himself, only when he had cleared up his faults and thought about his principles again, about the divine commandments and his task. His love for God helped him to overcome these difficulties.

§

The first messenger of God continued through the countryside. On his journey he industriously practiced recognizing and conquering his negative human aspects and actualizing the commandments of God. In this way, he gained inner wisdom. He devoted himself completely to God and walked on knowing that he would find more children who felt and thought as he did. He would meet them at the right time.
One day he met a second little black boy. He addressed Bamba in a friendly way and asked, “Where are you going all alone? If you don’t mind, I’d like to go along with you.”
Bamba, whose heart was filled with God, answered him and asked a lot of other questions: “Why are you on a journey?” “What are you looking for?” “What is your goal?” The other answered willingly and they had gone only a little way with each other when that one decisive word, the holy name, GOD, was spoken.
It was very soon evident that his new traveling companion – in a completely different way – had also found God. Both felt a close connection right away. The one knew immediately what the other was talking about – we could say that they spoke the same language. The decisive question “Are you for God?” was answered automatically. And so, Bamba could talk about other important points right away, “Tell me, which commandment do you speak of? What viewpoint do you represent?”
The eyes of the second little black boy shone and he said, “My name is Bruswalin, a messenger of God. I speak of the second commandment which is:

Give honor to God alone. When you speak of God, your Lord, then speak in reverence and with veneration about the All-Holy-One, because God is omnipotent, eternal life, which serves all forms of life.

The Eternal is the giver. He gives and gives and never takes anything from His children. This eternal One is our heavenly Father. Because he is the infinite, eternal love, which has touched my heart, I am on a journey as a messenger of God, in order to teach my fellow man, so that he finally stops soiling His holy name with swear words and blaspheming Him, so that he stops taking His holy name in vain in this way, honoring instead base egos. To God alone is due honor and praise. This is what I carry into the world.”
Bamba said, “Bruswalin, you are my brother and in the image of God. If you wish, come with me and you will experience many things, because I am God’s messenger for the first commandment.”
Both children looked at each other, took each others hands and bowed before the eternal All-One, who had taken hold of their hearts and whom they served.
They went on together. They let themselves be led by the inner light, which they obeyed. Day by day, they actualized what the day showed them.
Since both of them had the same goal, the same task and the same path, they understood each other well. They exchanged recognitions and experiences. They shared their food with each other as well as their joys and sorrows. They also had similar inner struggles to endure when their human faults came up again.

They recognized that on the path to God, you progress much more quickly when you do not walk alone. In living together with others, one can recognize one’s own human weaknesses better and get help to overcome these weaknesses and faults.
Both friends recognized many things and solved many a difficulty with each other. When they sometimes found fault with each other and one of them became annoyed with the other, then they knew that both of them had this fault. So each cleared up his own fault and resolved to change himself. Then they lent strength to each other in a positive sense, encouraging each other and helping each other actualize.
The more human aspects they discarded, the more often they met people to whom they could give the message of life, the first and second commandment.
Dear children, our story would be very long if I were to tell in detail about the life of the other little black boys. You should know that the days on earth become really interesting, lively and exciting, only when one strives to grow nearer to God in the deed. This means to put the commandments of God we recognize into practice. This is why Bamba and Bruswalin didn’t have to complain about being bored.
For those who can’t really imagine this, I have a suggestion: Just try it for yourself!

§

Their journey went over fields, through woods and villages. In their hearts, Bamba and Bruswalin knew that they would meet the third messenger of God. And so it happened. One day, they met the third little black boy. This one, too, had been touched by the Creator-God and he asked if he could go along with Bamba and Bruswalin.
Once more, Bamba asked the deciding questions about his goal and about God. Then he asked, “Tell me, which commandment do you represent?”
Without having to think about it, the child said, “I call myself Brumlin and represent the third commandment:

You shall keep holy the Sabbath, the holy day.

The third commandment says that on the six days of work all people should fulfill the law of “pray and work.” On the seventh day they should rest, in order to draw new strength, new energy, and in order to go into the stillness, because God dwells in the stillness. There, they should worship Him and praise, honor and glorify Him.

