928. In sections 824 and 825 in "Livets Bog" we learnt that the I's innermost function of consciousness consists of "turning" the energies, and we expressed this "turning of energy" as "life substance no. 6". Furthermore, it became clear to us in those and following sections that this "turning" of the energies is in reality the same as the "sexual principle" and that this principle therefore constitutes an all-dominating factor in the living being's appearance. Consequently, this principle constitutes a much larger area than the more commonly known aspect of the principle that promotes procreation and the survival of the physical species. This fundamental effect of the I's "turning of energy" shows itself initially as a "conception", which means that the I must of necessity first receive an energy issuing from "X3". If this were not the case, there would be no "turning" of energy. This energy stops at the borderland of "X1" and "X2" and becomes, for a little section of its course, "stillness", becoming, so to speak, one with "X1", after which it once again moves out of the domain of the I. It now becomes for a similarly short section of its course one with "X2", after which it continues its course, bearing the stamp of this "X", out into the domain of "X3". From the moment the energy has moved from "X3" into "X2" and has been "turned" by "X1" and temporarily placed in "X2" again, it represents the I's "receiving" of an energy from "X3", that is to say from the outside world. This "receiving" we have expressed in "Livets Bog" as "conception". And this "conception" thus constitutes "life substance no. 7".
      "Conception" does not consist of only the process of a being taking into its organism the sexual sperm that will develop into a new organism; it constitutes absolutely every form of reception of sensory impressions. Whether the being is listening to the humming of a little insect on a warm summer day, or is gazing at the blue ocean or the green woods, or is sensing the shimmering waves of warmth and other pleasurable phenomena that mark out such a sunlit day, or whether the being is resting in the arms of its loved one in an intimate act of love, the principle in the experience is exactly the same, namely, a contact with Nature through an intimate caress. Any perfect act of love is just Nature's caress brought to culmination. Through the open channels of its senses, the recipient in this act feels a wealth of new life rushing into its body, into its innermost being, which, like a thrilling caress, vibrates in every fibre of its nervous system, ceasing only when it has brought the individual to a culminating experience of pleasure, leaving it with an intoxicating ecstasy of well-being, joy in living and stimulation to love.