The degeneration or dissolution of marriage is probably one of the most visible signs that Man is subject to a process of change. We witness that the holy vow of matrimony is gradually losing its authority. In a single life on Earth many people marry several times and each time plead conjugal fidelity - until death do they part. This solemn vow is made every time a man or woman divorces and remarries. This in turn means that the vow of fidelity until death is not kept. Millions of people all over the world are unfaithful and break the marriage vow, even in those cases where marriages involve children. It is becoming increasingly widespread, and it is on the verge of becoming a fact that the Mosaic form of marriage has dissolved. Many people of becoming a fact that the Mosaic form of marriage has dissolved. Many people even live together without marrying. What is happening to the human beings? Are they perishing in a bottomless abyss? Are they being controlled by an overwhelming sexual derailment? Or what is the significance of this dissolution and degeneration of "the Mosaic marriage"? According to the Christian moral precepts handed down through history, humankind is subject to an accelerating Fall that will lead to "perdition" in an "eternal Hell" and the like. But humankind is entering an intellectual mental epoch in which it is impossible for it to believe that God created an excellent living being to let it end in eternal suffering, an eternal fire, an eternal diabolic torture without ever again being redeemed from these horrors of horrors. The human beings are beginning to comprehend that there must be another solution.

What does the mentality of those human beings who marry and divorce over and over again look like? Are they particularly evil beings whose behaviour earns them the eternal diabolic torture in the fires of Hell mentioned above? No! Definitely not! Such terrible evilness and such terrible Hell and torment do not exist. No kind of wickedness in a being can last for ever. Wickedness as well as punishment for wickedness are imaginary concepts. They have a beginning and an end, and are therefore finite or time-and-space dimensional.

What is then the effect of the opposite pole in men and women? Initially it develops the intellectuality of the being. The woman develops masculine talents and the man feminine talents, and both thereby develop their intellectuality. Through this evolution men and women increasingly grow into the same kind of being. Since the absolutely perfect marriage in its purest form is based exactly on the totally masculine male being and the totally feminine female being in their purest forms, it is evident that marriage will degenerate at the same rate as the two parties become similar. It is not the masculinity of the woman that is loved by the man, and it is not the feminine sides in the man that is loved by the woman. Therefore, the woman becomes an increasingly less attractive object for the man's sexual needs and desires at the same rate as the masculine principles evolve in her, just as the man becomes less and less attractive to the woman's sexual needs and desires as the feminine principle evolves in him and becomes evident in his behaviour. Thus it is the feminine principle in the man and the masculine principle in the woman that cause the degeneration of marriage. This in turn means that there is such a high number of degenerated, disjointed and imperfect and unhappy marriages that I have had to use the expression "the zone of unhappy marriages".

Is it then intended that marriage as a principle should discontinue? Yes, that will stand out as a fact to those who can see all the perspectives of the issue. Since the beings so obviously outgrow the principles that are the very conditions of a perfect marriage, it cannot continue to exist but must dwindle at the same pace as the conditions of its very existence disappear or discontinue in the being.

But it is exactly this polar change that transforms the being from animal to human being. Without this polar change the being would continue being an animal. In the animal kingdom we" find the entirely masculine male being and the entirely feminine female being, and this is where we find the really happy marriages or the perfect copulatory instinct. The principle of marriage is for the beings of the animal kingdom and not for the beings of the human kingdom. That is why we can see that animals are becoming sexually degenerated in the animal kingdom. The beings of the animal kingdom for whom marriage has started to degenerate are those that today appear as the unfinished human beings. Animals in their purest form are thus clearly one poled. In those circumstances where they evolve so much that the polar change can occur, that is where the beings are growing from the ape stage to the human stage. That is where the beings are initially identified by the term "human being". But a being of that category is still far from being a human being. It takes many lives of evolution before it can start availing itself of the higher human talents.

Mankind has long since reached a phase in its evolution where the polar change and thus the animal's transformation to human being is particularly evident. But in reality mankind is ignorant of this because since the time of Moses marriage has been presented to mankind as something unassailable, something that was considered permanent. How was one to know differently so long as Man lived with a still primitive and powerful marriage principle with its sexual act as the highest experience of life in this state that was still very animal-like? Not much was said about Man's final destiny as a real human being, elevated above the animal principle of marriage. The little that was said was misunderstood and rejected as heresy. The time was not yet ripe for the human beings to receive the revelations of the truths of this transformation of mankind. But now the time has truly come in the evolution of mankind's receptiveness to the great divine analyses of this revelation.

The human beings must learn to understand the role of the principle of marriage in the divine plan of creation, and the fact that in reality it is only a temporary one. When God has to recreate the living being's consciousness to such a degree of perfection that it can appear "in God's image after His likeness", it will first have to pass through a process that is to make it an expert at manifesting darkness, a genius at generating hatred, war and suffering. Via this state of manifestation it will become an expert at all knowledge of the life-destroying nature of darkness. With this knowledge it will naturally abstain from manifesting darkness to become an expert at manifestations of happiness and ecstasy. Its behaviour becomes divine. We know this divinity under the concept of "universal love". This being, who promotes total universal love and life, is "the human being in God's image after His likeness".

