21.8  Symbol no. 21 symbolises the universe and the living being as God and the son of God. As previously mentioned the figure within the black indented area symbolises the living being or the son of God, while the coloured areas outside the black indented figure symbolise the universe or the Godhead. In the area that symbolises the Godhead we see from the colours the familiar basic energy areas or planes of existence: the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human kingdom, the kingdom of wisdom, the divine world and the kingdom of bliss. We see these kingdoms here in the symbol divided into ray-shaped areas. Each of these areas symbolises a living being. These then symbolise in turn the fact that each of these kingdoms consists of living beings. The number of these living beings should not be taken literally, but symbolises merely that the kingdoms each consist of myriads of living beings. Through all these living beings the Godhead reveals himself to the son of God, that is to every living being whatsoever. The Godhead reveals himself for this son of God through the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the real human kingdom and so on through all the kingdoms of the spiral. Through the plant kingdom the Godhead shows the advanced son of God his incipient creation of the human being in his image after his likeness. Here the beings are still unborn embryos in this creation, but nonetheless they have comparatively recently come from the kingdom of bliss into the physical world and are still glowing with the cosmic radiance of this kingdom transformed into revelations of physical beauty in colours, forms and fragrances. Wherever flowers spread profusely, the memory of the kingdom of bliss is materialised on the physical plane through the automatic vital functions of plant beings.
      Through the beings of the animal kingdom the Godhead reveals the world of darkness, the contrast to light, and the school of life. Here the son of God is given a free hand to do what he wants; world redemption, however, has also given him the Bible's holy words of truth: "If you do good you will be able to look up freely, but if you do evil, then sin will lie at the door."* (Gen. 4:7) This "being able to look up freely" means here that one can look all people freely in the eye and will here meet the effects of all the good one has manifested. That "sin lies at the door" means that one does not love people and cannot therefore look them freely in the eye; here one meets the effects of the evil one has inflicted on one's neighbour. Here God shows his son the life that is maintained by the principle of killing. Here God shows his son the horrors of war and suffering. Here God lets him see that he will reap what he sows. Through this bloody epoch the son of God finally comes to detest and loathe the mutilating and fatal traditions of darkness. The faculty of humaneness begins to develop in him and he begins to be able to love his neighbour, which in turn in the most profound sense is the same as loving God. And this development in turn gives rise to the cosmic faculty, intuition. Through this faculty the being or the son of God begins to experience small cosmic glimpses, which in turn means small cosmic experiences. If this faculty is not forced to advance in an artificial way, the small cosmic glimpses will be a very great joy and inspiration, providing absolute cosmic knowledge within the small area covered by the cosmic glimpse in question. If the faculty of intuition is forced to advance in an artificial way it will, to a corresponding extent, get ahead of the step in evolution that is otherwise normal for the beginnings of intuition. The being thereby gets cosmic glimpses before it has reached the normal step in evolution for receiving intuitive glimpses or personally experienced cosmic knowledge. The moral stability and nervous constitution necessary for being able to receive cosmic glimpses in a normal way has in such a case not been developed in the being. The cosmic glimpses can therefore very easily damage the nerves and mentality of the being. The impact of cosmic glimpses fills the being up with great spiritual power. This spiritual power seeks release through the being's mentality or thought-world. If the being, because of its lack of development, does not have sufficient humility, but on the contrary is vain and hungers to be something great in the eyes of others, and its honesty is not sufficiently stabilised either, these unfinished aspects will be channels for the cosmic forces in the being's manifestation towards its surroundings. It here becomes apparent that these divine forces, which to the highest degree are intended to lead beings towards the light, are characterised to a very high degree by the being's lack of humility and are therefore characterised to a correspondingly high degree by the being's vanity and self-adulation. Sensing these strong forces can actually lead the beings in the worst case to the autosuggestion that they perceive themselves as Christ or as another high spiritual being, as a new messiah or world saviour or in some other way believe that they should carry out a very great spiritual mission. Such a mistake leads to unpleasant effects for the being, perhaps to total nervous breakdown. One must on no account believe that one can acquire higher cosmic abilities in an artificial way and in so doing take a shortcut to cosmic consciousness or the great ultimate result – the finished human being in God's image after his likeness. There is absolutely only one single way to the light, and that is the way of humility and neighbourly love. There is no shorter or longer way whatsoever to the light or the great birth than this divine way. No being whatsoever can arrive at the great ultimate result of life with more ease or more difficulty than other beings. Everyone must absolutely go through the same to become the same.
 
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* Translator's note: Usually rendered in English as: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou does not well, sin lieth at the door." Here translated literally from the Danish. To "look up freely" means to have a clear conscience.