Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1390

1390. But is it conceivable that a world order that expresses such a thoughtless trifling with the living beings is in harmony with reality? How could there be any logical reason for some beings being born with a burning desire that can never be fulfilled, and other beings being born into an existence that fulfils this desire abundantly without them ever having wished this, seeing that they, as will be remembered, have never lived before? Is it not easy to see that this is not the pattern adhered to by the millions-of-years-long epochs. What would be the use of the evolution of these millions-of-years-long epochs of evolution and the ennoblement of the things, what would be the use of the increasing beauty of the organisms and the likewise increasingly higher forms of existence, if there is no being whatsoever that can experience this improvement, this ennoblement in its own life and existence? If the living beings live only one single physical life, the ennoblement or improvement does not of course exist for their sake. The steps above as well as below are merely something abstract, something theoretical, and certainly not something concrete because the lower steps of the past were before its own existence, just as the subsequent, more perfect steps constitute a point in time when it itself has ceased to exist. Thus the beings of each step have only the one life belonging to their own step and will personally never experience anything else. The fact that the other steps have been either lower or more perfect is thus no concern at all of theirs. So why has this improvement, this ennoblement of life and existence been brought about? Is it conceivable that the processing of the materials by the millions-of-years-long epochs has brought about such a perfect, unshakeable ennoblement of life and existence as this merely in order to turn it into an abstract phenomenon for the living beings themselves, that is a phenomenon that they will never be able to experience realistically? And if the living beings themselves cannot experience the ennoblement as an actual reality, for whom and for what was it actually created? That it exists is of course a theoretical fact. Is it not evident that all the various animals have evolved from lower forms to higher ones? Has not the horse evolved from being a little animal with toes to the beautiful fleet-footed animal with hooves that we know today by this name? And what about the prehistoric lizards? Are they not early forerunners of the animals that we see today frolicking in the air as "birds"? And were the Neanderthal man and the Cro-Magnon man not at one time the pinnacle of terrestrial human bearing and capability? And are these not the facts that science today presents us with? But what is the purpose of this beautification, this improvement of the beings if there is no one at all to experience it in his own flesh and blood? What is the purpose of these steps in evolution if there is no one to climb them? What is the purpose of a staircase if there is no one to use it? What is the purpose of the transformation when it is in no way the fulfilment of a wish, the satisfaction of a longing or a desire? And what is the purpose of desires if they cannot be satisfied?