618. We have now finished expressing the results of the reflections we began to make our reader aware of in Section 559 with the intention of making him or her understand that they – and in fact the Universe as a whole – do not consist merely of a series of blindly rotating automatic or machine-like functions. And that which we witnessed in the above brief series of analyses was truly awe-inspiring. Only a purely primitive person with "feelings" alone, or with "intelligence" alone, can be untouched by it, for he has neither the harmony nor the balance between feeling and intelligence in his consciousness which is the certain and necessary qualification for genuine "intellectual" talent. Consequently, such a being cannot adjust himself to the "wave-length", that is the harmony or the balance between feeling and intelligence which constitutes the intellectuality, logic and love upon which is based exclusively the entire structure of the Universe. As he has not yet developed such harmony in his own consciousness, neither can the functions of his brain, thoughts and will be based on the same intellectual structure as that of the Universe. He can only be in contact with those areas of the Universe where there is the same imbalance between those two basic energies as in his own consciousness. Only the types of thought which represent this imbalance can be the truth for this individual. If this imbalance is based on too much feeling in proportion to intelligence, such a person will still believe to a great extent in "evil", "sin", "the wrath of God", "punishment", "revenge", "hell" and "everlasting damnation" etc. Indeed, it is in reality this preponderance of feeling- energy in the mentality which darkens "Christianity", or, to a certain extent makes it identical with "heathenism". And it is this "heathenism" camouflaged as "Christianity" which determines that world-civilization, as based upon it today, finds itself in its own death-camp. "Heathenism", that is to say the manifestation of the "killing principle", cannot be altered by mere camouflage. Absolute truth will inevitably always conquer any form of untruth. And consequently any civilization that does not bear the stamp of truth must fall in ruins and turn to ashes before the rising brilliance of life's own reality.
      In the case of that being in whose consciousness the imbalance between feeling and intelligence is caused by a preponderance of intelligence over feeling, it is especially characteristic that he will not, so to speak, "believe" in anything – indeed, he will largely deny anything in the mystery of life which he does not understand. On account of his far too dominant intelligence as compared with his feelings, he will become cold and insensitive in his reasoning. As any aptitude for employing feeling-energy in the consciousness can only come about through experiences of suffering and these enter the consciousness as a basis for creating a talent and capacity for compassion, then the individual who is intellectually-minded and unfeeling will not possess any very strongly developed capacity for compassion and consequently to a certain extent he is without restraint in the development of intelligence. Such a being will therefore necessarily become inconsiderate and egoistic. A being of this kind will also sometimes come to possess enormous wealth, just as he is able to a large extent to compel fellow beings to toil for him like a slave, to buy goods from him at exorbitant prices or in other ways to be controlled by him financially. This being will thus find himself a very long way from building up his life in accordance with the true structure of the Universe. On account of his want of feeling he cannot raise the flight of his thoughts above anything other than tangible, material phenomena and thus he cannot in any circumstances employ his exceptional intelligence in higher fields of thought, whether religious, artistic or philosophic. Business, business and still more business is his speciality. The talent for self-enrichment reaches its peak in the consciousness of such a person. All higher spiritual life is for him a closed book, indeed, he feels more inclined to deny its very existence. This being's political or scientific outlook – if he occupies himself with these things – becomes far more synonymous with a cold business-like atmosphere than it does with any truly moral ideal.
      Therefore, as such people represent only "heathenism" in no circumstances are they able to save the present civilization from sinking, but to a great extent they have cleverly understood how to exploit this decline to their personal advantage and thereby to cooperate in setting things further on the downward path. This existence of theirs is so far from the intellectuality and logic of the world-structure that it does not give them the conditions for understanding the solution to the mystery of life. This mystery's twelve basic elements is an impossible problem for them. This might almost be considered a good thing if they did not directly resist the true solution to the riddle of existence.