And so, after a strenuous week of work, the seventh day comes, the day of rest and stillness.
Besides this, I teach that one should respect God in everything, including the nature kingdoms. This is why particularly the seventh day is meant for walks in nature, in order to feel life as a whole: God is in all things and He is omnipresent.”

Dear children, we call the day of rest, Sunday. In other religions, for instance, in Islam, the Sabbath is on Saturday. No matter which day we take – the week should always have a day of stillness. Each day every person should draw from God’s omnipotence and love, but the one day of rest, the day of stillness, is the day of going within and of reflection. On this day the person should become more and more aware that he is the temple of God and that God dwells in him. In this way, he prepares himself again for another week of work.

Brumlin continued to speak, “And to respect the inner rest and stillness, to enter into the temple of the inner being, is my teaching in the third commandment.”
Bamba and Bruswalin listened to Brumlin very attentively and then, filled with conviction, said, “If you like, come with us.” And so it happened.

§

Brumlin went with them and together the three little boys traveled throughout the country. Soon a fourth little black boy approached them. Again, Bamba asked his questions. And the answers showed that this little boy was also prepared and had experienced God’s guidance in his life.
The fourth little boy introduced himself as Braswa and said, “I represent the fourth commandment.”

You shall honor your father and mother.“

Bruswalin asked, “How do you teach this commandment?”
“I teach it as follows,” said Braswa. “Nothing in life happens by chance. Recognize that God has given each child his parents on earth, so that they can care for their child; the heavenly Father has given the child into their care, so that they may take care of it and be an example for it, because it should master its life on earth as a good, God-conscious person. The parents are the child’s big brother and sister, who have already had their experiences on earth and can therefore stand by and help the growing child. It is also possible that the parents and child were led together to fulfill a mission for God on earth.”

Braswa continued, “Besides this, I teach the children that God dwells in their earthly parents – just as in them – and in the eternal heavens they are all brothers and sisters, children of one, eternal, heavenly Father.
Often the souls of the parents and their children have already been involved with each other in another earthly life as human beings. If there is still any guilt between them from their previous days on earth, then they should clear it up with each other during this life on earth.
I also teach that people are not led together by chance, but through the invisible bonds that link them, because God guides and leads each person and each soul as it is good for soul and person. However, God thinks first of the soul and second of the person, because the soul is what bears the eternal life. Deep in the basis of the soul is the pure, is God and the being in God.
Thus, I teach children and also grown-ups to respect each other and to love each other selflessly. Children should respect and value their parents – as well as their fellow men.”
 

With shining eyes, Braswa continued, “God works through good parents, who keep the commandments of the Eternal. Without God, nothing would exist, because God is everything in all things. He is in our soul and in every cell of our body. And so, God is in each one of us. He is Father as well as Mother to every spirit being, to every soul and thus, to every human being. He is the Father-Mother-God.”
“Hurrah!” cried the three little black boys. “If you like, stay with us and go with us into the wide world.”
And Braswa went with them. They felt the strength that came from the fact that several people, four already, with the same goal and the same task walked the same path together.
With each other they were strong, and the Spirit of God, our eternal Father, was with them. They served God, the eternal law of love, and God, the eternal law of love, prepared the way for them. His light filled them and radiated through them and shone upon them on their way.
The more each one of them increased in light and power through self-recognition, actualization and fulfillment of the divine laws, the better God could work through them. They walked over hill and dale, and each day brought them new tasks which they fulfilled.

§

Soon they met the fifth little black boy. Bamba expressed his maxim again. The fifth little boy nodded, looked at the four brothers with shining eyes and said, “I have been waiting for you. I am Balwin and represent the fifth commandment of God.”

You shall not kill.

