768. The I and the superconsciousness in the living being together form "something" that can reveal its invisible existence through a visible phenomenon. This visible phenomenon is therefore "created", which means it has a beginning, and as a result it is not an eternal but a temporal phenomenon. But as it is only a temporal phenomenon, it cannot have the same eternal existence as its source or its I and superconsciousness. Since such a state of visibility is a created phenomenon, there was once a time when it did not exist and therefore could not be a visible expression of the I's existence at that time. But as this I has existed eternally with its creative faculty, it has within this same eternity been able to create its existence or make it visible. And this means that, before its present state of visibility, the I has revealed its existence through some other previously existing state of visibility. Since everyday life shows us that every such created state of visibility can come about or exist absolutely only as effects of a previous state of visibility, that is to say a "created" thing, and this similarly must itself unavoidably be the cause of after-effects that will in turn take their place as a new replacement state of visibility or declaration of the I's existence, this enables us to recognise the fact that the I's state of visibility is an eternally changing factor. It is this changing factor that in everyday existence we call "cause and effect".