The Full Set Of Lessons In Six Parts -- Given By The Guides Through Cora L.V. Richmond To Her Private Classes. Study Notes:This Is the only work that requires perception to understand. Read with the heart-mind; cannot be understood by using mind only.  It is very helpful to first study the twelve 'Definition' words very carefully before commencing this work.  This book must be perceived by moving very slowly, maybe only one paragraph at a time.  Maybe helpful to first trying to grasp it's quantum concepts in meditation, contemplation or dream state.  Know that words and the earth mind get in the way of explaining quantum and the Soul.

 

FOURTH  LESSON.

THE  EMBODIMENTS OF THE SOUL IN HUMAN FORM.

(CONTINUED.)

You have been taken, in a general sense, through all the expressions in human life in the three degrees: the first being the expressions of physical contact and of conquest over the physical; the next general degree being the intellectual, or mental, victory; and the third that of spiritual conquest; which is, of course, the realm of moral triumph. In each of these decrees there is an interblending; the intellectual beginning before the physical ceases to dominate, and the spiritual beginning before the intellectual and physical entirely cease their supremacy; so that there are in the world always, at the same time, illustrations of each of these states. For in the very beginnings there were illustrations of spiritual states from those who accompanied the Souls first to find expression here. Thus all have before them, if they will read aright, illustrations of the entire book of human life; each human life representing one of the embodiments, and all existing on the earth forming an illustration of the conditions that must be experienced or expressed by each Soul. So if it were possible for you to divide the existing states of human life into classes, or those expressing unfoldment in distinct degrees, you would find some are in states representing more physical than intellectual or mental expression; you would find others in states representing more mental than physical and spiritual expression; and you would find, though those are much more rare, other lives in states representing spiritual triumph. These all illustrate the different conditions of human existence. 

The lines of life that reach toward the highest expression, as we said before, are impulsions from the Soul. The expressions fall short of that by contact with matter, which, of course, is less than the Soul; so whatever there is that is imperfect in matter, for the time prevents that perfect light from being revealed; but the whole lesson of embodiments is the overcoming of these material conditions. If, therefore, the line of life in the Soul is the overcoming of matter through the adverse conditions that are found upon any planet, then all Souls that approach that planet, being equally perfect, must encounter the same obstacles. 

Many object to the proposition that all Souls must pass through similar states. But if all are not required to pass through them, why are any? If it is necessary for one it must be as necessary for all others. As life exists here, why have its various discrepancies and inequalities never been explained in any other way than through the systems of teaching that include various states of expression, or embodiments. 

When travelers ascend the Alps they expect to encounter glaciers, they expect to go down into ravines, they expect to overcome the difficult passages met by their predecessors; all this is prepared for in their ascent; they perform the journey for the purpose of beholding the splendor at the top. When the Soul expresses itself in a culmination, it is that perfect degree that is sought in that direction; the stages between the beginning in that line and that of the genius, or the culmination in that line, are stages of overcoming obstacles. Obstacles being thus incident to physical existence, they are found here. Everything in existence has some adequate cause, or purpose, there is some solution for it, and to find that solution is the great object of life. 

It does not create serpents because the teacher discovers them and explains the way to overcome them, and the antidote to their poison; nor does it create murderers because we can explain why they exist. Man finds these conditions in life, as the naturalist finds the life and nature of the insect, the serpent or whatever other objects nature holds, that each may be traced to its legitimate cause, and thereby man may gain knowledge which he did not have before; so what the life here is for is to overcome the conditions of evil, not to make them; of course if they are encountered in contact with matter, matter itself holding sway, blinding, as it does, with the human senses, then each step is to the vanquishment of that which blinds; so there is reconciliation to every imperfect condition in which human beings find themselves. If some seem to be perfect in certain directions it is because they have ripened in other states of individual expression. If others are degraded in some direction it is because they have not yet had experience in the ways that the former have. 

There is not as great a difference between those in the lowest or most degraded states and the average present state of humanity, (or even its highest state,) as there is between the present state of mankind and the state of an angel. Compared to the angels, who is there that could escape condemnation? who is there that is not angry? who is there that does not deal falsely with his follow man? 

Whatever may be the aversion existing in the mind toward, or the growth beyond, individual expression of any of the states of degradation which may exist in the world, it is evident that their solution is in the state or degree of expression in each individual, and if one has advanced very far beyond such conditions, they afford no subject for condemnation, but rather of commiseration. 

