765. Life is therefore intrinsically an eternal reality but consists of an infinite number of details that are not eternal, since, as previously mentioned, they are changeable. As these changeable details constitute the colouring of life itself, its character and accessibility to sensory perception, the living beings name life according to these details. But these details are not life itself; they are its forms of expression. Without them it would never be possible to experience life, and, as we have said, the universe would be the eternal domain of death. As these details are the forms of expression of life, this will therefore appear in highly diverse variations. These variations constitute the visible substances of life. They constitute the matter that is a precondition for one form of life or another. They are the actual "cosmic chemicals" with which the "cosmic chemist" transforms his life from one form to another. They are the material for his thought, consciousness and will. And it is these "cosmic chemicals" of life that we shall now proceed to survey.
      Just as the physical chemicals can be specified and grouped according to their mutually related characteristics and be used in physical chemistry for certain purposes, so too can the "cosmic chemicals" be specified and grouped according to their related characteristics and be used consciously by the "cosmic chemist" to fulfil some particularly desired transformation or colouring of his form of life.