Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1367

1367. This darkness is thus something that absolutely all terrestrial human beings must experience, but they are of course not all experiencing this on the physical plane at present. Some terrestrial human beings are thus bound to be on the spiritual plane, namely all the so-called "dead" human beings. The rest of terrestrial mankind is thus here on the physical plane. But the fact that the beings are "dead" does not mean that they are finished with "war" or the zone of darkness or, in brief, "evil". In reality it means merely that their organism, that is the tool that makes their physical experience, appearance and manifestation possible, has been rendered useless through destruction, mutilation or old age, the latter form of course also being a result of the severe wear and tear the dark zone imposes on the organism in its struggle for the daily maintenance of life. Since the organisms are thus not everlasting but are subject to wear and tear and mutilation, the individuals must of necessity for a certain period of time be without a physical organism. And as long as they are without a physical organism they are cut off from experiencing directly on the physical plane. Their form of existence would then become an unconscious state if the beings did not possess other forms of organisms that could sustain the consciousness during the critical phase. Since these organisms are not physical in nature but are made up of ray-formed substances, which in turn constitute "spiritual substances", existence or the experience of life through these "spiritual bodies" thus becomes "spiritual in nature". We will return to how this nature or form of existence manifests itself in later analyses in this work. Here we would just like to say that all living beings must thus experience a physical existence and a spiritual existence alternately. It is this alternating organism that forms the basis for rebirth or reincarnation. Since all individuals are inevitably subject to this death of the organism and can build up a new organism only from the spiritual plane, this will mean that a certain number of terrestrial human beings is always on the spiritual plane, and is thus discarnated, while the remaining number of terrestrial human beings is incarnated in flesh, which means, is on the physical plane. Since this spiritual zone, with the exception of the forecourt or its "threshold", its so-called "purgatory", is a sphere of light, the beings here are in a kind of peaceful existence of light between their appearances or incarnations on the physical plane. It is from here that the living beings are born onto this plane, and it is here they come when, because of old age, wear and tear or mutilation, their organism is incapable of sustaining physical consciousness. All the terrestrial human beings in the world must thereby be in a cycle, which, as previously mentioned, carries them through an alternately physical and spiritual existence. Every time the beings have experienced a physical existence with the death of the organism, either through old age or through "war" and mutilation, they are changed and feel more and more distaste for the mentality of war or darkness. And it is only through hundreds of lives that the animal, ape-like human being is transformed into a perfect human being. And this is the reason why in daily life we see people on various steps in this passage of transformation from "animal" to "human being". Some have a very humane, which means, neighbourly loving character, and others have an as yet very animal character, which means, spiteful, hostile or quite insensitive character or attitude towards their neighbour and their surroundings. Terrestrial mankind as a whole thus represents a scale of mental steps. To the extent that the beings have left behind the details and the culmination of the killing principle, their humane nature gains more and more power over the animal nature living within them and will ultimately prevail entirely.