855. After this little view from the heights, we will return once again to the prodigal son's passage through the flesh and find him again as a "customer" of prostitutes of his own sex. Here he (she) has become a being in whom the spring awakening of the new kingdom has begun to make itself felt. Here the individual is a being that has begun to deviate from the herd. It has begun to be mentally conscious in its own opposite pole. An aspect of its consciousness that until this point in this spiral it had never had any inkling of, and which is totally beyond the day-conscious comprehension of the herd or the masses, is beginning to manifest powerfully in his mentality. It is beginning to feel strong sympathy and admiration for good-looking beings of his own sex. At first, the individual has no inkling of the sexual nature of this sympathy. At this stage, the being's conscious, sexual attraction is still directed only towards the opposite sex. Attraction towards its own sex is still only a heartfelt, platonic sympathy or warmth. And consequently, we find such beings to a large extent within the area of marriage and in many cases still appearing as happy spouses and fathers. Their special sympathy for beings of their own sex does not yet arouse particular notice or antipathy, especially as its platonic innocence has the effect of being beautiful and noble. It is this state of consciousness that is the basis for so called "life-long friendships" between beings of the same sex. It is the first faint glimmerings of the dawn of a completely new sexual world that is reflected in their hearts, long before it has actually appeared above the horizon of their own sight and senses. It is also this reflection from a new sexual mentality to come, or these platonic friendships, that has given rise to the idea that love or sincere friendship has nothing to do with sexuality. But this platonic love is in fact merely a "lull before the storm". The platonic situation is due solely to the still exceptional frailty of the new sexuality compared to the still dominant ordinary sexual state in the individual. Like all other abilities, the ability to understand a different kind of sexual pleasure first must be developed. Consequently, here too the being must live through a kind of embryonic state. Just as the tiny embryo in the mother's womb can stir long before it is born, so too can the new sexual consciousness begin to stir within the individual before it has become knowledge and subject to the will. And it is therefore this new sexual state's "embryonic movement" or initial reactions that form the basis of "platonic love". "Platonic love" is the same as the symptoms of pregnancy of a new sexual state.