The power, therefore, which enables man to know that when the angel triumphs the states of obliquity are overcome, and that through the line that leads to expression in art, in music, in poesy, in philosophy, in everything, victory is alone when perfection is attained, is supreme in that which is called man's moral sense. When any passion, any appetite, or any benighted condition is overcome, that is victory over the senses; when the knowledge of self-righteousness is overcome, it is the victory over the most abject form of selfishness. The higher the attributes claimed the lower seems to be the state of deviation from that height. The ignorant man professing no knowledge of moral law, has, in that sense, not reached the state of accountability. That begins when the first glimmerings of conscience come. This struggle to overcome the outward self that the spirit may triumph, that the Soul may be recorded, is the beginning of moral responsibility. Violence against a criminal, who has no adequate moral perception of his crime, is not far removed from the crime be has committed. He who hates the hater, which the murderer is, only displays the state of murder in a little different manner. 

Was it not Christ who said: "He who is angry with his brother hath already committed murder in his heart?"  There are many people who are called murderers who have no murder in their hearts, and many who are not called murderers who have. Thus the real difference between crime and so called goodness is not so wide as one imagines from any present state of human unfoldment. The nations that sanction and make the most gigantic preparation for war, to be ready if an opportunity offers, (and some of them eagerly seek that opportunity,) can not be said to be far removed from the outlaw who, for individual gain, goes out and slays his kind; one is national, the other is individual. 

Those in other conditions may not know that, in a state where physical violence is the highest law of being, there can be no moral responsibility, nor moral perception; it is, after all, only when the moral law is beginning to be the law of life that responsibility begins. The man who slays, not knowing that killing is forbidden by the moral law, can not be held amenable to the moral law as he who does it knowing that it is forbidden. Remnants are to be traced in each individual mind or life of those conditions, in which the highest human state was one of violence and crime, and physical violence toward criminals; when the moral perception sets in, the states of physical violence become immoral, for the simple reason that the moral law teaches a higher and better method, not only of redressing wrong but of teaching the wrong-doer. 

The perception of the moral law, and the appreciation of these principles are of slow and gradual growth in the minds of the people. The world waits long for all fulfillments, and the average human life is far from its highest victory, since each one criticizes and condemns with violence a different kind of violence in another. 

The general mind is prompted to say: oh, I can not believe that every one must pass through all degrees of degradation! But that which would be degradation to a higher stage of expression is not so to that state which knows nothing higher. The present expressions of degradation are what each has passed through when not yet aware of its import. The awakening comes when one already begins to rise above it. One might as well despise the state of childhood and never expect any human being to be born in any other condition than that of manhood and womanhood. Each one must experience every fault, failing, and foible, until they are overcome, the disgrace is not in the thing itself, but in a condition which knows of wrong and still continues in it; but even this is another state of childhood, like the wilfulness of the half grown boy or girl, not yet arrived at the estate of manhood or womanhood, but feebly imitating the wisdom not yet possessed. But we have observed that the greatest philanthropists, the most fully rounded natures, those, of course, who have overcome all temptation in a given direction, are the most lenient toward the states of crime; this is because they can not only perceive the difference in states as an explanation of crime, but they are beyond any possible condition of temptation; and as consciousness of temptation in a similar direction is often the cause of the hatred of an offender, so he who censures his fellow man who errs, instead of pitying him, unwittingly betrays that he may have in his heart the germ of possible temptation in the same direction. 

The various experiences in human existence, of prosperity, sorrow, pain, poverty, riches, power, bondage, etc., are different tests applied to the different stages of growth, as well as for the growth itself. The finely wrought metal is thoroughly tempered and put to the most crucial tests; when it is impervious it is pronounced perfect. The ship clad in an armor of steel in which there is a single flaw will disappoint those who passed it or sent it out to sea, that flaw will prove its ruin. It is, therefore, in all the intricate ways and windings of human existence, when human beings feel the safest, and are hedged around with social, moral, and theological armor, that the temptation finds them; when it conquers them it simply proves that the victory in that direction has not been complete. 

