1585. Just as the animal kingdom in the last half of the cycle is a dark sphere because it is made up of the downfall of one kingdom and the birth of a new kingdom, so too does each of the kingdoms in the spiral cycle, as shown in the symbol by the white and dark circular figures, constitute the degeneration of the kingdom and the beginnings of the birth of the subsequent kingdom. But as we have already mentioned, this degeneration and birth in the other kingdoms are not the drastic, painful and unhappy state that they are in the animal kingdom. In this kingdom the degeneration or downfall of an entire spiral cycle and the birth of a new spiral cycle take place, while in each of the other kingdoms the specific, local phenomena of the kingdom itself degenerate and only the phenomena of the next local kingdom are born. While in the animal kingdom itself there is a total transformation of the terrestrial human being's mentality from one contrast to another, there is within the real human kingdom, the kingdom of wisdom and the divine world in actual fact only a gradual improvement of the "light", the opposite of the animal kingdom, which is born of the downfall of the animal kingdom. In these kingdoms the individual does not go from a particular form of existence to its absolute contrast or opposite, as it does in the animal kingdom. Here the being merely goes from a lower or more primitive form of this contrast or light to a more perfect form of the same light. While the animal kingdom is thus an absolute turning point from darkness to light, none of the previously mentioned three kingdoms are turning points from the animal kingdom to its opposite. On entering the human kingdom the individual is finished with the animal kingdom or the killing principle, and has therefore entered into the "light". When it goes from the human kingdom to the next kingdom, it does not return to the animal state or to a contrast to the human kingdom, but ascends to an even higher form of expression of the human kingdom or the light than that which it acquired on entering the human kingdom. Entry into the next kingdom, the "kingdom of wisdom", and the subsequent kingdom, the "divine world", is similarly a transformation to an even higher form of manifestation of light or love. And here the principle of neighbourly love itself reaches its peak. Here complete satiation with this principle is attained. And during their passage through the "kingdom of bliss" the beings begin to long for the absolute opposite of neighbourly love, namely the killing principle or darkness. And therefore this kingdom is the turning point of the being's journey through light. From here it returns to a journey through darkness. But since daily life here is an internal world consisting solely of the being's recollections or its memories gathered during its entire passage through the spiral cycle, the transition from light to darkness is then softened so much, or is on such a reduced or microscopic scale, that it is totally painless.
      Here the transition takes place on an internal plane, where physical suffering and pain cannot possibly occur, and not on an external plane, as is the case with the transition from darkness to light. The transition from light to darkness thus takes place in almost a kind of dreamlike state, whereas the transition from darkness to light takes place in a real or concrete, awake day-conscious state. Throughout the last half of the "kingdom of bliss", which means, throughout the physical mineral kingdom, and throughout the plant kingdom to the turning point and the culmination of darkness in the animal kingdom, the main idea of each kingdom is therefore nothing but the improvement or perfecting of the killing principle. Thus these kingdoms do not contain any real turning point for darkness. The turning point in the spiral cycle where the light turns into darkness is thus the kingdom of bliss, just as the spiral cycle's turning point from darkness to light is the animal kingdom. It must, however, be noted here that the turning point from light to darkness in the outer world must be located in the "divine world". These two turning points, which are in themselves the culminations of light and darkness, are indicated on the uppermost section of the symbol. The dark area, as previously mentioned, is the darkness of the spiral cycle, while the light area is the light of this cycle.