31. Here it must be added, however, that this condition is justified when one sees in Livets Bog that the comparatively primitive moral standard on the earth at this time, with its promotion of murder, war and mutilation, is identical with the release of the accumulated total effect of each individual's manifestation of egoistical inclinations or lower tendencies. Seen from a cosmic point of view, terrestrial mankind collectively consists of one assembled body in which each single individual makes up one unit. The single individual's manifestation therefore cannot release itself in any other way whatsoever than by being identical with a participating factor in the fate formation of the whole of mankind. As the entire universe is sustained by eternal laws which determine cause and effect and whose most extreme consequences will bring about pleasantness or unpleasantness - which again is the same as saying that no form of manifestation whatsoever can exist without being identical either with the releasing factor for pleasantness or with the releasing factor for unpleasantness - then this Earth's present moral misery, with corresponding outbreaks of suffering, is in reality only a question of cause and effect. So the present state of mankind expresses the fact that the majority of its individuals in their daily life have been releasing causes, the effects of which in the deepest analysis are following the eternal laws of existence and are therefore bound to appear as unpleasant for mankind collectively. This again means that if the same majority of those individuals in their daily life had caused the opposite, humanity's present existence would have been as comparatively happy and constructive in the daily life of the community as it is now unhappy and destructive. The moral darkness which has manifested itself on the Earth is not to be regarded as some "punishment from Hell" or "damnation" which has overshadowed people, but, on the contrary, these expressions - wherever they appear - must be regarded as identical with parables or symbols suitable for a primitive faculty of perception. However, what has happened is that to a high degree human beings have released causes without knowing about the far-reaching consequences of the effects. Now, after the release in the world of these effects as realistic facts, a very good background is given for the individual's recognition of his own spiritual ignorance and helplessness, and thus an exceptionally strong and stimulating basis arises for the same individual's receptiveness to quite a new spiritual enlightenment, or wisdom. Indeed, this can be to such a degree that the result is a whole new, much more complete and more suitable cultural basis or world morality both for present and future human experiences, talents and perceptiveness. Inside this area the individual's experience of his own identity as an immortal being, as a son of God and as a human being practising neighbourly love, has become a natural habit or characteristic, thereby making everlasting peace a fact for all the continents of the world. This later stage of suffering on Earth therefore has brought good with it in that the possibility has been created for a new and better form of existence to make its entry into the earthly sphere.