In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message is a classic work that offers clear and perceptive answers to questions which challenge every human being. Written between the years 1923 - 1938, it is a collection of 168 essays addressing all spheres of life ranging from God and the Universe to the Laws in Creation, the meaning of life, responsibility, free will, intuition and the intellect, the ethereal world and the beyond, justice and love. It answers eternal questions such as what does it mean to be human, what is the purpose of life on Earth, and what happens to "me" when I die. In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message explains the causes and significance of the unprecedented crises facing humanity, and our responsibilities to the future.
Concerning In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message, Abd-ru-shin writes, "I wish to fill the gaps which so far have remained unanswered in the souls of men as burning questions, and which never leave any serious thinker in peace."
Throughout The Grail Message readers are urged to weigh questions and answers intuitively, to confront them within their own life experiences, and only to believe that which they can perceive inwardly. Only through this process can one reach true conviction in one's life.
The author, Abd-ru-shin, was born in 1875 in Bischofswerda, Germany. His given name was Oskar Ernst Bernhardt. After being educated and trained in business, he established himself in Dresden and became financially successful. In the years that followed, he made many journeys abroad, and wrote successful travel books, stories, and plays.
After residing for some time in New York, Mr. Bernhardt journeyed to England, and in 1913, moved to London. There, the outbreak of World War I took him unawares, and in 1914 he was interned on the Isle of Man.
The seclusion of internment brought with it an inner deepening. He reflected continuously over questions connected with the meaning of life, birth and death, responsibility and free will, and with God and Creation. More and more the desire awakened within him to help humanity. He was released in the Spring of 1919 and returned to Germany.
In the 1920s, Abd-ru-shin gave public lectures. His explanation of the Knowledge of Creation resounded among his hearers. He began to write the first lectures for In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message in 1923.
In 1928, Abd-ru-shin settled in Austria on a mountain plateau called Vomperberg, where he continued writing The Grail Message. The seizure of power in Austria by the Nazis in 1938 ended his work there. On March 12 of that year he was arrested, and his land and property were appropriated without compensation. In September, he was placed under house arrest, first in Schlauroth near Gorlitz, and later in Kipsdorf in the Erzgebirge, where he was constantly under surveillance by the Gestapo. He was forbidden any further work for making the Message known publicly.
On December 6, 1941, Abd-ru-shin died from the effects of these measures.
