334. So now it is the "gravity-variation" which is being over-shadowed by the "feeling-variation" and the "reasoning-variation". This over-shadowing shows itself in the awake consciousness of the individual as a struggle between "evil" and "good". This struggle is identical with what we call "physical existence". And the body through which this experience takes place is the individual's corporeal "physical body". Here, in "Livets Bog", it is called the "gravity-body" because it is that body which is the particular one for the individual's use of that explosive or killing energy – gravity-energy. Thus, where the energies of reason and intellect have not yet really begun to over-shadow the living being, we see this body especially equipped with a view to slaughtering and dismembering. It is supplied with very sharp teeth and claws and very great energy and strength as well as other characteristics favouring a display of many skills in the service of the killing principle. As long as the body still finds itself in this state it is said to be of "animal" origin. But gradually as the living being progresses more and more towards making a greater use of intellectual energies, it understands how to create still better materials and tools for manifesting the killing energy. It makes for itself swords and spears, cannons and machine guns, poison gas and flame-throwers, all leading towards its final creation of that phenomenon called the "bomb". This phenomenon is the very culmination of the individual's use of gravity-energy. It is gravity-energy in its highest development and manifestation. It is here in all its power and might – the "explosion".
      Once the individual has been able to take possession of the powers of reasoning, that type of body will then degenerate, for he can create much more refined instruments to serve his nature as a killer than teeth and claws, for he has advanced in every way to the point of being able to carry out the process of killing without his own bodily involvement. The teeth are no longer so sharp. And the claws have become "nails". A being of this kind is no longer called an "animal", but quite otherwise, is now termed "human".
      But as his way of life differs from that of an ordinary animal only by being even better equipped and armed to employ the killing principle, then it becomes obvious that this so-called human being is by no means a complete or true "human being". A true "human being" is, of course, an individual in whom the gravity-energy has been superseded by the love-variation, that is to say feeling-energy. In "Livets Bog", therefore, I have described the being in whom animal manifestations flourish as "terrestrial man". And here we are dealing with the most important type of being on this terrestrial plane of existence.
      Now, as this individual makes such extensive use of gravity-energy, then his day-consciousness, or awake conscious experiences, to an exceptional degree consist of "explosions". His conduct in daily activities and his relationship with his fellow beings, his opinion of himself, his demonstrations of will and his ideas about life and Providence are simply displays of more or less unrestrained "explosions". This is most conspicuous in the individual's fits of temper or rage. In such a fit, the use of gravity-energy is so strongly apparent in the individual's use of will that sometimes he wants to strike out both at himself and others – in fact at everything within reach. He is in himself a "living bomb".
      But gravity-energy is also noticeably present in this same individual's "love relationships". Such a person's strongest feelings of empathy are found mainly just in that aspect of consciousness we call "being in love". But is "being in love" anything other than a somewhat suppressed explosion? "Being in love" turns the individual into an "active volcano". If the lover does not have his love returned, but on the contrary sees that his loved one has an interest in other people or other things, then his "jealousy" is aroused, which in the worst case can lead to murder and in the mildest case to depression. In the former case it means that gravity-energy had taken over. The "living bomb" had exploded. The second case, however, is one in which the individual's feeling-energy is stronger. It holds the gravity-energy in check so that it cannot take control. The "bomb" cannot reach exploding point, but can only lie "smoking" and "smouldering" away its power.
      These are, however, extreme cases. In between there are numberless grades of mental expression where, in greater or lesser degree, feeling-energy and gravity-energy struggle to take control of the individual's consciousness. When an individual reviles someone with insults and unkind names, when he speaks ill of people, is envious or has other such feelings, all these manifestations are actually nothing else but a strongly suppressed urge to murder. The individual has too much feeling to be able to commit murder directly, so the "bomb" just "spits" and "splutters", it cannot "explode". The individual cannot become a murderer. He can only appear as "irascible". Such an "irascible" person is thus only a "living bomb" which has lost the ability to explode and consequently it can only be released in that particular way. The person emits "sparks" which now and again can hit the mark, sting or burn his fellow beings without, however, harming them seriously.
      As evolution progresses, terrestrial man accordingly, through suffering, achieves an ever greater development of feeling; that is to say, he becomes better and better able to cultivate and employ feeling-energy in his mental activities. It is just on this account that he differs from the ordinary animal. While animals in the jungle know nothing of irascibility, for they must either kill the enemy or be killed themselves, terrestrial man's entire existence consists of one long process of juggling with materials of consciousness, that is with thoughts which in reality are only repressed murderous urges. The individual gets irritated and takes offence, or he gets angry and bad-tempered. He has too much feeling to be able to kill, but not enough to hold gravity-energy completely in check. He is just distressing his victims. Therefore the first result of the transformation from animal to Man, is the stage of "ill-temper".