I teach it as follows: People, large and small, should respect life, not matter in which form it shows itself. In people, in animals, in the plants and stones – in everything is God. Everything lives through God, because God is the life and the life is omnipresent. Everything that exists, everything that lives, lives solely through God. In the smallest thing is the greatest, the mighty Creator-Spirit, and in the greatest is contained the smallest, again the mighty Creator-Spirit.
Strive to behold the life, God, in everything, then you will marvel more and more and serve this mighty, eternal power, which holds everything in its kind hands, which loves everything, because the highest power, God, is love.”
Balwin continued to draw from the fifth commandment, saying, “Never extinguish a life wantonly. The one who kills animals willfully burdens his soul and also kills a part of his own earthly life. The one who willfully crushes and pulls out plants crushes underfoot a part of his life. The one who kills people kills, as it were, a part of his own earthly life.
The time will come when the effects will come to those people who do not respect the will of God, who also tread underfoot the fifth commandment: You shall not kill. A person reaps what he has sown. The one who raises a weapon – a sword or even his fist – against his fellow man will die by the weapon.
I also teach that the one who has only wished death to others has already violated the fifth commandment. This and more is my teaching, which I represent.”

Bamba, Bruswalin, Brumlin and Braswa said to Balwin, “Do you want to come with us? For each of us represents a commandment, the first, second, third and fourth.”

And Balwin said, “I know I belong with you,” and set off with the four little black boys – and so they were five.

§

As the five little boys congenially went on, they continued to talk about the fifth commandment for a long time. They spoke about the fact that many animals have taken over the programs of hunting and killing from people and now hunt and consume other animals.
They also talked about the fact that the path that leads to killing starts with little, negative thoughts, with thoughts of envy, of belittlement, of greed. They talked about how negative thoughts also result in negative words and finally in an evil deed. They talked about how all evil things have to be recognized and cleared up in time.
The five messengers of God talked about the path of purification, which begins with the recognition of one’s sins and with deep remorse. Then follows asking for forgiveness and forgiving and making amends as long as this is still possible. But most important is to no longer commit the negativity recognized, but to act well and lawfully in the future.
Each one of the five brothers now paid special attention to his thoughts. If he recognized envy or ill-will or even animosity in them, he cleared them up quickly, because each one of them wanted to purify his soul, in order to grow closer to God, the great love, and in order to become a true, selfless teacher and messenger of God.
Bruswalin said, “Now we are already five. I feel in my soul that we are becoming stronger and stronger, because we are forming a unity.”

They continued on and it wasn’t long until the sixth little black boy, named Dalwen, approached them. Bamba, the oldest, ascertained with his questions whether Dalwen was the companion they were looking for. Then Dalwen named the commandment for which he bore responsibility.

He said: “I am the messenger of God for the sixth commandment:

You shall not commit adultery.”

“How do you teach that” asked Braswa.
And Dalwen explained, “I teach it as follows. Respect one another, because God is also in each one of you. To partners for life, I say: If you truly love each other, then you have made a covenant with God, for true love contains faithfulness. God is faithfulness.
Do not look only at the faults which we all have – feel ever more in your heart that God dwells in each one of you, and in your partner. Respect and cherish your neighbor and leave him his freedom, so that he can unfold as he wants. As for you, develop toward God, open up and unfold your pure inner being and live a fulfilled life. Then you will be an example for your neighbor and a support, as well.
Every person shall recognize that he is a child of God, that all are equal before God and that God loves us all equally. Even though we are all burdened in different ways and are at different levels of development – we are all on the way back to divinity, to our eternal homeland. God, the great Spirit, beholds us as perfect – just as He created us.
Recognize: God, our Father, created us free beings and gave us the freedom of decision, eternally. A spiritual law reads: Do not do unto others what you do not want to have done unto you. The one who keeps this law will also maintain peace with his fellow man. And so, leave your partner for life his or her free will.
Know that everyone has faults and weaknesses – you, too. Learn to find God in your neighbor and then you will respect, cherish and love your fellow man. You have been led together in order to carry out a task with one another.
This and much more is given to you and to everyone for your earthly lives. Think about and fulfill what the days show you, for only then do you really live.
And do not ask why you have this man or woman for a partner – God alone knows why He has led you to this person. God alone knows what there is to be cleared up between you. And so, honor God in your neighbor and become a brother or a sister to him. Do not hurt him through malicious gossip and slander and then you will not be hurt either.”
The five little boys said, “Dalwen, you are one of us. Do you want to come with us?”
And Dalwen said, “I will go with you, because I know my task.”

