Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 4, sect. 1565

1565. All nuances of the experience of life, no matter how great or small they may be, are in their most profound analysis nuances of "pleasure" and "displeasure". "Pleasure" and "displeasure" are in turn merely sensory impressions or the reactions of the senses to contact with external things. The external things or phenomena that surround a living being thus make the being's senses register a feeling of "pleasure" and "displeasure". But a thing that one being can feel is "unpleasant" can at the same time be something that another being feels is "pleasant". A thing that is boring for one being can be tremendously interesting for another, just as a thing that today gives one being extraordinary wellbeing and joy, later gives the same being a feeling of "displeasure" or "disgust", even though the thing itself has not changed. It is thus evident that the senses have changed. And with the transformation of the senses, the perception or experience of life has changed too. And this transformation of the senses, and thereby the transformation of the perception of life, proves to be planned in every detail. This being so, the perception of life or experience of life is thus an organised phenomenon. This organisation of the senses' faculty to react and the ensuing transformation of the experience of life prove to be the cycle of Nature, which in turn in its highest analysis constitutes the "spiral cycle". The spiral cycle is thus in actual fact a purposeful, organised regulation of the sensory faculty or the faculty to experience life. Since it is an organisation of the actual faculty to experience life, the spiral cycle is above or superior to this faculty and is therefore in itself the very highest leading principle. It constitutes the actual connecting link between the I and its experience of life. It determines its likes and dislikes. It is based in "X2" and has ramifications down through all sections of "X3", which it controls completely. Since this cycle is thus second only to the "I" in constituting the very highest regulating factor in the structure of the living being, we recognise this factor as the "highest fire".

Symbol no. 12

Life and Death