"Darkness" and "light" as contrasts in the "real human kingdom"
1554. But in order for any experience or manifestation to be possible in this light kingdom, the two contrasting principles of "heaven" and "hell" must be present, even if the latter principle here has had the life-undermining sting or gravity taken out of it. Here "hell" or the dark side of life does not exist as actual suffering. Here darkness exists only in the form of the knowledge of the reactions of "evil" or darkness acquired in the animal kingdom, this in turn being the same as "wisdom". Through this wisdom the being has long since transformed its "animal" mentality into "human" behaviour, both as a talent and in actual practice. But since evolution is still going on, there will be tendencies and habits in this kingdom too that become out-dated, that become too coarse or robust as the mentality gradually becomes more and more refined or spiritualised. Even if these habits are no longer the brutal, lethal tendencies they were in the "animal kingdom", and are no longer depressing or perceived as "sinful", it nevertheless takes training or a certain concentrated exercise of the will to get rid of them. These habits are mainly in the sphere of nutrition. Although the beings have certainly stopped eating animal dishes and have become accustomed to pure, vegetarian food, such as the flesh around the seeds themselves or cores of fruit, and have thereby broken the habit of eating the seeds and other coarse vegetable products, such as root vegetables, leaves and stalks, this food cannot constitute the height of perfection as regards physical nutrition. In the "real human kingdom" the beings must still to a certain extent be bound by physical matter and physical manifestations. But with the great refinement or ennoblement of the mentality and nerves that "initiation" and life in the "real human kingdom" entail, even one-hundred-per-cent fruit flesh cannot be sufficiently high-quality or suitable food for beings. And here it is that the evolution of air nutrition then begins to take over to a greater extent. The organs of breathing become increasingly developed so as to relieve the being of coarse physical nutrition and to replace it with air nutrition. The being thereby becomes a spirit or an I clothed in "air", in the same way as the present terrestrial human being can be described as a spirit or an I clothed in "water". In the initial zone of the "real human kingdom", life is paradisiacal because here the being takes pleasure in overcoming his "animal" mentality and feels joy in being able to live in harmony with the specific laws of its step in evolution or zone of life. But since it is not to remain on the same step forever, but is to ascend to still higher forms of existence, its unswerving connection to the laws of the cycle begins to require it to become accustomed to new forms of life, new and even more refined or angelic, moral concepts. This requirement becomes apparent immediately after the being has culminated as a "real human being". And from this culmination onwards, there will thus be a certain, but very mild, degree of darkness for the being to overcome, namely its weaning from vegetable food and its habituation to air nutrition. But this situation does not cause the being sorrow, suffering or worries of a depressing nature, such as is the case with "hell" or the dark side in the "animal kingdom" or the present terrestrial human state. Here, just as in the subsequent kingdoms in the cycle, undergoing this process of habituation and weaning is for the being a completely awake, conscious, spontaneous desire for life. And "darkness" consists only of one having "out-grown" a thing, so that it is no longer interesting or stimulating, but rather "boring". Here "darkness" does not consist of lethal infringements of the laws of life or a new promotion of the killing principle with subsequent unfortunate consequences for one's fate, but is a gentle feeling of satiation with the phenomena that one has sufficiently outgrown. But the light is still, however, an expectation of greater opportunities for having experiences, a pleasant excitement in the renewed hope of widened, new, cosmic horizons or revelations of the eternal Father.
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