Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 5, sect. 1706

1706. Here in this paradise Adam is as yet a superterrestrial or heavenly being. But he is thus in a way dead to the outer worlds. The memories that he experiences here in the kingdom of bliss certainly give him a feeling of bliss, but this bliss is merely a kind of joy at revisiting his past in the form of memories, a past that closely resembles the contrasting world that he now longs to experience. But memories of a past experience of this sphere, which contrasts with the heavenly worlds, cannot satisfy this hunger, and is not intended to do so either. On the contrary, they are intended only to intensify the being's hunger for the outer world. The memories can please Adam only because they stem from the world that has now increasingly become his sphere of interest. The situation can be likened to that of a person here on the physical plane who is longing to travel to a foreign country. Such a person would always be happy to read a book or hear others talk about this promised land, but neither the reading nor the conversation can fully satisfy his longing. His satisfaction can be complete only through an actual stay in the country. Thus the biblical paradise is in fact merely Adam's dream of materialism and darkness – the contrast to the regions of light. But Adam could not come to experience darkness – the contrast to heaven or paradise – through mere memories of this sphere, just as little as he could do so through superterrestrial or heavenly abilities.