452. But as the previous "cosmic consciousness" is dying, that is to say, on the decline, and has its latent zone in the stages of development where terrestrial man is found, then it is obvious that concurrently with the decline of that consciousness, the recognition of things as "expressions of life" which is based on that same consciousness, must also be in decline. And this is indeed what we are now witnessing. We see that people are more and more losing their belief in gods or Providence and are becoming materialists, descending so far as to a clear denial of all life except for their own and animal species. They deny that there is any form of a living originator behind plants, minerals, all the forces of Nature and the whole vast creation which takes place within them and around them, and this even though these creations represent an immense wealth of planning and constitute perfect evidence of intellectual ability. But all that is a closed book for people who have lost the capacity to believe and still have not enough intellectual ability to convert these things into knowledge.
      But this mental darkness is, of course, an indispensable link in the perfect course of the spiral itself, it is indeed no less than the total fulfilment of the firmly cherished wishes of those beings who are subject to their complete satiety with the harmony and knowledge in the "divine world". It is towards this very experience of mental darkness that all the beings' longings and powers of desire have been mobilized. It is this experience which actually constitutes the great light for all beings who have become full to overflowing with the "divine world's" atmosphere. And this can also be seen with undeniable strength, through all the so-called "heathen" religions. The way to Valhalla or to the heathen "paradise" does not consist of "turning the right cheek when smitten on the left", but on the contrary in quickly drawing the sword and murdering and destroying everything to the greatest extent which is in opposition to the goal of one's wishes and longings. It is obvious that "cosmic consciousness" has to die and that the higher knowledge of "he who killeth with the sword shall himself die by the sword" has to vanish from consciousness before any such inclinations can become authorized ideals and the primitive desires and longings connected to them reach culmination and fulfilment. And it is just this peak in the zone of dark desires which is in evidence in each war and on every battlefield whether public or private.