But out of this there arises a thought which is of great significance, if rightly understood. It is expressed in the New Testament in the words “Except ye become as little children, ye cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” What then becomes manifest as man’s highest ideal, if what has just been said be rightly received? Surely this,--the drawing ever nearer and nearer to what we may call a conscious relation to the forces which work in man unknown to him during early childhood. Only it must be borne in mind that man would collapse under the power of those forces, if they were at once to operate in his conscious life. For this reason, careful preparation is necessary for the attainment of those faculties which induce the perception of supersensible worlds. The object of such preparation is to qualify man to bear what he is unable to bear in ordinary life. * * * * * Now the passing of the individual through successive incarnations is of importance for the collective evolution of the human race. The latter has advanced through successive lives in the past, and is still advancing, and parallel with it the earth too is moving forwards in its evolution. The time will come when the earth will have reached the end of its career. Then the earthly planet will fall away as a physical entity from the sum-total of human souls, just as the human body falls away from the spirit at death, when, in order to continue living, the soul enters the spiritual realm which is adapted for it between death and re-birth. When once this is realized, it must appear as man’s highest ideal to have progressed far enough at earthly death, to be able to reap all possible benefits which may be obtained from earthly life.