We know of a very philanthropic clergyman, in England, who, in order that he may sympathize with the state of the prisoner, locks himself up with the criminals and shares their food and lodging. This is about as absurd as for a man to be hung for murder, who has not committed murder, that he may know how a murderer feels. The state of the murderer is in the heart; one can not take the place of the criminal unless he is in a state of crime. He may endure, physically, what the criminal is called upon to do; but he has the armor with which to do it: the armor of innocence, so that which is a penalty to the criminal, is simply the heroism of self-appointed martyrdom to him who shares the dungeon but has not the darkness of guilt. 

One must not mistake that which is transiently noble, and seemingly generous, for that which is real nobility and self-abnegation. This great moral chaos, where embodiments are thrown into existence, in which is illustrated all the complexity of man's moral being, is, nevertheless, governed by rules more absolute, by laws more unyielding than any laws that govern the physical realm. The degrees of moral growth are degrees not only of conquest over temptation, but of conquest of the self which is the physical arbiter of man's destiny. That self which you are taught to cultivate in physical existence, and which in some material and mental states you must cultivate, is the very self that you finally have to overcome. Just as in arithmetic you learn certain propositions and combinations of numbers which are valuable, but when you pass on to algebra you cease to use them, they are no longer valuable, you have learned that which is better; and in the higher branches of geometry you have still greater triumph, methods far superior with which to express and to solve the problems presented. In like manner this physical self, which is first nurtured and has its place in the primitive stages of expression, must afterward be overcome, superseded. 

That which supplies the physical energy is not to give any honor nor any aggregation of power to the one possessing it, (any more than treasures of gold or other material possession) but in its highest use is a Divine bestowment. Thus the moral law is thrust upon man's outward nature, in exact opposition to that nature, to be afterwards reconciled to it by overcoming, and bending the material part to the uses of the spirit. We have illustrated this by the first states of existence, in which the victory of physical strength, that which constitutes the physical possessions, is power. When the moral nature enters there is a perception that weakness ought to be protected. The greatest evidence of human advancement today, is to be found under the Christian idea that the weak are to be protected against the strong. 

Once more let us refer to those states of superficial moral growth wherein there are flaws, chiefest of which is the flaw of self-praise; self-righteousness. This pride of excellence in any moral direction is the greatest flaw. As much greater than the pride of physical strength or intellectual power, as the moral nature is greater than the physical strength or the intellectual power. Therefore it is not strange that in the midst of all the words of gentleness and encouragement spoken by Jesus to those who were condemned and despised by men, that His words were of a rebuking nature toward the self-righteous, those who considered themselves the judges of others; the "scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites," representing the typical lovers of virtue in themselves; the state which scorned anything else than its own standard of excellence. The moral law puts to the severest test such states of supposed virtue, in which the letter of the law is the rule for human action. He who conforms to the letter of the law is considered a good man, while he who, sometimes disobeying the form of the law, most manfully struggles against temptation and finally overcomes it, is, nevertheless, censured and condemned. Such a state is often not considered a success in human life, but in the kingdom of the spirit each step toward self-conquest, in the sense of overcoming, not only the tendency to temptation but the possibility of it, is a step of victory, and that is moral attainment. 

In all the states, however complicated, that human life may be, it must be remembered by each that the highest possible states are those toward which the human race, as a whole, is tending, as represented by the highest in each individual. 

There is repetition and reiteration of many of these points, because we desire to make clear the solution of many of the difficult problems in man's moral condition, for here is the principal struggle, and here the final victory. 

There are four general states of expression in connection with man's relation to all moral propositions; and as many embodiments in each state as there are varieties of conditions in the human race. 

First: Unconsciousness of the moral law, and therefore no responsibility in connection with it. 

Second: Consciousness of the moral law, but inability to resist temptation. Here is the beginning of responsibility. 

Third: A false height, Pharisaical  "I am holier than thou."  Which does not commit an offense because it is condemned, and because temptation is not in that direction. Here is the gravest responsibility. 

Fourth. The victory over the offense through victory over the temptation, and, consequently, the victory over self-praise and laudation. The triumph of moral law. 

As previously noted and emphasized, the states of expression which include no knowledge of the moral law, are states of physical expression merely; and, like the states of infancy in personal embodiments, include no responsibility. The one hope for such conditions must forever be included in the term growth; expression in further embodiments until the higher nature can be expressed. 

The second stage, being more complicated, is the more perplexing; but it calls for the higher degree of charity. The awakened glimmerings of moral perception are not the full growth of moral power, nor even the half growth, any more than the boy half grown is a man; but very often this moiety of growth is mistaken for full manhood. 

