Wherever one looks in the natural world, whether in the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom or among human beings, one sees the will and the urge to protect life. All living beings seek, either consciously or unconsciously, to safeguard their lives. By studying Nature one can observe many different distinguishing features which enable the various types of plants and animals to maintain their lives and propagate their species. Often one sees how this takes place in the struggle with other species or individuals, in what we call a fight for existence where it is the strongest, the quickest or the best camouflaged that survives. Nature exhibits many different forms of 'life insurance'; it is not something that human beings have invented. In the plant kingdom some organisms are provided with thorns and spikes which deter animals from eating them, while some, such as the stinging nettle, have fine hairs that on being touched secrete a poison, which can be very unpleasant to the skin of human beings. And regarding the propagation of the species one can see in many different plants the most ingenious technical constructions connected with the seeds, whose purpose it is to guarantee the widespread distribution of the species. Some are provided with wings so that they can be carried far afield on the wind, others with spikes or hooks that fasten onto the fur of animals that act as a means of conveyance, perhaps carrying the seeds to places where the plant gains completely fresh possibilities of development. The seeds may also be surrounded by the flesh of the fruit, which tastes good to animals and birds, which swallow the seeds or the core together with the rest and even leave the seeds for a time supplied with manure. All these ingenious combinations show that behind the phenomena of Nature there is logic and thought, even though many human beings think that they are purely accidental and without meaning.

Also in the animal kingdom we can witness a wide variety of ways of protecting and guaranteeing or insuring life. Some beings are protected on account of their tremendous power, their sharp teeth and claws, which not only protect them against the attacks of other animals, but also guarantee them their food, as it is easy for them to kill other animals and feed on their flesh and blood. But there are also other animals whose superiority shows itself not through their ability to attack, but through their ability to escape. They may be protected by a shell or by virtue of the fact that the colour or shape of their organism entirely melts into the surroundings, so that it is almost impossible to see them. This ability of the animal to camouflage itself is useful both when hiding from an attacker or when stalking its prey.

By studying Nature one can thus witness a multitude of ways in which living beings seek to protect themselves and secure the survival of their species in the struggle for existence. But regarding those beings who are themselves able to study Nature, namely, terrestrial human beings, what do they do in order to protect themselves and how do they strive to guarantee or insure their lives? Of course, terrestrial human beings are themselves a part of Nature and it is evident that many of the principles for protecting life found in the animal kingdom also apply to terrestrial human beings, the only difference being that humans have an ability that animals do not have, namely, the ability to think and in their thinking to connect causes with effects to form logical conclusions. This has resulted in the concepts of cunning, trickery and deception becoming so widespread that they can be said to be the principles that dominate the way life expresses itself on Earth today.

Terrestrial human beings do in fact seek to safeguard their lives following the principles of the animal kingdom, and this means by using power and 'the right of the strongest' or by using their ability to camouflage themselves or be faster than any other being. But in humans these qualities are not given direct expression through the structure of their physical organism on the basis of their instinct, as is the case in animals. In terrestrial human beings it is their intelligence and their creative abilities that are the primary factors, whether in the field of power, camouflage or speed. Of course the physical organisms do play an important role for terrestrial human beings, but not on account of sharp teeth, claws or an exceedingly strong musculature; on these points this being is poorly equipped compared to so many other beings in the animal kingdom.

The fundamental factor in terrestrial human beings is the brain and the ability to think, which functions through the brain and the nervous system, and the impact of this is such that these beings have subdued the Earth and taken the animals, the plants and the forces of Nature into their service. This, however, does not mean that terrestrial human beings are without fear. On the contrary, it has to be said that their fear and anxiety in many ways has grown as they have changed from primitive to civilised beings. They still live in fear of the forces of Nature because these forces now and again cause catastrophes, which not even human ingenuity can guard against, but these are nevertheless insignificant compared to what the human beings of the past were exposed to. There is almost no need for human beings to be afraid of animals any more, even though there are places on Earth where they have to take care because wild animals that are dangerous to human beings still live there. No, what human beings fear most of all are other human beings. This is how it has been for thousands of years and this is how it is still. They have more or less overcome their fear of the forces of Nature and of animals, but their fear of other human beings has only increased.

The world of terrestrial human beings is an intellectualised jungle, in which keen intelligence has succeeded teeth and claws, in which economic and military power have replaced superiority of physical strength and in which fraudulent advertising and propaganda together with hypocrisy and cunning dissimulation are mental forms of camouflage. The development of technology has meant that speed has also become a cause of fear. And here I am not just thinking of modern traffic with all its inherent dangers, but of the rapid, long-range weaponry, bombers and rocket missiles etc. These have been created by human beings as a way of protecting life and guaranteeing or insuring it, but they have at the same time caused people to begin to fear the possibility of these atomic weapons, and possibly even worse weapons, which have been created in order to protect and guarantee, leading to the whole Earth being destroyed and obliterated, which is quite the opposite of protecting and guaranteeing life.

Terrestrial human beings are beginning to realize that with their military power and ability to move at lightening speed through space they have created what is by far the greatest danger to themselves. But there is yet another form of power that many people are beginning to see in a new light, and that is economic power. People say that what rules the world today is money and, from a certain perspective, this may well be true. It appears that even behind military power there exist economic interests and speculation. It has been revealed that arms manufacturers of a certain country have even found themselves in the position of selling weapons which the buyers then used against that same country's own soldiers. And within that same culture people are proud of having contributed to the abolition of slavery, as if it were more honourable to earn money by selling lethal weapons, which mutilate and kill, than to earn money by selling the same human beings as beasts of burden to the highest bidder. No one can be blamed for this but it does show that terrestrial humankind still has to gain a lot of experience before, from a cosmic point of view, one can speak about a humane civilisation on Earth.

