If we observe the living beings, then we see that they represent forms of life that constitute a scale of steps of evolution from primitiveness and ignorance to beings constituting totally perfect human beings in the image of God, after His likeness. This scale shows that these living beings are in a process of development. They begin in mineral forms of life and evolve into plant forms of life. From here they evolve into animal forms of life, and further into human forms of life. All human beings have thus had an epoch of evolution in each of the mentioned forms of life. These epochs respectively underlie that which we call the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom and the human kingdom. The as-yet unfinished terrestrial human being belongs to the animal kingdom in the mental spheres that it has inherited from the animal kingdom and from which it has not yet developed itself. It is these animal spheres that underlie what we call "evil". Only when the being has evolved sufficiently to be able to fulfil the law of life, to love God above all things and his neighbour as himself, does he become the real human being in the image of God, after His likeness. And it is such beings that together form the absolutely finished or totally perfect human kingdom. This kingdom, however, does not yet exist on Earth. But it is, as we shall see later, on the way.