The third stage, or false height, is even more difficult to meet. To the individual it seems like the real height, but has forever been revealed as the false one. To have charity for the individual and yet to tear the mask from this false condition, is only in the power of the most exalted lives, the highest teachers. Any measure of self-praise or self-congratulation, of thinking or acting: " I thank God that I am not as other men," is a portion of the evidence of this third condition. 

The second and third states express the general condition of mankind morally. 

The fourth stage needs no elaboration: a state absolutely free from moral obliquity, and absolutely free from self-praise or even self-consciousness, is an ideal, and yet a surpassingly real, state; a divine expression. 

We pass on, from the usual individual lines of embodiment, to those exceptional lives, who seem to be here for an especial purpose; who come as some rara avis in terris, to astonish the world with their brilliancy. These are embodied Souls, perhaps from other planets; alien to the earth, but are sent here on some errand of experience for themselves, which includes, also, a lesson to those embodied on the earth. Sometimes they are in advance; and the world looks on in amazement at their achievements; sometimes they are Nemeses, and the people to whom they come do not know the true nature of their visitation, but ages afterward it is revealed. 

Across the interstellar spaces there is spiritual, as well as magnetic, sympathy between planets; and if the earth, or any nation thereof, has arrived at the condition needing an illustration of the life that is not upon the earth at the time, or if a force is needed that no life upon earth is qualified to give, or if a Nemesis is required, then one takes a pilgrimage from the planet next in advance to show what is needed, and to illustrate the power that is beyond. This explains those peculiar embodiments that seem to thrust themselves in upon human life, and which seem to be unaccounted for. 

Then there are conditions in life where you will see individuals who seem to be made up of fragments; who never do anything continuously; who can not persist in anything as a pursuit; who seem to have ability in many directions, but no tenacity of purpose. One of these lives would seem to be adapted to commerce for a while, then he would be a lawyer, then he would be a book maker, and finally a teacher, or a clergyman, then he would turn speculator; these are the gathering up of some of the fragments of embodiments that were not finished. These fragmentary states are like threads. You may have seen work that was done on some of those ancient hand-looms, where there was not a continuous thread, but the ends of the woof were left to be afterward carefully gathered up, or cut off, to make the warp and woof complete. These fragmentary and erratic lives are like the broken threads, having this intention; that they are taking up those threads of other embodiments to carry them forward to complete the fabric of life. You may have in mind some who seem to possess peculiar traits, each of which are wonderful, in their way, who have intelligence and ability in almost every direction, yet no continued purpose; they are illustrations of this state to which we refer. Sometimes these erratic lives suddenly change when they reach a certain state; when these fragments are outworked and discarded, then the new line, whatever it may be that is to be taken up, will be carried on to completion. 

Many embodiments beginning expression in one direction turn, in later years, toward something entirely different. The child and the youth may seem to have tendencies that point in one direction, but mature life will find them wholly changed. We call this an overlapping; where the previous embodiment had not finished expression in a certain line. You will see this illustrated in precocious children, whom fond parents and friends think will prove remarkable in some given direction; when childhood is past, the gift in the direction of the precocity ceases; parents and friends are disappointed; they had built hopes and expectations on their early promise, but it proved to be fictitious only. All these instances are unaccounted for, except in the usual attempt to account for them by saying: the child's gifts have been spoiled by doting parents and unwise friends; but that which is perfect and genuine can not be perverted in any way. 

If any gift is to serve a purpose in an embodiment it is fully expressed, but if it has served its purpose in a preceding embodiment it sometimes flashes like a parting gleam of light upon the consciousness in the next embodiment, to show that it has been, and then gives place to something else. We have known some who as children were very miserly, (this is not usual with children) who seemed to grasp money very closely, yet who entirely outgrow the tendency in later years. We have even known the very extreme of generosity in childhood, succeeded by avarice in later years. Oftentimes the things that were prized and looked forward to in childhood, one wholly rejects in mature years. The solution of the over-lapping is, that there is a line of expression to be finished in a given direction, and when that is finished, even if it is in childhood, the embodiment then takes up the line of that expression for which it is really intended. 

These instances must serve not only to illustrate the frequent and intimate relation of an embodiment to a previous one, but they bear us directly on to the next step in our lesson: that of Reminiscence. 

REMINISCENCE DIFFERS FROM MEMORY AS POSSESSION DIFFERS FROM THE SHADOW OF IT. 