§

Whenever another messenger of God joined the small band, the joy was always great. However, this also meant new tasks for all of them. For just as the traveling companions took a new brother into their ranks, in the same way they accepted what he brought with him: his teaching. Each time, they decided to keep and to follow these important spiritual laws in their life together.
And so, they always had tasks which they endeavored to fulfill daily. When one of them sometimes forgot what they had decided on with each other, then the others reminded him about it. They helped him so that he could fulfill what he had promised himself and God and his companions.

I would like to give you an example: Braswa, the messenger for the fourth commandment of God had said, “Children and adults should respect and love each other selflessly and should respect and cherish all their fellow men.” Then the four little black boys talked about what this meant for them.
Finally Bamba said, “Just as God, the great Spirit, loves all His children, so will I, with Him, love His children, my brothers and sisters. And so, I want to show all people respect and high regard, no matter how they act toward me.”
Bruswalin and Brumlin saw in this their main task, that they should be an example for many of their fellow men. “And I also want to make myself aware of this again and again when I become careless again,” said Braswa.
On the following day and continuing after that, all four of them had the opportunity to practice this. They often sat together in the evening and shared experiences about how the tasks had gone for them. They also laughed a lot, because the situations of the day went so very differently than they had planned before. “It doesn’t matter when we sometimes fall on our face,” they often said. “The main thing is that we get up again and see things better next time.”
As now Dalwen spoke of the spiritual principle that said: “Do not do unto another what you do not want done unto you,” they all recognized immediately how important this sentence was. “It is so simple,” they said to each other. “Let’s take this rule to heart from now on, so that the peace of God can be among us and we can bring peace to our brothers and sisters.”
And each day there were many, many opportunities to apply this simple rule of togetherness.
In your life, too, dear children, there are such occasions. You will recognize them if you are alert and attentive.

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The six little black boys continued on, sure that the seventh little boy would soon follow. And this is the way it happened. One day they met the seventh little boy. He was called Duschlar.
Bamba opened the conversation and the seventh little black boy answered, “I am a messenger of the seventh commandment of God:

You shall not steal.

I teach as follows: Do not take anything that does not belong to you. Do not have your eyes on the valuables and belongings of your fellow man, because then you become envious, and envy contains the desire to steal what does not belong to you.
But the seventh commandment contains even more. Do not steal your neighbor’s time, by involving him in conversations that are meaningless and long-winded, that is, that will not bear good fruit.
Respect your neighbor’s possessions, then you will also receive what you need for your life and you will not become a receiver of stolen goods or a thief.
Every person will be given that amount of earthly goods that is good for his soul. This means that each one receives what he is entitled to, what he has worked for in an honest way in previous lives and in this life as well.
To each will be given according to his state of consciousness. The one who daily practices openness, honesty and respectability will be a good person who is pleasing to God. Then he will never be in need. Only the one who is poor in his inner being is envious and can turn into a thief.”

Duschlar continued, “I also teach that nothing happens by chance in life. The one who has created good living conditions for himself through good, honest work and the one who puts God, the life, in first place, will also have a secure roof over his head and own everything that he needs. The one who devotes himself selflessly to God will also receive from God. To put God in first place means to to keep the commandments of life, that is, to cherish, love, strive for and live the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh commandments.
Stealing is against the law of life, which contains giving. Furthermore, it means that just as you give, in the same way you will receive. The one who takes this or that from his neighbor is stealing. And one day he will have to pay it back with compound interest. People who keep the seventh commandment will share in their lives. They will give their neighbor as much as is good for his soul, because the person who fulfills all the commandments recognizes his fellow man and knows whom he has before him.
I also admonish in my teachings and ask questions, like, why do so many people have the tendency to steal the valuables of others? My answer is that very likely they hardly have any value in themselves, in their inner being. Often the stolen articles are not even an enrichment for the one who has stolen them – he doesn’t know what to do with them, because they do not fit his state of consciousness, that is, his spiritual development.
What do you gain when you act like a thief and adorn yourselves with things that do not belong to you? You shine before your neighbor for only a brief time, like a match that flares up and then goes out very quickly. Learn to please God in all things and to do His will, so that you remain righteous in every situation.”
The six little boys nodded to Duschlar. He drew closer to them and said, “I belong with you.”

