p The motion of matter is absolute and eternal, it can neither be created nor destroyed, inasmuch as matter itself is uncreatable and indestructible. The law of conservation and transformation of energy is the proof furnished by natural science that motion is uncreatable and indestructible. This law states that, like matter, motion does not disappear and does not arise anew, but is merely modified, is converted from one form into another.

p But if motion is eternal, absolute, can we speak of rest?

p Of course we can and must speak of it.. In the course of material changes there are also moments of equilibrium, of rest But they affect only particular objects and processes and not matter in its entirety. The absoluteness of motion necessarily presupposes rest as well, the latter being an indispensable prerequisite for the development of the world. An object arises in motion, while rest fixes, as it were, the result of motion, in consequence of which this object is preserved for a certain time and remains what it is.

p In contrast to the absoluteness of motion, rest is relative and must not be understood as some kind of a dead, inert state. A body can be at rest only in relation to some other body, but it necessarily takes part in the general motion of matter. The house in which we live is in a state of rest in relation to the Earth’s surface, but together with the Earth, it revolves around the Earth’s axis, around the Sun, etc. Moreover, even when a body is in a state of rest, physical, chemical or other processes take place in it all the time.

The motion of matter is eternal, absolute, while rest is temporary, relative: it is only a moment of motion.