Memory is simply the register of passing events. Reminiscence is the essence of life; the fragrance or perfume of the flower of existence, whose fruition is in the Soul. Few lives, who are at all prepared to think on this subject, have not some reminiscence; none have the evidence of memory; some odor of a flower, some strain of music, the sight of a face upon the street, a conversation with some individual, who may be a stranger, the glimpse of a castle, will call up singular reminiscences unto such as we have referred to. So subtle yet potent, are these, that were they fashioned, as they have been by poets and novelists, into song or story, they would form the soul of all the romance in the world. 

All Oriental prophets, and ancient scholars; many of the Grecian philosophers; modern writers of exalted romance; and poets of every age, have been aware of reminiscences of previous embodiments, or have made the heroes and heroines of their poems or novels to possess them. Pythagoras, being far advanced in embodiments, could perceive what he was in his previous existence, and that he did not finish the line of teaching that he intended; he had foretold in that previous embodiment that he would come as a teacher. All this was clearly stated in his teachings. He gave his followers to understand that he had reminiscences of long lines of life through which he had been advancing to reach the knowledge he had attained. Brilliant in science, as well as in morals and philosophy, the world accepts his perfect propositions in mathematics, but forgets his systems of ethics and philosophy. Plato's divine " Cosmos " included all past as well as present and future expressions. Wordsworth in his "Ode on Immortality;" Goethe and Schiller, and a score of others, illustrate the knowledge of reminiscence or the perception of it in the divine art of poesy. What other light than this divine reminiscence gleamed in upon that child, Bettina Von Arnem, to make her know that Goethe was the genius of the hour? To whom other than the princess of a sacred past, in a kingdom not of earth, could Schiller have traced the "Mystery of Reminiscence"?  George Macdonald in his novel, "Portent," has distinctly made the hero and heroine know that they were upon the earth before. It is a sad, weird tale, but it serves to illustrate the truth of reminiscence. 

There are many hundreds of lives upon the earth today who have reminiscences. Perhaps there are none in this room who, if they spoke from within, have not felt at some time a reminiscence of a previous existence, as though somewhere before they had seen, or felt, or experienced that which is transpiring here and now; a clasp of the hand, an intonation of voice, a flash, a gleam, a sunset glow, enough to reveal the heretofore. 

Among many thousands of similar instances we cite one. We know a lady who never signs her name to a document, even an ordinary letter, without being seized with violent trembling. She always said, long before these teachings were known to her, that she felt that she had signed her name consenting to a terrible crime or injustice in some past time; perhaps to a death warrant, possibly that of her dearest friend; and that it had been a lifelong sorrow to her in that past time. When we consider what those past times were it is no wonder that sometimes there is hesitation, and trembling unaccountable, when one is performing an ordinary act. It is no wonder that    sometimes a reminiscence, as of sudden sorrow or of joy, should come upon one. What would be the feeling of the embodiment following such a life as that of Mary Stuart, unfortunate, not without ambition, but eighteen years a prisoner in the various dungeons and castles of England to serve the ambition of the royal household? If there were sometimes tears unexplained, a reminiscence of sadness that had no excuse for being, it would not be remarkable. Sometimes a babe comes sighing into a glad mother's arms, and it is only after months and years of love-light, and smiles, and kisses, that the child is won from its pre-existent sadness. Sometimes there are smiles and joy wholly unaccountable: since they are often depicted in the countenance where there is no outward occasion for being joyous, in the laughing eyes that reveal in every expression delight and gladness, in the hearts that are glad and can not be depressed or made sorrowful by the experiences of daily life. You will see hearts brave, cheerful, and strong, who will say: "Well, this is not so bad, it might have been worse;" who turn persistently to the light instead of the shadow; having either conquered the shadow or are luminous with strong reminiscence of the great light of a joy that was theirs. 

The state of reminiscence does not begin with the first, nor yet with the second degrees of expression. It is a state of intuitive perception of the possessions within the Soul, but like all attainments has its shadowy and its real side. We may illustrate this by citing the one who is ascending a mountain: while he is in the valley, or even during the ascent, when he is struggling, entangled in the woods, and briers, and 'mid rocks, or descending into valleys between the hills, he can not see the path by which he has ascended, nor yet the way before him, but when he comes to one height he can look back along the mountain and see the devious path by which he has ascended. He also has a glimpse of the way before him, of the higher height to be attained, and once more plunges into the valley, or ravine, or tangled maze, to ascend. So at a certain height, or a certain degree of unfoldment in human existence, glimmerings of reminiscence begin: the consciousness of having lived before, of having suffered with the sufferer, of having traveled along the shaded human ways. 

