307. That which is so "dreadful" or so "harsh" in the sufferings of living beings cannot be attributed to Providence, but exclusively to those beings themselves. Their sufferings are due solely to their use of self-chosen incorrect fate-energies. The fact that in such cases they cannot experience the same result as if they had used the correct energies, cannot in any circumstances whatsoever be an expression of a lack of love on the part of Nature or of Providence. On the contrary, it can indeed only express the highest and most perfect order and regularity within the structure of the Universe, a regularity which again is the basis for all the creation of intellectuality in living beings, a regularity upon which all evolution is thereby exclusively based, a regularity which makes it possible for the living being to rise to higher and higher and more and more perfect planes of existence, towards greater and greater happiness and light.
      Thus the regularity and structure of the Universe is to the very high-est degree based on love. The fact that living beings are free to experience how different energies and materials react and work when they are wrongly combined is certainly just as divine as their experience of those same materials' reactions when rightly combined. And the fact that the right combinations bring about love, divine harmony and perfect creation while the wrong ones do the opposite, can only give the living being perfect freedom in creating every detail of his destiny.
      As we will see in later, more specific analyses in "Livets Bog", the divine "Something" or the I behind the organism is an absolutely free agent where all the energies and substances in existence are concerned. Whatever the energy might be, it obeys the I's least wish or command. And it is by this wish or command that its present organism and consciousness – indeed, the whole of its fate – has been created. Every detail in this fate, both the microscopic as well as the more visible, is the irrefutable fulfilment of previous wishes or desires regarding the choice of fate-energies or substances. That the chosen energies later prove unable to harmonize together but create an unhappy fate, is actually just giving the I some experience. So, as the I is immortal by nature and thereby can in reality survive all mistakes and make other choices, then, by virtue of these experiences, it can avoid choosing the same wrong energies in the future. As mentioned before, the fact that things can go wrong shows the total freedom of the I, or the living "Something", within living beings. It is a free agent in relation to substances and can thus, according to its nature, wishes and desires, express or characterize its creation, its manifestation and appearance in nuances which reach from the culmination of harmony to the culmination of disharmony. So the I can make use of whatever substances it wishes for the purpose of creating, but it must learn to understand that these materials follow their specific design. They do not change character in order to put right the mistakes of the I. It is therefore of no use praying to God that this or that person who one happened to have murdered can come alive again. A living being who has been killed is one whose organism – the tool through which the I in question can express itself as being alive to its surroundings – has been destroyed, therefore it cannot possibly regain the use of the same organism. Such an organism is, of course, a combination of substances whose total reaction is in the service of the I in question. When this organism is "murdered" it means that an alien energy or substance has penetrated its combination of substances, the effect of which destroys this combination. Whether this foreign substance was a knife, a bullet from a gun or a poison does not change the principle. Unwaveringly the new substance must follow its nature. The knife was bound to remain a knife and the bullet a bullet and poison a poison. How could it be otherwise? Is it not an expression of the most wonderful order in existence that substances do not deviate from revealing their efficacy in this way? The "sin" of this murder is thus not to be found in the knife, the bullet or the poison. The murder can only be the expression for the absolute will of the I which has held the knife, fired the bullet or administered the poison. And why should the "substances" not adhere to their purpose in such a case? Just as it would be abnormal to expect a car to brake suddenly, by itself, in a dangerous situation in order to avoid an accident just because the driver did not see the danger, so would it also be abnormal to demand that the knife, bullet or poison ceased to act in its normal way in situations where it would cause a disaster.
      An accident or unpleasant situation of any kind can never justly be due to substances. The accident will doubtless prove to have taken place because the substances necessarily followed their calling. The mistake, or the "sin", in such circumstances lies irrevocably with the I or I's which have made use of the substances or energies. That they did not understand how to choose the correct substances and therefore did not manage to create the situation they had wished or had in mind, but instead experienced a catastrophe, is most certainly not the fault of the substances or energies. On the contrary, the fault lies exclusively with that "Something" which uses the substances. All such substances function both automatically and eternally, each with its own particular reaction, thus existing solely as material for the I's, while most certainly having no kind of influence upon the latter.