Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1289

1289. It must, however, be expressly pointed out or established that the above analysis is not intended to state that there are no humane, kind or loving human beings within the zone of consciousness of so-called "high society" or of those with a high economic position. On the contrary, here one can, of course, also find advanced human beings. And we can of course just as little in this zone as in all other zones "apply the same yardstick to everybody". Indeed, we do not of course want to suppress anyone or anything. We have not put forward the above analysis in order to persecute or blame any individual being. The individual rich human being of today is often in such a position that it is temporarily obliged to remain in its sphere, even though it may want an entirely different existence. To leave this sphere can thus be an insurmountable barrier that can overtax its strength, and can temporarily be a greater "evil" than remaining in it. Here it has perhaps its family and its very best friends, its connections and gatherings "consistent with its station", just as its entire upbringing is adapted to this sphere. To throw rich people out of their social sphere is to plunge them into an abyss. Every system, every body of laws that dictates the sudden economic ruin of these people or the dispossession of their property represents a brutality and cosmic ignorance that is absolutely no less than that which forms the basis for the thousand-year-old tradition and present authorisation of the system. The Croesus system's authorisation and high standard today has not come about suddenly, but has come about solely through growth or development. And there is no discontinuity in development. There is no child that, in order to grow up quickly, can be allowed to skip a certain number of years of its life. One cannot reach the age of thirty by experiencing only fifteen years. In the same way one cannot become an "initiated being" or a "Christ" either by skipping one or another phase of evolution, regardless of whether it represents the sphere of the rich man or of the poor man, or it represents the "killing principle" in the form of the consumption of the flesh and blood of fellow beings, or it expresses the same principle in the form of the domain of war and hate. Any political or religious system that is based on such an understanding, and therefore stimulates and promotes in harmony with the laws of evolution nothing but a humane and gradual transformation of the social conditions from a less perfect state to a more perfect one, will succeed. Any system, however, that wants to change a society or a sphere of evolution suddenly by superior strength, brutality and violence will succeed only in, as it were, damming up a river that will sooner or later burst its banks and force its way through new and even more damaging or unfortunate channels; it will, indeed, perhaps completely flood this society and give rise to its total destruction. Our analysis of the sphere of darkness put forward here is therefore, as already mentioned, not in any way intended as persecution of "rich men" or "carnivorous" beings, but, on the contrary, constitutes merely a genuinely sober or true analysis of circumstances that contribute to realising the spiritual "death" that was to be the consequence of "eating of the tree of knowledge". And an analysis can be really "sober" or "true" only if it is in no way camouflaged or embellished, is neither exaggerated nor concealed to any extent. And the analysis that we have put forward above is thus the outermost pole of the consequences of the infringement of the law of neighbourly love to which there is access through the inherited social system, such as they really do from time to time reveal themselves as facts. But it is of course obvious that not all terrestrial human beings represent the outermost pole or the highest degree of infringement of the law of neighbourly love referred to in our analysis, but are more or less rapidly approaching the opposite extreme: the observance of the law of neighbourly love.
As regards possessing great material assets or wealth, one must thus realise that this does not express any particular favouritism on the part of Providence, or that one to a particular extent is in favour with the Godhead. One has the above-mentioned fate solely because it is an absolutely indispensable link in one's evolution. That, from a material point of view, one is poor does not of course mean that one has fallen into disfavour with the Godhead or Providence either. This fate is of course just as inevitable a link in one's evolution. Both of these kinds of fate give the son of God experiences without which he could not possibly take part in building up a really perfect society in the later evolution of mankind, quite apart from the fact that he, without experiencing this fate, would never be able to attain "initiation" or the "great birth".