1846. As a predominantly male being and predominantly female being one will thus never get any further in life than the culmination of darkness. These two states of being, as we have now seen through many cosmic analyses, are equipped with a mental and bodily structure that from the outset makes it impossible for the beings to practise or keep the great commandment of the law of love: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself". A male being and a female being are, by virtue of their inner pole constellation in their superconsciousness, predestined to be able to love only beings of the opposite sex. This pole constellation is the organ for the highest fire or all regulation of sympathy, and thereby for love. When, during a certain period in the cycle, this organ shapes the being's manifestation of sympathy in such a way that it can constitute a genuine experience, a truly beautiful, life-promoting joy, happiness and blessing for the being only through its love for the opposite sex, the commandment of love will of course be just as meaningless and impossible for the one hundred per cent maritally minded male or female being to keep as the fifth* commandment, "Thou shalt not kill", is impossible for the beast of prey to keep. Does it not say that a man should leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife? Consequently he must not love his father and mother as he loves himself. He goes to his wife because she can satisfy his desire and fulfil his love for himself. The law of marriage, which states that the two spouses shall be joined to one another and mutually prefer one another to any other being, and that any deviation from this is infidelity or adultery, cannot of course possibly at the same time be consistent with the law that says "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself", that is to say, regardless of whom this neighbour may be. It does not stipulate as a condition that this neighbour is one's spouse, brother, sister, father or mother. Through the parable of the good Samaritan it will furthermore be shown that one's neighbour can even be one's enemy. The Samaritans and Jews were not, as will be remembered, friends, but, even so, the assaulted Jew is shown to be the Samaritan's neighbour, whom, according to the commandment of neighbourly love, he thus in fact had a duty to help.
 
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* Translator's note: "Thou shalt not kill" is referred to as the fifth commandment in Danish Bibles and is commonly referred to as the sixth in English Bibles.