653. From sunset to midnight we have the "autumn" period of the 24-hour cycle. Here the "unfolding of summer" in the terrestrial human being's 24-hour cycle should normally have run its full course. The beings should really be completely satiated with the day's experiences and be in the mood for only rest and quiet; in other words, they should feel sleepy and tired. But this is not the case. The above-mentioned beings have the "unfolding of summer" of their 24-hour cycle for the most part after sunset, since at certain times of the year and in certain places on Earth the cycle's "summer zone",* the afternoon, is far too short. The sun sets long before the beings' daytime energies are used up and consequently long before they feel sleepy or tired and inclined to rest. Therefore, at these times of the year the unfolding of the afternoon extends far into the domain of night. In this way there arises a discrepancy between the "seasons" of the 24-hour cycle and the terrestrial human being's mental manifestation. The reason for this discrepancy is that the "seasons" in the 24-hour cycle are rhythmically lengthened and shortened. This, however, does not apply in the equatorial zone where day and night are consistently of equal length all the year round. In the areas on Earth that are outside this zone the days after the winter solstice therefore become longer and longer until the summer solstice and correspondingly shorter and shorter from the summer solstice until the winter solstice. This lengthening and shortening of the days culminates at the poles where the normal daily 24-hour cycle stops entirely, for in its longest manifestation the day completely eliminates the night from the entire 24-hour period. Here this span of daylight hours actually stretches over a period from the vernal equinox to the autumnal equinox, from where the darkness of night has its unbroken dominance until the next vernal equinox, despite the fact that the Earth naturally continues to rotate about its own axis every twenty four hours.
 
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* "autumn zone" has been corrected to "summer zone".