But how will the living being come through the night-black darkness of the killing principle, war and suffering? How can it become inspired to live in a sphere where it will have to kill to survive or become killed itself? It will have to kill over and over again beings in its surroundings in order to defend its own life, and it will also have to kill other beings in order to use their organisms as food. What is it then that in this sphere of darkness can inspire and please this being through its sheer existence? What is it that gives the being the possibility to experience light and happiness in this darkness? It is no less than marriage. The sphere of darkness is the animal kingdom. In this kingdom the urge to copulate is the basis that provides the zest of life. It gives the animal access to experiencing life's highest sensation of sensual pleasure and ecstasy whose vibrations can be synonymous only with the spirit of God. What else can be life's supreme sensation? Through the principle of marriage or pairing, the being can find another being in the very darkest sphere of life and meet mutual sympathy with this being thanks to their unique organic structures and bring about what is to these two beings the greatest experience of the highest light of life on the physical plane, or God's spirit in the dark. But in order for this process to take place, the beings need to be one poled. These two kinds of being have therefore been created in such a manner that through their one-poled structure they can experience a certain affection from another being, which would otherwise be entirely impossible in the sphere of darkness where beings have been created to fight for life. Here, where universal love and humaneness do not exist, the mating state with its culminating act of pairing is life's inspiration for these beings. Without this, no being in the darkness would experience any spiritual light at all, no affection, no caressing from any other being. Everything would be the blackest darkness, the absolutely blackest night. But in a darkness of this kind, no life could exist. Where the spirit of God does not exist, no life is of course possible.

Marriage and the one-poled state are thus God's life-giving spirit in the darkness, and therefore exist only for that reason. But the beings are undergoing a development from darkness to light, from inhumaneness to humaneness, from hatred to love and thus become developed to such an extent that they can create more and more light around them. Therefore, as everyone becomes individually perfected in his or her development of universal love, they will radiate God's light and warmth to every being and every thing. But this means that marriage and the experience of the culmination of the sexual act become unnecessary, and since this organic structure was determined by the one-poled state of the beings, this one-poled state becomes unnecessary too. That is why we see that the being in the ape-state of evolution starts showing a change of its intellectuality or scope of consciousness. The cause of this transformation is that a polar change is beginning to occur in this state. The stagnant or latent pole starts showing transformation. This means that the feminine pole in the male being and the masculine pole in the female being are increasingly pronounced in the behaviour of the being. With the development of the opposite pole the transformation of the animal into the human being begins. With this polar change the being becomes "double poled".

The first sign of the double-poled state is an emerging broadening of the consciousness, emerging intellectuality. It is the opposite poles in the man and the woman that form the basis of the entire sphere of consciousness and the forms of thought that either of them has and which have no relation whatsoever with their sexual lives. The entire sexual side of the said beings is controlled by the ordinary pole, that is the masculine pole in the man and the feminine pole in the woman. But it does not remain that way. Gradually, as the emerging human being evolves and passes through his or her dark karma, this karma brings about a new faculty in the being: incipient universal love. This faculty determines what the being has the heart to do and not to do in terms of evil conduct and wickedness. It is this faculty that makes the being emanate genuine universal love or neighbourly love. What need does the human being have of this love, when it has marital love? According to the law of marriage, every married person must stay with his or her spouse. If that person loves another individual more than his or her spouse, that person commits adultery. But the law of neighbourly love demands that we love God above anything else and our neighbours as ourselves.

The human being is confronted with two major epochs of life: the Mosaic epoch and the Christ epoch which in turn are equivalent to the epoch of the animal and the epoch of the human being. Moses was the representative of marriage and the prophet of marital love, whereas Christ was the completely perfect human being and thus the prophet of universal love. The difference between the Christ epoch and the Mosaic epoch therefore is that the former contains a law for releasing tendencies of consciousness or life that were totally banned in the latter. In the Christ epoch it is commanded that you love your neighbour as yourself. That is not possible without violating the Mosaic law, and if one obeys the Mosaic law one cannot abide by the law of Christ or the law of neighbourly love, which is also the law governing the behaviour of the perfect human being. Thus, when new laws are prescribed through Christ or world redemption for a new epoch of life, such a new epoch of life will also have to materialise. But in order that such a new epoch of life can be created with a foundation for life that is the opposite of the foundation for marriage, marriage as a principle must degenerate and discontinue. It is impossible that both be satisfied at the same time. It is impossible to both climb up and down a ladder at the same time. Therefore, when trends of a new way of behaviour emerge that are in opposition to the usual foundation for the life that has been lived through thousands of lives, it will invariably start causing conflicts in the mind and manners of the human beings in regard of the capacity of their marital talents or regarding the performance of the oath of fidelity on which the marriage is founded. Little wonder, therefore, that we see clear evidence of this conflict in a large number of marriages.

