536. With regard to the "divine something" which is the source of all phenomena and is the I behind the "living being", it emerges as a fact that this something has the ability to "see itself". This "seeing" is what we call "consciousness". It therefore constitutes an "imagined reality" alongside the "absolute reality" and, among other ways, differs from it by being "temporal", while the absolute reality, or that which is "not created", has never at any time had a beginning and is therefore "eternal".
      As this "imagined reality" has been created, then it will, of course, come to an end. No one has ever seen that anything eternal could be created. Everything that can be created will always be "temporal" or perishable. And for this reason alone, the "imagined reality" (something No. 3) can never in any way be a correct picture of the absolute reality (something No. 1). But if the "view" which "something No. 1" forms of itself is only "temporal", then it must come to an end and this "something" would again be without any "view of itself" were it not so in life that no view can cease to exist without a new view being created. In this way, the "something's" manifestation of "itself" becomes identical with the creation of, not one view, but an endless chain of "views" or "pictures" of "itself". And it is precisely this "picture formation" we see in the form of daily life. All our experience of life does indeed consist exclusively of a chain of views filing past our I. Each one of these views is again identical with thoughts, sensations, and experiences – in short, everything that can possibly happen to a being. All these phenomena are thus, absolutely without exception, the mentioned "something's" created views of "itself". We call this production, "sensing" or "creation". And as we said, it constitutes "something No. 2".
      As mentioned, "something No. 3" constitutes the "views" of "something No. 1" produced by "something No. 2". But as this last "something" is an "eternal something" in its absolute reality, then it cannot possibly be expressed through a "temporal" phenomenon. As temporal phenomena, regardless of how they might have come about, or in whatever colour, size or movement they might appear, are nevertheless "views" of the eternal "something No. 1", then their illusory identity is easy to understand. When we say that something is three metres long, cosmically seen this actually means we are saying that "something No. 1" is three metres long. As this "something" spans all existing space, then three metres cannot be the correct expression for, or view of, this divine reality. The same applies if we say that something is twenty years old. Here again, we are actually referring to "something No. 1", for this thing is identical with that "something" and as it spans all existing time, it cannot be expressed by age. The "twenty years", and the "three metres", are both completely illusory and do not in any way whatsoever cover the cosmic nature of the true "something".
      As the "divine something" contains everything that exists in terms of colour, size, weight, volume etc., all these phenomena become neutralized within its own nature. As it contains everything, it is infinite, which again means that in reality it has no size, colour, weight, volume, consistency or the like. So none of these phenomena whatsoever can constitute an analysis of this "something". Its true analysis is therefore without name, for the simple reason that it has no analysis other than that "it exists".
      As mentioned before, this is why we have expressed it here in "Livets Bog" as the "divine something" or "X1".
      The fact that this "something" nevertheless experiences "itself" in colour, dimension, volume etc., is as we said, due to "something No. 2". With the help of the sensing faculty it can experience a temporal reflection of its own eternal nature. The sensing faculty is thus a "something" with whose assistance "something No. 1" is able to create a contrast to its own eternal existence. It is with the help of this contrast that "sensing" becomes possible.