Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1439

1439. But as already mentioned this replacement of the bodies or so-called "reincarnation" has nothing whatsoever to do with "death". It is, on the contrary, a particular arrangement by means of which "life" can continue. Real "death", that is the "death" that was to be a consequence of eating of the "tree of knowledge of good and evil", is of a quite different nature than the "death" that terrestrial human beings mourn at "funeral ceremonies" and before "monuments" or "gravestones". It extends through a long zone of existence, indeed, it is perceptible in almost half of the spiral cycle and culminates as the "animal kingdom". "Death" is thus not a total dissolution in a "void", but is a particular way of experiencing "eternal life". "Death" is the contrast that must inevitably be experienced if one is to be able to experience one's manifestation or presence in existence as "infinite" or as constituting "eternity" or "eternal life". It is thus "death" that determines that one can experience this eternal existence in the form of "temporal" details. If the living being were unable to experience "temporal" details, there would have been nothing that could define "eternity". If the face of a clock were not divided into hours marked by numbers, it could not of course show the various periods of the day. If living beings had not been given the ability to experience "eternity" by means of "temporal" details, "eternity" could not possibly be experienced. But if "eternal life" could not be experienced, it would also be impossible to experience "immortality". But if it were impossible to experience "immortality", the eternally existing "something's" experience of life must take the form of the contrast to this immortality. And this contrast can of course be nothing other than an absolutely total or eternal "death".