If equilibrium were possible it would already have been reached.--And if this momentary state has already existed then that which bore it and the previous one also would likewise have existed and so on backwards,--and from this it follows that it has already existed not only twice but three times,--just as it will exist again not only twice but three times,--in fact an infinite number of times backwards and forwards. That is to say, the whole process of Becoming consists of a repetition of a definite number of precisely similar states. 242 Imaginic matter, even though in most cases it may once have been organic, can have stored up no experience as it is always without a past! If the reverse were the case a repetition would be impossible--for then matter would for ever be producing new qualities with new pasts. 247 Let us guard against believing that the universe has a tendency to attain to certain forms, or that it aims at becoming more beautiful, more perfect, more complicated! All that is anthropomorphism! 248 Our whole world consists of the ashes of an incalculable number of living creatures: and even if living matter is ever so little compared with the whole, everything has already been transformed into life once before and thus the process goes on. If we grant eternal time we must assume the eternal change of matter. 249 The world of energy suffers no diminution: otherwise with eternal time it would have grown weak and finally have perished altogether. The world of energy suffers no stationary state, otherwise this would already have been reached, and the clock of the universe would be at a standstill. The world of energy does not therefore reach a state of equilibrium; for no instant in its career has it had rest; its energy and its movement have been the same for all time. Whatever state this world could have reached must ere now have been attained, and not only once but an incalculable number of times. 249 My doctrine is: Live so that thou mayest desire to live again,--that is thy duty,--for in any case thou wilt live again! He unto whom striving is the greatest happiness, let him strive; he unto whom peace is the greatest happiness, let him rest; he unto whom subordination, following, obedience, is the greatest happiness, let him obey. 251 The mightiest of all thoughts absorbs a good deal, of energy which formerly stood at the disposal of other aspirations, and in this way it exercises a modifying influence; it creates new laws of motion in energy, though no new energy. 252 Ye fancy that ye will have a long rest ere your second birth takes place,--but do not deceive yourselves! 'Twixt your last moment of consciousness and the first ray of the dawn of your new life no time will elapse,--as a flash of lightning will the space go by, even though living creatures think it is millions of years.... 253