Livets Bog, vol. 3
The fact that the beings have had to form expressions for the interaction of these two worlds in their practical, everyday life also contributes to the material that proves the existence of the "spiritual world"
802. Even though terrestrial human beings are probably not themselves conscious of the higher cosmic analyses of these two worlds, they are certainly well acquainted with the purely practical interaction of these worlds in their everyday lives. This interaction is so real that these beings have to a large extent had to find terms for them in their language in order to be able to distinguish the various phenomena in this interaction from each other. The fact that they speak about "matter" and "spirit" shows that they distinguish between these two realities in their everyday lives. The first reality is quite tangible. In it they can weigh and measure. They can take hold of it and feel it with their hands or work with it using physical instruments. Here they can sense with the help of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and organs of touch. Through these senses it becomes a realistic, indelible phenomenon. But at the same time as the beings experience this "outer world", their sensing of life also constitutes this "inner world" that we have demonstrated here. Its details are, in the first instance, "copies" (memories) of events in the "outer world". These cannot be sensed or experienced through the physical senses mentioned above. But to them this world is nevertheless a fact. And consequently, they have had to find a term for it with which they could indicate its presence as separate from the physical. And their main term for it is what we have already referred to as "spirit". An extremely large section of the beings will, however, probably be more familiar with this "inner world" under the term "consciousness". "Spirit" and "consciousness" are therefore merely terms for the same reality, namely the living beings' "inner world". They have also had to find terms for the more precise details in this "spirit", that is, in the beings' "inner world". And we know these under the concept of "thoughts". "Thoughts" are in reality only the reflection of the "outer world" in the living beings' "inner world". The processing of this reflection in the beings' "inner world" and the emergence of this processing in the "outer world" are also such ordinary occurrences in the being's daily life that here too they have had to find terms to indicate them. We know these as what we previously referred to as "manifestation" and "creation". These two terms therefore cover the reflection or appearance of the individual's "inner world" in the "outer world".