In the same way that human beings have a physical organism with which they can live or exist on the physical plane, they also have a mental organism with which they can experience on the physical plane. It is not enough that we are able to exist. This existence would mean nothing were we not in a position to experience this existence. But in order to exist, movement is needed, and movement is in turn the same as change. Change is in turn the same as creation. Creation is the faculty to create details. These details in turn constitute registrations of the eternal existence in which we live. This registering of our eternal existence is the same as what we call the experience of life. But what is so wonderful about the experience of life is that it is a phenomenon that can be both perfect and imperfect. If the experience of life could not be both perfect and imperfect, it would be impossible for the living being to reach the stage of being a liberated being, the master of perfect creation, and as a result able to experience the highest and most perfect form of the experience of life.

This creation of the experience of life takes place with the help of our physical organism and our mental organ-ism. In the structure of this combined organism the mental bodies have reflex-organs in the physical organism. One could say that the physical senses are outpost-organs for the mental experience, just as the spiritual or non-physical organs are in turn outpost-organs for manifesting creation on the material plane. Through these organs the being has the ability to get to know pleasantness and unpleasantness and so become master of pleasantness and unpleasantness. And in this way the being will eventually, on the basis of its own experience and through its own willpower, be in a position to create the ultimate form of pleasantness, which is in turn life's ultimate aim for the unfinished human being. We are all to some extent familiar with the way the Godhead teaches and develops the being towards such a total mastery of life.

All the many forms of suffering that occur in everyday life are a demonstration of the fact that human beings have not yet become masters in creating pleasantness. Their daily life is plagued by failures in many areas. The many thousands of people in hospital with sick and wretched physical organisms show that they have sides in their physical and mental behaviour where they have not managed to create the total pleasantness or the nor-mal wellbeing that the experience of life in itself is and should be, as it is manifested by those beings that have become masters of life. They became ill because they found themselves in situations they did not understand, and because they did not know that these very situations could be the cause of the sufferings that they are now experiencing.

Terrestrial human beings are at present living in an epoch in which they are learning and gathering experience about illness. The physical organism, together with the mental organism that works through it, is the instrument through which we will practise and experience becoming totally perfect human beings. For this reason our experience of life will more or less stand or fall according to the health and wellbeing of this organism. We know already that this organism needs nourishment. It needs food and drink. It needs fresh air and it has to be kept clean. It needs exercise. The parts of this organism that are not exercised or used wither and degenerate, irrespective of whether they are in the mental or the physical part. If the organism is not fed it dies, and if it is given the wrong kind of food it can also die, but this applies only to the physical part of the organism. But the mental part of the organism is in reality subject to the same laws and principles. It also needs "food and drink", care and attention, cleanliness and exercise. Here it can also happen that abilities and aptitudes die if they are neglected or are not used. Also in the mental part of the organism one can suffer from hunger or lack of nourishment. Also here one can become ill from eating the wrong kind of food. In this particular area human beings are really still much more backward or underdeveloped than in the field of purely physical nutrition and hygiene. And this is why there are so many more mental illnesses than physical ones.

This state of mental illness can be so widespread in a being that the being is more or less mentally dead. It can neither reason nor think logically, and as a result it cannot acquire knowledge but appears on the material plane to be mentally disabled. This illness or death is really a non-physical or mental suicide that is gradually commit-ted over several lives. This suicide consists of the combined effects of many mental illnesses that have gradually undermined the individual's mental state. In what follows we will take a look at just some of the failings that combined with other failings can lead the individual into this nightmare.

When a being is conscious that it is acting wrongly it causes the being to be in disharmony with itself. This dis-harmony will continue from time to time to gnaw away at the being's conscience. It will be a kind of mental itch, a non-physical skin disease, a non-physical eczema. The being can drown out its conscience in this particular field so that it is no longer bothered by the illness, but the illness has not gone away, it has become chronic.

So how can the being be cured of its non-physical skin disease? Clearly by guarding against or making itself immune to this atmosphere. By knowing with absolute certainty that its own behaviour is absolutely correct, so that it becomes totally used to being totally unaffected by what the flock thinks. In the words of the Danish hymn writer, Christian Richardt,

Here the medicine takes the form of gaining the knowledge that demonstrates that it is one's duty to live life in contact with one's own inner, higher knowledge and conscience, and in the understanding that through one's behaviour one can play a part in helping God to lead human beings towards a higher and more perfect state. Not daring to allow other people to see one's true, real love to a greater degree of perfection than that represented by the flock, is a mental weakness that leads to an inferiority complex. To live with a permanent inferiority complex produces in its turn a permanent weakening of the being's vital force. If such a being comes into contact with difficulties or unpleasantness from its fellow beings it will not have sufficient resistance against it. It will therefore be afflicted with a new and very dangerous mental illness, namely depression and mental breakdown. It will feel helpless and a victim. It will think that the world is completely unjust. It will see itself as cruelly persecuted by beings and situations. And in the worst cases it will resort to suicide. It will see suicide as the absolutely only way out. It can sometimes take only a tiny bump in the road to topple a great load.

Modesty is a fine quality; it is a splendid virtue that creates an agreeable atmosphere around its source. But this modesty should not mean that in order to avoid offending those in one's surroundings or in order to avoid them criticising oneself one chooses to do something that is quite contrary to one's nature, something clearly abnormal. Just in order to be a member of the flock, one should not go along with their drinking and other excesses if it is obviously contrary to one's nature and one can clearly see that it is immoral. To go along with it is of no benefit to the flock and is extremely harmful to one's own conscience and mental wellbeing.