664. One could of course in turn ask what possible benefit there can be in accelerated development. A being that has eternity at its disposal cannot possibly lack time. And the answer must of course be that concerning accelerated development it is not at all a question of time. In this respect, there is plenty. Time is eternity itself. But it is a question of creating possibilities for development. But possibilities for development are based on sensory perception, and sensory perception is in turn based on experiencing contrasts. The less rich in contrasts a being's experience of life is, the poorer or more elementary this experience will be, while the opposite is the case the richer it is in contrasts. It is, in fact, only the contrasts that can be sensed. Just as all cycles have their "seasons" and these seasons are the main contrasts, all development is therefore in reality dependent on these contrasts. If the "seasons" of a cycle are not fairly rich in contrasts, there will be correspondingly fewer possibilities for development. If, on the other hand, they are very rich in contrasts, there will be correspondingly many possibilities for development. Just as the seasons of our physical year here in the temperate zones are comparatively rich in contrasts, thus creating greater harshness in the climate, and these seasons have in turn forced human beings' thinking and creative powers into directions they would never otherwise have explored, so is the direction of the beings' thoughts also forced into tracks and forms as a result of the contrasting conditions in all other cycles. In other words, the functioning of the beings' thoughts is regulated entirely by the mutually contrasting relationship of the seasons of the cycle. The beings' development is thus intensified or reduced, in conformity with the intensification or reduction of these contrasts. When the living being experiences an "accelerated development", the experience is not one of haste but, on the contrary, of an expanded possibility of experience. The more possibilities of experience there are within a certain period of time, the more developed the being can become in that time, while the opposite is the case when there are fewer possibilities of development within that period.