Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1266

1266. By virtue of the fact that the reactions of all existing kinds of energy or substances are eternal, unalterable principles, the I of the living being is able to create or manifest by means of these principles, that is to say, the "law of cause and effect". It can "sweeten" with "sugar", it can make things "salty" with "salt", it can "acidify" with "acid" or "ferment" with "yeast". It can "burn" with "fire", and "extinguish" fire with "water". It can combine varying amounts of substances or kinds of energy and in so doing create "new substances", with which it can in turn create "new effects", which can be combined once again and be used as "means", "tools" or "causes" of "new effects", and so on continuously. And in this way the I is able to maintain the combination of substances or kinds of energy that make up its organism. What is this organism other than a combination of kinds of substance or energy with which it can create new "kinds of energy" or "effects"? It is the I's specific combination of these new effects that we know as its mental structure, its character, its desires and its actions or, in brief, its entire ability to react to the beings and things around it. And by virtue of its entire ability to react, it itself becomes a kind of "substance" for its surroundings.