976. As nothing can be experienced without it being highlighted by its contrast, neither can light be experienced without it being highlighted by darkness. Something that is not highlighted by any form of contrast is absolutely inaccessible to the senses and is therefore invisible. An experience of absolute peace is therefore impossible wherever it is not highlighted by any kind of contrast. As the contrast to peace is "strife", the creation of strife will therefore inevitably always be the first phase in the creation of the knowledge of "peace", and will thereby constitute the first phase in the creation of mental or divine light, or divine consciousness. Beings who have never experienced strife cannot possibly have any day-conscious knowledge of peace. To them such a form of existence would inevitably be an unconscious and therefore completely "dead" existence. But the rise or emergence of such an existence is rendered impossible by the cycle. Once the beings long for and experience so much mental light that this has become "knowledge C", that is, habitual consciousness or the function of the subconsciousness* in them, and it is consequently no longer an aspect of their day-consciousness, there arises in them the longing or the desire to experience the opposite of light. From now on the details of how to satisfy this desire fill their day-consciousness as "knowledge A", or as waking, conscious thoughts, which then become "knowledge B", and which later pass from the day-consciousness to the subconsciousness** as "knowledge C", at which point the desire has been totally satisfied.
      As this satisfaction in turn gives rise to the desire for the opposite of darkness, in other words light – as is the case with terrestrial mankind during its current phase of evolution – the light will once again progress from "knowledge A" to "knowledge B" and "knowledge C", thereby giving rise once again to the desire for darkness and so on continually, thereby promoting the eternity or total imperishability of life. It is this eternal cycle from light to darkness and from darkness to light that is expressed here in "Livets Bog" as the "spiral cycle".
 
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* "overbevidsthedsfunktion" (meaning "function of the superconsciousness") has been corrected to "underbevisthedsfunktion" ("function of the subconsciousness") in accordance with the original manuscript.
** "overbevidstheden" (meaning "superconsciousness") has been corrected to "underbevidstheden" ("subconsciousness") in accordance with the original manuscript.