As those teachers like Pythagoras and Plato, and the shining groups of minds clustering, like stars, around some prophet of old, gave evidence of their individual reminiscences, so, in degree, many whom you meet today in the average state of intellectual and spiritual life, if closely questioned, would say: "Yes I feel often as though I had lived before; I have many times a sort of reminiscence of having had a previous existence here. "Although this may be laughed at by friends, and frowned upon as a dream, or a freak of the imagination, still when you take up the complete web of human life its warp and woof will finally be found enwoven of the lines of these reminiscences. 

At certain points in human progress each Soul looks back over these lines of life and is aware. Poets and artists are privileged to dwell in what is called the realm of the imagination, and they are not criticized if they picture two lovers who think they have met and loved before. They are not censured if, on the top of some ancient castle or ruin, there shall suddenly come into the mind of the dreamer, as depicted in the poem or picture, that it is all familiar, that he has been there before. 

Poets, and artists, and writers, in the realm of the imagination, are supposed to have an especial sesame to enter the mystic and shadowy regions. All references to pre-existence, and reminiscence, are supposed to be poetic license; but if poets did not strike a chord in human life that would vibrate in sympathy with their thoughts how could they thus write? The thrilling, the deep, the unexplainable, is oftenest that which is founded in the highest truth. If this principle were not in the upper air, if it did not belong to one of the inner chambers of the spirit, it could not be thought of. People do not absolutely invent ideas of this kind, they are borne into the consciousness from some inner realm. In ordinary lives, deeper subjects sometimes take possession and there begins this line of reminiscence, which, however, relates to the deeper consciousness, and which is very wisely veiled from the ordinary vision: since if people were busily engaged in remembering what they were, they would not fulfill the present duties and objects of life. There is just sufficient of reminiscence in the world to offer as proof when any teaching is distinctly on that subject. Taking the whole world, and the whole human history, the evidence of reminiscence are as complete and as numerous as any other factor in human life. Nor is it possible to take from this rare lily of existence its attribute of being a flower.  Reminiscence would not be what its name implies if it were more than an atmosphere, a wonderful background into and through which the tones and tints of life are to be wrought. 

We again take up the illustration of the traveler, and follow him to the higher heights, fore-gleams as well as after-gleams are on those shining pinnacles. Can any one doubt what realm we are entering? These heights constitute the realm of sages, teachers, prophets, and, finally, of Messiahs. 

  THE STATE OF PERFECT REMINISCENCE IS ALSO THE STATE OF PROPHECY. 

We have now reached that point of our subject which relates to spiritual existence, or what is commonly known as " The Spirit Life," The Spiritual World," etc., etc., in connection with Embodiments. 

SPIRIT IS THE BREATH OF LIFE FROM THE SOUL INTO MATTER FOR EXPRESSION. 

Each Embodiment is the result, in expression, of a Soul-breath, which is its spirit. 

The Spirit of each Embodiment expresses a personality but not a complete entity, the entity being the Soul. 

The spiritual existence of each embodiment is expressed in the earthly form (of that embodiment) and in the spirit state that succeeds the form. Or, to be more explicit, the expression in each embodiment includes the earthly and spiritual states, the latter being the continuation or fruition of each embodiment. As the seed planted in the soil has a certain growth beneath the surface of the ground, a fuller growth above the surface, and fruition there, so the spirit has the fruition (as spirit, not as Soul) of its embodiment in the state which follows the separation from the body. Whatever is the intention, theme, or line of experience or expression in any embodiment, that is, in a spiritual sense, carried forward into the realm of spirit: each embodiment yielding its spiritual harvest. 

There must be expressions and experiences in all the spiritual states belonging to earth, (or any planet) as there are in all the material states, to complete the full measure of the Soul's expression here. In the most primitive earthly states, or those nearest to matter, the spiritual expressions that follow each embodiment are very feeble, and, therefore, the spiritual existences are of short duration, and are not connected with any conscious moral or spiritual activities; but in later embodiments, when the mind and spirit begin to be active in expression, the spiritual states which follow the earthly embodiments are, necessarily, more complete and full as the fruition of each embodiment. 