§

And so, Bamba, Bruswalin, Brumlin, Braswa, Balwin, Dalwen and Duschlar continued on their way. It wasn’t long before they met the eighth little black boy.
The eighth little boy looked into the shining eyes of his seven spiritual brothers and knew immediately that he was one of them. Bamba asked him the questions that we already know and Diviana – this is the name of the eighth little black boy – said, “I am a messenger of God and represent the eighth commandment:

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

I teach it as follows: Why do you want to cause harm to your fellow men by lying, that is, spreading untruths about them? Before you say such things, ask yourselves: What has your neighbor done to you? Are you better than the ones about whom you spread untruths?

Recognize: First see the beam in your own eye before you report about the splinter in your brother’s eye. Pay attention to your words, so that they don’t become your undoing. For not only deeds, but also thoughts and words are powers. Words can cause much that is evil. However, it is your evil words that enter your soul and then you will have to suffer under them one day.

Learn to recognize yourself in the commandments of life. Compare your behavior to the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth commandments. Then you will recognize that all people are brothers and sisters. If you are against your brother or sister, you are also against God. How do you think to enter heaven, when God, the Eternal, is the heaven? You can enter heaven only with your brother, with your sister, but never if you are against them.
May each one recognize that what he sows into the field of his life, into his soul – he will also reap again. Every thought pushes to be actualized. What goes out from a person falls back onto him again.”
Diviana continued to speak, “I know I belong with you and will journey with you.”

All seven rejoiced – and so they were eight.

Bamba thought, “There are only two little black boys still missing; two commandments are still missing.”

§

The joy was great when they met the ninth little black boy – Driwi, who introduced himself by saying, “I am a messenger of God for the ninth commandment:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s property.

I teach it as follows: Recognize that nothing is your property – everything is only loaned to you, including your houses, your apartments, your facilities, your money and possessions. The one who envies what his neighbor only administers wants to possess only for himself. And the one who does not administer his property and wants to possess it only for himself will lose it.
We are all on a journey through this earthly existence. We should not devote our lives to chasing after money and goods in order to possess them. We should respect our life, by keeping the commandments; then we are merely stewards of what God has given us to take care of.
What can you take with you into the other realms? If you were to die today, could you take your house, your car, your money and possessions with you? You would have to leave everything behind. This should lead you to recognize that you are only the steward of what you seem to own.
The one who lets go of his wanting, of wanting to be, to own and to have, will fulfill the will of the eternal God more and more. Each one of us receives what is offered to him for recognition, in order to unfold his soul to higher levels. A person will have to recognize tomorrow or later in the soul realms what he does not recognize today.
We are all called to value the house, the apartment, the facility, money and property of others and to see every person as a child of God, to whom this is only loaned so that he may share it. Let us think wisely about the following: Every one receives what is good for his soul, in order to gain recognition.
The one who practices justice will no longer be self-righteous. The one who is not self-righteous knows that he is only the steward of what was given to him. He will then also share it.
The one who strives for justice attains higher values. He no longer clings to materialism, but values the good of all. Then he enters the common good which is: One for all and all for One. This is what I teach,” said Driwi. “May I go with you? Because I feel that you are what I have been looking for.”
All eight of the little black boys nodded and joyfully took Driwi into their band.

There was a great and deep unity among the little black boys. Each one of them represented another law or commandment of God, and nevertheless these commandments were only aspects of the one great commandment of love. This greatest commandment: “Love God, your Father, with all of your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your might, and your neighbor as yourself!” was engraved in all their hearts.
The hearts of these messengers of God were great, because they had opened their hearts for God, the eternal Spirit, and served Him, by serving their fellow men, their brothers and sisters. Although they were only little boys, their hearts, as well as their souls, shone, because their daily actualization filled them with the light and the power of God.
Each one of them had a different character and different capabilities. This was good, because then each one could contribute different qualities to the community. Each one worked his way into the “with one another” and the “for one another.” And so, they helped and supported and complemented each other. They encouraged each other, affirmed and strengthened each other positively and were thus a community filled with strength.

