Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1402

1402. There therefore exists more than just outer physical phenomena. There is thus the "something" that experiences, thinks and acts. When this "something" leaves a being's physical body, this body is left behind as a corpse, which immediately begins to decompose. But in the same way that we have seen that this "something" can separate itself from an organism and thereby leave it behind as a "corpse", we also see that it can enter an organism. We see this "something" penetrate more and more deeply into an embryo, causing it to develop and grow, initially towards its physical birth at which point it leaves its mother's womb, after which it encapsulates itself increasingly in the physical organism in question, developing it through the child stage, the youth stage, the mature stage and then, at the stage of old age, it begins to leave the body again, which is really nothing but a slow process of physical death or the "formation of a corpse". We do not directly see this "something" that takes possession of the body in this way and transforms it from one state to another, but we cannot deny that its existence has nonetheless been established as fact, for it is this that gives the body or organism life. And if it is not a "corpse", it can be only because it is a dwelling place for "life". "Sleep" we know as a more rapid entrance to and exit from "life" in an organism. When a human being falls asleep, it in reality means only that life partially leaves the organism, just as the individual's awakening after sleep means only that "life" re-enters the organism. We therefore cannot ignore the fact that matter or substances cannot be the ultimate analysis of life. They can appear as coarse and fine types, they can appear as rays and waves, they can manifest themselves as thoughts, reasoning or created things, but they cannot cover or constitute "that" which thinks, "that" which reasons, "that" which creates. This "something" or the absolutely ultimate and highest analysis of "life", still remains behind every kind of matter, every combination of matter or display of energy.