Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1263

1263. Since everything is thus "bound by cause and effect", the creation of mentality and consciousness becomes possible. This consciousness consists solely of a greater or lesser amount of knowledge – acquired through experience – of this "law of cause and effect", and the ability developed through this knowledge, to bring oneself into accord with this law. When one knows how to trigger the right "causes" of the "effects" that one wishes to create or manifest, one feels "happy". But where this knowledge is insufficient to enable one to implement the right "causes" of the desired "effects", quite different "effects" than those desired will, of course, result. That these "effects" cannot satisfy one's longing is obvious. But it is not merely the fact that they are a "disappointment" that darkens one's fate. They can also sometimes cause terrible pain, indeed, in the worst case life-long disablement, where they have not resulted in the actual death or destruction of the being's temporary organism and physical existence. That such an experience is not an "act of revenge" on the part of Providence or the Godhead is here obvious. That a being can mistakenly take "salt" for "sugar", and therefore experiences the effects of "salt" instead of "sugar", cannot possibly be a "punishment" or "revenge" from Providence or the Godhead, but is merely a "chemical mistake", an infringement of the "law of cause and effect" by the being itself. Providence had of course neither prevented the being in question from taking the "sugar" nor forbidden it to do so. The "mistake" consisted solely of the being releasing the wrong "cause" to attain the "effects" it wanted.