815. But it is only in precisely this focal point of the terrestrial human being's sensory faculty that the originator of this sensory faculty "sees cosmically". As soon as the sensory faculty is directed towards phenomena that have not been created by human beings, or by other "living beings" that have been authoritatively acknowledged or perceived as "living" by the former beings, the materialistic researcher considers it "unscientific" to acknowledge "living originators" behind the movements, that is to say, behind the phenomena of Nature, and in the worst cases he even denies the existence of such originators in spite of the fact that these phenomena, as we have often pointed out before, are at the very least just as logical in their structure as the things produced by human beings. We can therefore see that as soon as terrestrial human beings direct their sensory faculty towards things that are not produced by human beings or by other beings that they recognise as "living beings", their "cosmic" sharpness has disappeared. What they are looking at is not the sensory faculty's "focal point" or the resultant "focus", and to the extent that it lies outside this "focal point" it is therefore more or less blurred. The same thing applies here as in all physical sight, namely, that if the object is to be seen clearly it has to be in the focal point of the optic lens. The same principle applies in all photography. It would be a total failure if, in adjusting the focus to match the distance, whether with bellows-like constructions or with other methods, one could not bring the light-sensitive plate or film into contact with the focal point of the lens, or the area in which the object's rays are collected, thus bringing the reproduction of the image of the object to its peak of sharpness. When people have to wear glasses due to poor eyesight it is also solely in order to be able to bring the focal point of the eye's lens directly back into contact with the eye's retina or visual membrane, an ability that they had lost due to weakness.
      Just as the bodily, physical sight referred to here depends on a contact between the focal point of the eye's lens and the eye's visual membrane, from where the reproduction of the image of the object is sent on through the optic nerve to the brain, from where it is made known to the I, in a similar way a certain contact is required between every other sensory organ's "visual membrane" and "lens membrane". The "visual membrane" must be at the focal point of the "lens membrane". If it is not, the reproduction of the image will not be sharp. If, for example, we sense a sound, whether it be a piece of music or something similar, the notes, which in this case are the same as the "rays", must also be collected in a kind of "eye". This "eye" is what we call the "ear". In this "sound eye" the sound is collected in a kind of "lens". This we know as the "eardrum". This is therefore the "optic lens" of sound. But this "lens" also has its special "focal point". In this "focal point" we find the organs of the inner ear, such as, among other parts, the cochlea. Together these inner organs form the "visual membrane" of the "sound eye", from where the reproduction of the sound image can connect to the auditory nerve and, through the brain be brought to the experience of the I. It is only at this "focal point" that the culmination of the sharpness of the reproduced sound image, or the sensation of the sound, can take place. If there is a lack of contact between the "lens membrane" and the "visual membrane" also here will the sound be unclear, in a way that is analogous to the lack of clarity that we have just mentioned regarding the sensation of sight. All types of sensory perception will without exception, like the two types mentioned, reach their peak of capacity at the moment when there is a hundred per cent contact between the object and the sensory faculty's outer receiving organ, the "optic lens", and the inner organ, the "visual membrane". Whenever there is the slightest lack of contact between these main organs of the sensory faculty, there will be a corresponding indistinctness or lack of sensation, and thereby a lack in the individual's view or recognition of the object.
      Regarding "cosmic sensory perception", the same principles will also here be chief factors. But here it is first and foremost the personally experienced and therefore fully day-conscious "sense of the I" (or superconsciousness) that constitutes the "visual membrane" of "sight" and the subconsciousness that is the "lens membrane" of the same form of sensory perception, while the "objects" can absolutely always be only the "relative views" that passed through or were perceived through the subconsciousness. But as the "sense of the I" in most terrestrial human beings still exists only as an "instinctive sense", or an innate habit of consciousness, the "visual membrane" of cosmic sight will therefore in the vast majority of terrestrial human beings still be extremely imperfect. Consequently, it will not be possible to receive through this unfinished "visual membrane" a clearly defined or absolutely perfect image of any cosmic object, no matter how clear or sharp a "focus" the light of intellect may leave of the object.
      But with cosmic study and the consequent development of love to all and everything, this "visual membrane" is guided forward to its breakthrough and enters the individual's waking day-consciousness and is subject to its will. It is this breakthrough of the "visual membrane" of "cosmic clear-sightedness" that we in Livets Bog call the "great birth", just as we call the individual's use of this "clear-sightedness" "cosmic consciousness".
      Here we have therefore seen that the living being's acknowledgment still depends on the "eye that sees", and that all sensations or impressions, and the acknowledgments that are based on them, are without exception bound to be only "relative" as long as the individual has not yet reached the point of being able to sense the "relativities" "cosmically".