Between each embodiment and the succeeding one is such period of time (viewing the subject from the human side) as is required for the spiritual expression or fruition of the preceding embodiment. There is no haste, there is no delay; no imperfect or broken links in the entire chain. 

The human mind takes alarm at once at these teachings, and declares a loss of identity if one embodiment is followed by another, and one spirit after another has expression.  Herein we differ from that which is called reincarnation. There is no reincarnation; there is another expression, and another, until all that is possible is expressed here and in spirit life. Another embodiment is not a loss of identity, but an added expression of identity. One may paint a picture to-day, another in a month or a year, and in two years may write a poem or a treatise on science; never losing, but adding to, his individual expression. 

The entity is in the Soul. Identity is whatever is expressed from that Soul. One embodiment or one thousand can not destroy the identity nor the entity. As each form only expresses a portion of the spirit that pervades it, so each spirit (of a Soul) only expresses a portion of the Soul. Do not mistake the spirit of an embodiment for the Soul: it is as fatal as to mistake the body for the spirit. 

Spiritualism reveals, as its name implies, a knowledge of the existence of spirit, and the experiences after the decease of the mortal form of the spirit which possessed and pervaded that form. The spirit of each embodiment has existence in spirit life, and when the embodiment is a culmination in any direction, the spirit of that embodiment remains as a perfect portion of the entire expressions on earth. When the experiences are complete, each of these culminated expressions forms a portion of the entire expressions of the Soul. While the failures, as they are termed, all that has fallen short of perfection in any direction, form no part of the Soul possessions. 

THE RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE SOUL IS AS THAT OF A SEGMENT TO THE WHOLE CIRCLE. 

The Soul includes all expressions and relations, in all embodiments. 

The spirit of each embodiment is expressed as long in mortal and spiritual life as there is any call or demand for it. We mean by this: any duties that are unfinished, any ties that are formed and require to be maintained, any outward or material belongings in which the spirit is concerned must be preserved. 

People say: I would not like to go into spirit life and not find my friends. If they are your friends you will find them, if they are not you would not wish to. All real ties are found to last in spiritual existence, and form a portion of the Soul's possessions. The larger sphere includes the smaller one. It does not detract from the relation of the moon to the earth because both revolve around the sun. Nor does it render the relation of the planets in the solar system any less important  because the entire system, including the sun, revolves around a more distant central sun. 

Children leave their parental homes to form other ties, of marriage and parentage, but are none the less children. One might as well suppose that the relations of life, parent and child, husband and wife, brother and sister, are blotted out by the Soul's relation to God. All are included in the Infinite Love. So this Soul-life must include all the relations and expressions of spirit, retaining the real and rejecting the shadowy or unreal. 

The mother, whose child is left upon the earth, does not change her natural or spiritual relationship, she fills her function toward that child. When there is an added expression upon the earth, in another embodiment, it is after all possible duties have been filled toward the child; and that relation of mother and child, if it be real, is included as a portion of the Souls treasures. 

Generations pass, usually including from one to two hundred years, before another embodiment occurs, except in particular cases where the life has nearly reached a culmination. 

There are exceptional states in the expressions, of every Soul, wherein the spiritual existence after an embodiment may be very brief, or very protracted, extending to one or two thousand years, or more; but the average is, as previously stated, about two hundred years. We could mention instances where those who have lived what they have considered unfinished lives, wherein their work was not completed, and they have had a wish to take up their work again, have soon had expression in another embodiment. We could mention instances, for illustrations, in which it was evident that one embodiment was nearly related to another, that the line of retrospect was complete, as in the case of Pythagoras. 

Strange messages from spirits, that have been mysterious to those receiving them are herein explained. A lady asking of a communicating spirit for a certain spirit friend, received the answer: "He has gone on a voyage back to earth for the benefit of his Soul."  Other answers, which were veiled, yet easily understood in the light of these teachings, have been given by spirits at various times, who could not explain the absence in their spirit states of certain ones whom they expected to meet. 

Reminiscences of previous embodiments do not exist in ordinary life on earth, nor in the spirit state following the ordinary life; therefore it is not strange that mortals do not receive these teachings from spirits usually, for unless the earthly embodiment is ready to receive them, the spirit state following the embodiment will not reveal them.  It is with spirits as with mortals: very few mortals know; but there are in each individual, in mortal and in spirit life, if the indications were carefully noted, certain flashes of reminiscence: we mean in such lives as have reached any degree of thought or intuition upon these and kindred themes. 