At their present stage of evolution one can almost say that terrestrial human beings constitute an extension of the animal kingdom, in which the principle of protection and power finds expression more or less as it does in the actual animal kingdom, the difference being that there are intellectual forces behind its expression, and weapons, money and forms of propaganda and suggestion that are to some extent camouflaged exist as attempts to guarantee or insure life. There are, however, many human beings around the globe that have already gained so much experience that their knowledge and consciousness is not on the same wavelength as the ordinary habitual ways of thinking. They cannot go along with the commonly held belief that, 'there has always been war and there will always go on being war', and that, 'there have always been rich and poor and there will always go on being rich and poor'. They think about how these conditions might eventually be changed so as to result in a more humane state of affairs on Earth. They are human beings in whose consciousness purely human thoughts and feelings are beginning to get the better of the forces of consciousness that belong to the intellectual jungle. So the question then arises, how can the conditions on Earth be changed? Nothing can be done through revolution – that has been tried so many times, and even though improvements have come about, the result has not brought about a change of principles, but has led only to the power being transferred into other hands. It is no wonder that many human beings, who actually do have ideals, think that there is no hope, because how can they oppose the apparently superior force, which puts its trust solely in money, weapons and propaganda. If it were not for the fact that they are interested in finding answers to questions about the nature of life other than purely materialistic ones, they would very easily sink into pessimism and passivity. But if they have gained experience, not only of the material or physical world but also of the spiritual or mental world, and have become seekers in this field, they will be able to be helped to gain insight and understanding, which will not only be of help to themselves, by giving them an idea of the true way of protecting life, but will also be of help to those in their surroundings, because this insight and understanding, when it has made a deep impression, will in the long run also bring about changes in mentality.

So will it be a new religion that will protect and guarantee life, through people being 'saved' or gaining 'eternal bliss', merely by becoming its converts and submissive followers? No, a new religion will not be able to provide the spiritual foundation for those thousands of human beings who have begun to think about things in some depth. A new religion would just create further strife and intolerance if it demanded that people be converted to believe in its doctrines and dogmas. What is needed by those who are seeking is, partly, a basis for understanding the reasons why the conditions on Earth at present are as they are, and consequently a basis for tolerance, and partly, an insight into the world where life is truly protected and guaranteed, as much for the individual human being as for human beings as a whole. And that is a world where money, weapons and propaganda have no influence. There may perhaps be some who believe that this is tantamount to running away from reality into a world of fantasies and dreams. But to the unbiased researcher who is sincere in his seeking and who has experience of life around him and in his own mind, it will soon become apparent that this is an insight into the real world that exists behind the physical world, and without which the physical world definitely would not exist. It is from this spiritual world, which lies behind the physical existence of human-kind as well as behind the individual human being, that the impulses will come that will gradually change the conditions on this globe.

What the individual human being who is beginning to gain an insight into spiritual science is first and foremost responsible for is his or her own part of this spiritual world, namely, the being's own consciousness and thinking, from which actions are directed out into the physical world. The idealistically-minded human being can thus make a contribution that benefits the whole by working to overcome those tendencies in his or her own temperament that still belong to the mentality of the jungle. This can of course only be done by interacting with the surroundings because it is only in relation to these that egoism, explosive outbursts, surliness, lust for power, envy etc. become evident, that is to say, everything by means of which one tries to protect oneself by attacking others or by being arrogant, cunning or hypocritical. There are many ways of trying to protect oneself, and this applies to both states and people, but there is only one real protection and that derives from the radiation of love that can emanate from the living beings to everything living. A lack of love will always be evidence of a lack of protection. Christ said that 'all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword', because he knew the cosmic law about life protection and what it was to be without it. He also knew how to find a true and reliable guarantee of life and he taught people to pray, 'Our Father, which art in Heaven'.

In that case, is it in the area of religion that human beings will find how life can be protected and guaranteed? Yes, but it is not in some kind of new religion, neither is it in the dogmas and formal ceremonies of the old religions. It is in that kernel of truth that lies in all the great religious teachings about prayer or concentration on the Godhead. Many modern-thinking human beings are unable to pray or think that prayer has no meaning because they are no longer able to believe in God as an old man sitting up in the clouds. But it has become my task to try to show those among these human beings who are seeking and longing to find a fixed point of stability in existence that there is such a thing, and that knowing about it can offer the greatest protection and guarantee of life available to a human being. Human-kind has come through many evolutionary phases, from primitive forms of religion and social structure, through religious and political dictatorship, to the present evolutionary phase in which democracy exists as a name and as a longing, but also in the form of certain attempts to put it into practice. Terrestrial human beings still lack, however, the spiritual foundation upon which a truly human democracy can be created, namely, the relationship to the eternal Godhead, in which we live, move and have our being. This is not only a relationship based on faith, but a conscious relationship between the individual human being's spiritual world or consciousness and the Godhead's consciousness, which is the spiritual world in which all life, physical as well as spiritual, stirs. There exists nothing in the entire universe that, from the cosmic perspective, is not of benefit to the whole; this is the keynote that penetrates everything. The being that has now evolved to the point where it is conscious of its own I and of the laws in the universe around itself will now arrive at the realisation that the degree of life protection and life guarantee that one can achieve is the degree of life protection and life guarantee that one offers to others, and that eternal life is guaranteed to every single living being, because life is something that is and not something one has.