When here in the Preface I have touched on problems that are elucidated in detail later in the book, then it is, as I have previously mentioned, solely in order to inform the student of how infinitely great an understanding, tolerance and freedom his view of and thereby his attitude to Livets Bog will meet from the source from which this book has originated, quite regardless of what this attitude may be, so that his own thoughts, opinions and views will in no way be bound dogmatically by this book neither now nor in the future; on the contrary, this book will give him all possible inspiration to think for himself and work in his own way in complete freedom and to seek out for himself, of his own free will, his information in any book or in any place where the facts that are specifically suited to him and thereby inspiring for him are to be found. The source of Livets Bog has long since been well aware that it is absolutely useless for a being to seek his information in this book, if the information in the form specifically adapted to inspire this individual can be found only in Islam, Buddhism, Christianity or the like, including the sects and textbooks that come within the sphere of these religions, just as it is equally useless for a being to seek in the above-mentioned places, if the information that is of particularly well-suited inspirational value for this being is to be found only in Livets Bog. The task of Livets Bog is therefore not to lead the reader away from any religion, sect, faith or view of life of his, which he may find has a specific invigorating value for him or gives him divine inspiration; on the contrary, its only task, on the basis of its completely universal impartiality, is to guide the seeker after truth to the understanding of the daily experience of life – with its events, its pleasant and unpleasant experiences, and its light and dark occurrences – as a correspondence adapted specifically to him and elicited by Providence, a correspondence that the individual in question, as it gradually becomes conscious in its eternal existence, will be able to reflect upon just as easily as it is now able to reflect upon a correspondence with its equal fellow beings. Livets Bog will thus give the student insight into how this former correspondence or this direct speech of life constitutes the absolutely only fundamental religion in existence, as it can exist only with absolutely everyone as teachers, with everyone as pupils and with everything as doctrines. Since all living beings are thereby born members of this religion, it has no preceding ceremonies of entry or admission. And since its sphere from eternity to eternity spans nothings less than the universe itself, we have here the only existing religion in which, in the literal sense, there is only one flock and one shepherd.
      Since Livets Bog constitutes a retelling of the experience of this all-embracing "religion of life" and has been manifested with the purpose of stimulating the development of the individual's ability to understand this religion for itself, so that it may become able, not from Livets Bog, but from life's own direct speech, to see for itself what it may do and what it may not, what is real and unreal, one will be able to understand that Livets Bog is under no circumstances intended to act as a stimulating force for the formation of sects, religions or faiths, particularly because the religion of life, as previously mentioned, recognises absolutely all living beings, both those who profess their faith, and those who have no faith, both the so-called "holy" and the so-called "ungodly", both animals and human beings as its born members, practitioners and devotees. And for the same reason Livets Bog will not come to manifest itself as a combination of admonitions, religious laws and penalty clauses that have been drawn up, but on the contrary appears as an absolutely voluntary guidance manifested by love to help the student seeker after truth in the school of life find his way to whatever in his daily surroundings or experiences, in a way specifically adapted to him, can provide him with life-giving inspiration or be an enlightening influence on him in the formation of a future happy fate for himself, absolutely regardless of which zone, state or view of life this "whatever" may represent. Livets Bog cannot thus be encapsulated in or monopolised by any kind of sect or society since its universal, impartial manifestation of love and wisdom prevents it from existing without being a textbook for those who are not members of any sect, just as well as for those who are members of such a sect, by virtue of its identity as a universal expression of life's own living religion, in which everyone, as previously mentioned, is a member, and all things are doctrines.