In its origin the Christian marriage is a solemn uniting of man and woman in coexistence until they are separated by death. This union or consecration of coexistence is performed by an official authority, either clerical or civil. The two beings thus make a solemn vow before witnesses and society to observe conjugal fidelity until they die. Observing this vow between the parties was the culmination of the marriage.

It is not merely a single being who in this way falls short of marriage's vow of fidelity, but thousands and thousands are divorcing and marrying over and over again. It is not because these people are particularly primitive and evil. They may be very faithful and loving to other beings. Many of them are great artists and geniuses and have excellent and trusted positions in society. But nonetheless some of these divorcees may be rather wicked, perhaps even cruel to their spouses once they no longer feel sexually attracted to them. How is this possible? Why can they not be kind to the disappointed spouse to whom they used to be so strongly attracted that they could make the oath of life-long fidelity? When a human being, who is excellently developed and demonstrates both fidelity and kindness to his or her surroundings, can feel antipathy towards the spouse -sometimes even to the point of hatred - it is possible only because that human being's marital talent has become degenerated. That being's state of pairing and falling in love has become weakened in such a manner that it has lost its power to endure.

Whereas the state of falling in love in the culminating zone of the pairing or marital state could remain strong and unyielding throughout a full lifetime, it is now for a great many people very brief. Since the mutual sensation of being in love represents the attraction that is required to ensure fidelity and coexistence in the marriage, it is clear that where it has become degenerated and weakened it cannot ensure the continuance of the marriage, which must therefore break. For as long as the mutual sensation of being in love persists without change throughout a lifetime, the parties have no difficulty satisfying the marital oath and the vow of fidelity.

But what about all the other beings who ruthlessly let down their spouses and cause infidelity and divorce? Surely that cannot be the morality of the future. That is the highest degree of immorality and lack of neighbourly love. It is true that these beings are maritally degenerated and in the worst case unable to fulfil both physical or moral conditions for a life-long happy marriage. But when it has been established as a fact that they do not have the talents for satisfying a life-long, normal marriage, it would obviously be unfortunate that such beings marry and engage in wedlock when they cannot possibly satisfy the marriage in moral terms. However, being unfit for marriage does not mean that they are through with sexual relations with the opposite sex. They still feel attracted to the beings of the opposite sex. In future such beings will not marry or in other ways make lifetime vows but rather form friendships with a partner of the opposite sex and live intimately together in "marriages of friendship".

Then, what about married people who, despite all their efforts, fail to find harmony in their life together? Well, in those situations it is less of an evil to divorce than to continue to live together in disharmony, even if the marriage has produced children. It is not good for children to live with parents who are quarrelling all day long and never show affection for one another or never caress. It must therefore be better that the children live with only one of the parties and enjoy the fatherly or motherly love of that party and are freed of the disharmony or war between the parents.

There are also marriages in which the parties grant each other the freedom to have sexual relations with partners outside the marriage. They believe that this solves the problem of marriage. They may have sexual relations with partners both here and there, but they are nevertheless committing adultery to the highest degree. Two parties to a marriage granting each other sexual freedom to commit adultery is not the same as a divorce. Once two human beings have entered into solemn matrimony - whether civil or ecclesiastical - and made the vow of fidelity until separated by death and put their signatures to it before the authorities and fellow beings, then they cannot cancel this pact by secretly granting each other sexual freedom. They are still a married couple in the eyes of the authorities and fellow human beings, and the fact that they have engaged in sexual relations outside their marriage is an act of fraud against the authorities and fellow beings to whom they have solemnly declared to be wed and to abide by the laws of marriage. In order to lawfully grant each other sexual freedom, they must obviously declare this to the same authorities and fellow beings before whom they solemnly declared to enter into holy matrimony. They have to seek an official divorce, and they are not free until that has been granted. Therefore it is better that the human beings are divorced when they have sexual relations outside the marriage than to live in this state of marital abuse, using it as a disguise. A new act has been passed that exempts adultery as a cause of divorce. In reality this means that spouses have been granted authority to commit adultery and possibly have children outside their marriage. Can there be any clearer evidence of the degeneration of the marriage?

The degeneration of the marriage, which in this way is one of the birth pangs of the new world culture, forms part of the divine process of creation. It is Man's transformation from animal to human being that becomes evident. As mentioned earlier, marriage is exclusively based on the sexual act between a male and a female being, in other words between two one-poled beings of opposite sexes. It is the light in the darkness of the animal kingdom. But since humankind is in the process of transforming from male beings and female beings to human beings, it becomes as clear as daylight that the sexual and marital areas mentioned here must perish. We witness that the animal sexuality or the one-poled pairing act seen as light are fading to the effect that one day it will have been switched off altogether. But at that time the human being will be a being in God's image, it itself will be light, it will be God's spirit in its purest form. At that time it will no longer have to make do with experiencing the spirit of God in the culminating ecstasy of the act of intercourse. At that time it will in itself in its entire appearance be "the highest fire", and will release ecstatic energy with any being it comes into contact with. Behind itself it will see the darkness of the animal kingdom waning, and ahead it will see the eternal incandescence of universal love gradually filling the skies, and "mankind in God's image" will be praising the Godhead and life in the kingdom of heaven.