733. But it is not only the unsatisfied wishes that the being can carry over to new terrestrial lives, where they can be fulfilled. It also takes with it into a new existence the whole of its entire evolutionary step. This is the very reason why the beings are born with highly differing qualifications, abilities and aptitudes. Since the I has lived before in a physical organism, it is a matter of course that it will continue in the new physical life where it left off when its former organism was destroyed. Where else could it begin? In the phenomena that it has trained and practised in previous lives it will in the new life to a greater or lesser extent appear as an outstanding capability. If it has practised these same phenomena in even earlier terrestrial lives, the being will have an even greater capability in them in its present life. In this way the being is able to transfer into the new organism the result of this training or practice. It is this result that we know as "abilities", "talents" or "aptitudes". Every aptitude or every ability that exists in a being is the result of its own individual training, its own work, its own releasing of wish, will or desire. If this were not the case, what would be the point of all the education, training and practice that beings today are subject to in so very many areas? If the beings were able to be given abilities or talents as an innate gift, all conscious practice and training would be a totally absurd and pointless phenomenon. If it is the case that Nature can give the beings the abilities as an innate gift without requiring the least effort on their part, why does it use such an immense amount of hard, exhausting releases of energy to impart these same abilities to other beings? In spite of extreme hard work, fervent desire and the will to develop these abilities on the part of the being itself, they are in many cases really only a weak reflection of the culmination of perfection displayed by the beings that have received the abilities as an innate gift. Do we not see examples of beings that practise music, taking lessons for their whole life, and who achieve only quite a modest result, whereas others already begin to display brilliant abilities in the same field during the first few lessons? Does this not also apply in a great many other areas of consciousness? If Nature can bestow the abilities and talents as an innate gift, it is an extraordinary waste of energy in those cases where it does not bestow them as such a gift. But waste of energy is pointless and therefore illogical.
      But can Nature in this way bestow on a being a profusion of brilliant abilities as an innate gift? If this were the case, these abilities would have to have suddenly appeared out of "nothing". But as "nothing" cannot become "something", neither can these abilities or talents constitute a "something" that has arisen out of "nothing".