971. It is neither among happy, contented primitive human beings nor among happy, contented religious believers that we find the terrestrial human being that completely fits in every detail the description of the "prodigal son" in the "Bible". The only remaining type is the strongly intellectual, godless materialist. That he represents the being who has moved mentally furthest away from the Godhead is revealed by his entire mental and physical appearance. To deny the existence of the Godhead with all one's heart can be nothing other than the very culmination of the atheist's godless existence. To catch sight of answers merely in terms of weights and measures wherever one is able to sense, or to see one's own identity merely as the culmination of lifeless movements or chance effects, must surely be the poorest mental condition in life, even though it is bedecked with the gilded flowers of intellect. The being in this state can certainly represent inordinate skill in producing or creating material things, since this creating is in itself merely a juggling with or a specific kind of organising of "effects" (whether solid, liquid or gaseous materials). Such a being's knowledge consists precisely of the answers in terms of weights and measures, which in turn means that it is synonymous with "answers in terms of effects" or knowledge of effects. This being can therefore, as already mentioned, sometimes be a genius of outstanding ability in engineering or as the creator of purely material phenomena, such as houses, machines or all kinds of extensive installations, and equally it can be an expert chemist, producing foodstuffs, medicines and synthetic or artificial substitute products in many fields. Indeed, such a being can even be a doctor, that is to say, an expert in the area of animal organisms and be conversant with many of the material effects (solid or liquid substances) of which, when combined, this organism constitutes a main combination. Of course, this does not imply that all outstanding engineers and doctors or other scientists are invariably one hundred per cent materialists – quite the opposite. Many of these beings have already long since passed the culmination of the material stage and for them the answers in terms of weights and measures or of effects are therefore not enough. As a result these beings may well be spiritual seekers. Material knowledge, the answers in terms of weights and measures, that is to say the "fruits" of "the tree of knowledge", therefore makes the individual an "expert in matter" – in contrast to the Godhead, which is an "expert in life". We shall in a while return to this latter state of consciousness.