749. Fate is nothing other than the immortal being's self-created celestial pathway or road through the Godhead's all-eclipsing mentality or the eternal universe's spheres of light, space and time. Since this pathway can exist as only "cosmic chemistry", which means as the reactions of the combinations of energy that the being itself has manifested as the satisfaction of its desires, wishes and releases of will, the being's own conscious, previous conduct is the absolutely unshakable basis for the character of this being's fate in its current life. The being's own wish and command thus forms the unshakable foundation for the shaping of its current passage through time, space and light. The being finds itself in the midst of its own creation of the colouring of its own life, in its own placing of light and shade, in its own creation of the outward degree of perfection and beauty of its own being, as much as in its own creation of the capacity of its inner mental functioning or intellectuality. But in this way the mystery regarding the being's fate is totally removed and the logic or love in it is revealed to perfection. If the beings' current fate is a reaction of the satisfaction of wishes they have had or have gone through in former lives, there is suddenly a meaning in every being's present appearance. The fact that they do not have the same fate or experience, the same well-being or suffering, in their present life is a foregone conclusion. Whereas earlier, when one did not accept rebirth, this variety in the beings' fates seemed like an injustice due to perversity on the part of the Godhead, the variety in the fates is now an expression of the highest justice or the very culmination of love. Since the beings have not thought, wished or acted alike in former lives, the reactions caused by their behaviour in these former lives cannot be alike either. And since the reactions must of necessity set their stamp on the eternal being, there is no doubt that we witness that the beings do not appear alike either. And what can be more natural and just than that a certain form of manifestation that a being has occupied itself with in its former lives must now come to light and, from the immortal being's superconsciousness behind the organism, cast a reflection or mirror itself in the being's present life and organism. If it had noble and, for body and soul, health-promoting manifestations, wishes and longings in previous lives, it is inevitable that they cannot avoid leaving their mark on the being's later lives. In other words, each new life is really just a continuation of the one before. The wishes and longings that the being did not manage to satisfy in its previous life just continue into the new life, where they hasten towards their satisfaction. This means, as we have said, that every being is in the midst of its eternal creation and thereby in its eternal function of consciousness or experience of life.