22.11  This religious instinct mentioned above and the ensuing belief in higher powers or the Godhead is symbolised in symbol no. 22A by the two triangles in the light area at the top of the symbol. The smaller triangle symbolises the I of the living being, while the larger triangle symbolises the I of the Godhead. But neither the materialist nor the believer are really conscious of these two I's or the superconsciousness and eternal existence belonging to them. It is true that the religious human being believes in higher powers or the Godhead, but believing is not the same as knowing. As religious belief is based only on the being's instinct, which means on strong suspicion, and not on absolute knowledge founded on fact, doubt arises sooner or later, and the entire religious and spiritual area reveals itself for the being as a mystery, as an unsolved riddle. All religious communities the world over, that is communities that are based exclusively on belief and not on absolute knowledge thus live by this, for them, unsolved riddle. But through the help of the world redeemers their religious instinct or feeling about the object of their belief has been stimulated and guided so intensely that it has actually become suggestion, so that they feel it – not as an inkling – but rather as certainty. And on this divine suggestion the entire religious side of terrestrial mankind has until now been based. For the believers and the materialistic people the Godhead, the living being, the universe and life are, as previously mentioned, a mystery, an unsolved riddle. This is symbolised by the question mark on top of the two triangles, which symbolise the I of the Godhead and the I of the son of God or the living being. But the triangular form of these figures symbolises not merely the I in the being but also the other two principles, the faculty to create or X2 and the created or X3. These two X's connected to the I, which constitutes X1, form, as shown previously, the triune principle, which is the total analysis of the Godhead and of the living being, and is thereby the solution of the mystery of life. Materialistic science cannot give mankind this solution, and it is not its mission to do so. Neither can it therefore give mankind any moral or cosmic guidance about how to behave. Its mission is exclusively physical analyses. And in this area it is ingenious and has already improved the physical existence of mankind with an ocean of splendid advantages in which one can feel the blessing and nearness of God. In conjunction with cosmic science it will become God's instrument for removing the principle of darkness and slavery, "in the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat thy bread", from the coming perfect human kingdom on Earth.