The nine little boys knew that one commandment was still missing from their circle, and so they asked God, their Father, to guide this one to them soon. And it happened after a few days.
The tenth little black boy looked into the shining eyes of his nine brothers and said, “I am one of you. My name is Duswa. I am a messenger of God. I represent the tenth commandment:

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

This commandment is close to the ninth commandment, because the ninth commandment says: Do not envy your neighbor what he owns. I teach it as follows:
Every person receives what is due to him. Everything that he owns beyond that, he has stolen from his fellow man.
The word ‘to covet’ means ‘to lust for.’ Every lust leads to listlessness and bad temper. Therefore, do not let yourself lust after a woman or a man, after the manservant or maidservant, after the ox and the ass. Recognize and know that lust does not lead to gain, but to poverty. You will lose what you think you have gained through your lust, through your craving, through your greed.
When people entrust themselves to each other, then they should bear responsibility for each other and stand together in the right way.
Recognize that the tenth commandment also contains the awareness of responsibility and faithful-ness – faithfulness to God, to your fellow man and to the animals as well, which are the second neighbors of man. When people take animals to live with them, then they bear responsibility for them. And so, respect the animals that are in your house or on your property. And if a manservant or a maidservant lives and serves in your home, you should serve him first.
Be a steward of what is entrusted to you. Do not live beyond your means, beyond the level of your consciousness, or you will also lose what has been entrusted to you.
Recognize: ‘All of us are only guests on earth and journey toward the eternal home without rest and with many a pain.’ You journey without rest and with pain only when you lay your burden onto your neighbor. If you want others to serve you and you let yourself be served, if others serve you, thus waiting on you, then they give you their energies. One day you will have to give back these energies and to bear the burdens that you have placed on others.
Let go of your cravings, otherwise you will be weighted down one day.
We human beings are called to serve our neighbor, as well as the animals, plants and minerals. And especially the animals, plants and minerals want to serve us, too. The one who takes a step in selfless service will also receive from God, according to the state of his consciousness.
Learn to recognize God’s will and His works in all things. The one who keeps the commandments of God will recognize that God is not separate from His creation; there is nothing that is unrelated – everything flows because God is in all things. Everything has a deep meaning. You should come to know this.”
Duswa said to his brothers, “May I go with you?” They all nodded and were glad to have found each other.
They are now ten. Ten little black boys bringing the Ten Commandments and wanting to serve children and grown-ups. With this, they show that whether a person is black, white, yellow or red – we are all children of God and are all loved by the one Father in heaven.

It was a great and festive moment when all ten messengers of God stood together in a clearing in the forest. The day was ending, the sun had sent its last silvery rays through the high trees surrounding the clearing. The moon could already be seen against the deep blue sky and some stars blinked already in the firmament.
The ten little black boys took in the deep stillness of the forest and heard how the wind sang through the crown of the trees and played in the grass as if on the strings of a harp.

The hearts of the ten brothers filled with sound and song. Sensations of thankfulness to God, the mighty, all-wise and all-kind Spirit, sung out into the clear air, which seemed to be more transparent, clearer and deeper than ever before.
Long did they stand there in reverent silence. Then Bamba spoke, saying, “Dear brothers, we have been led together by God. We personify His Ten Commandments. Let us journey through the world together and bring our fellow brothers and sisters an understanding of them.
Whether yellow, red, black or white, whether big or small, whether blond, brown or black, whether young or old – sooner or later we all have to recognize that we are on earth in order to grow closer to God. We have learned and experienced that no person alone can come to God, because God is the unity and the community of all righteous people. Only in community is it possible to grow closer to God, because God is the unity, that is, community. The important spiritual principles of the community in God are: One shall serve the other in equality, freedom, unity and brotherliness, which lead to justice.

Brothers, let us stay together and go the path to the Lord together. The mighty Creator-God, our eternal Father, is at our side. He is the guide, the leader and the light in each one of us. In all that we think, speak and do, we want to praise, honor and glorify Him and prove ourselves as His children, by loving our eternal Father from our heart.
Yes, we love God, our almighty, eternal Father in heaven, and His Son, Christ, who is our Redeemer.”
All ten turned toward the shining countenance of the others, thus forming a circle, knelt and spoke a deep prayer of thanks:
 

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