The "image of God" cannot be expressed as any temporal phenomenon but appears as beings within beings, organisms within organisms, thereby making fellow beings and surroundings present for us as something of the "image of God"
700. The "image of God" cannot therefore be expressed by some kind of image in the ordinary sense, nor with any other temporal phenomenon whatsoever, since such things are created and are thereby bound by the limits of time.Every such phenomenon can have existed only for a certain length of time.But as the "image of God" exists eternally, it therefore extends beyond what such a time-bound phenomenon or temporal thing can express.For this reason the "image of God" can be expressed only through something that exists eternally, namely, the principle of beings within beings, organisms within organisms or things within things.This principle alone can express the Godhead's purely physical, corporeal body and purely material existence or presence in space.And this image alone can verify as a fact that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being".Any other image of the Godhead whatsoever is transitory and can therefore express only a transitory thing.To express this transitory thing as the Godhead is idolatry and can therefore be practised only by those beings that are still in the embryonic state regarding the true worship of God, and for whom the Godhead is still a concept that requires belief or an emotional dogma without any connection whatsoever to the logical insight that makes the great traditional truths scientific facts. As we have seen here, the "image of God" cannot consist of some kind of individual living being, but consists of all existing living beings collectively.But as we normally cannot exist without being in one or another material or spiritual connection to our fellow beings, this means that we cannot live without being in one or another material or spiritual connection to the Godhead.These fellow beings that our life therefore appears in connection to, no matter whether this connection is pleasant or unpleasant, thus constitute something of the "image of God", something of God's material and spiritual presence for us, God's answer to our selfish or unselfish wishes, longings and aims, God's demonstration of what we should do and of what we should not do when we want to stabilise our happiness and create a perfect experience of life, which in turn is the same as a perfect contact with the Godhead, our eternal Father.
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