Each spirit enters, therefore, the spiritual existence with perfect freedom and safety; as far as personal existence and relations are concerned each must carry out, as spirit, the spiritual continuation of the line of mortal life. 

To the spirit of each embodiment there are no new beginnings in this spiritual state, unless those beginnings were included in the embodiment, even though veiled; but each spirit state is greater than the embodiment because the fruition of its line of expression. The. spirit that has already started on earth in a line of moral excellence can not change that moral excellence in spirit life; can only carry it to a degree of perfection in that line. The one, however, who has made no conquest of temptation while in the earthly state, where temptation really exists, can not win that victory in the spiritual state. So one who passes into the spiritual state of existence, passes only to the spiritual completion of the solution of the problems already commenced, not to a moral renovation; nor is that lack of moral victory a state of active or aggressive evil in the spirit existence; it is an aggregation of weakness. Those shadowy states, frequently referred to in spirit messages, strongly pictured and typified, are not states of positive, active, aggressive, evil, but are states of negation That which in earth life is positive, because fed by material and organic conditions, is spiritual imbecility. To be a murderer on earth is in spirit life to be a weakling. Those spirits having no knowledge of goodness have no spiritual power. All who have aims, aspirations, and exalted reflections in earthly life, pass on to spiritual states commensurate with them. 

No added embodiment is necessary until all obligations and duties belonging to the late embodiment are expressed and perfected. 

Where infants pass to the spiritual state there is a spiritual purpose to be served even by the transient earthly state. You often hear mediums describe the spirit as growing up in spirit life; such is really the case. In each embodiment the impulsion or expression, even though but commenced in the earthly form, is carried out in spiritual existence, for such embodiments are not intended to be perfected here; in all cases where a child passes on, a double purpose is served. When a babe comes it is not always that it comes for expression, that little hour of life would not count as an expression; but the object is that something is wrought in the lives of its parents. These waifs that float into existence below, and linger but an hour or a year are not robbed. How stupendous would be the robbery if one human life were all they could have! 

There is no theory in religion or science, unless it includes that which we are teaching, that will explain why it is necessary for one man to live until he is eighty or ninety years of age and a babe to die before it is a week old, or before it is born. If it is said in reply, that the spirit state can supply all the lack of experience on earth, why not in all cases ? Why must any grow old ? 

We find that there are numberless ways in which Soul-life can be expressed, and each Soul can and does find absolute expression in all possible states of human existence, so the life of an hour or a moment may balance the life of fourscore or a century. Thus there is no loss, because in the great culminations of existence, just as in experiments in science, those states which are stepping stones, experiments toward a result, are not counted, only the successes; so in all these successive lines of embodiments, for every flickering life that goes out before one has time to know that it is here, there is always opportunity and time to equalize and balance all; and whatever was unexpressed, seemingly, finds expression; and the real intent of each embodiment is expressed. 

To have the whole of human experience one form must not only die when it is eighty, but one form must die before there is birth; the expressions and experiences include all possible states. The spirit state in each embodiment is included in the whole plan. Your spirit life, or spirit world, is not disturbed by these teachings. It is only provided with a diviner sense and recognition: is included in the larger sphere of being. A knowledge which is far greater, and is encompassed and surrounded by as much larger life than before, as the sun's light is brighter and more potent than that of the moon. 

Spiritualism without these lessons is as the moon revolving around the earth. In the moonlight of existence, limited by certain spiritual states, you may glow and shine after the state of earth, but when you find the source of the light of the spirit, it is this Soul-life which includes all spiritual states and all human existence. Under its divine and solvent radiance you are not only reconciled to birth and death, but to any birth, and to the death that is in human life; you are reconciled to all different conditions in outward existence; to all those states in spirit life that are not provided for in theology, and that Spiritualism only touches lightly or not at all, and can not explain, and can not answer. This light is the only solution of the heretofore, and of those states far beyond spirit existence, in the realm we name angelic. Those differences also in spiritual conditions you know are ultimately all to be solved, but how, or in what way, has not been revealed except in this light of the Soul. 

Spiritual existence, as a rule, includes the period of time which would be required for the full perfection of the life on earth, and for the carrying forward of its purposes in spirit life. 

As there is approach toward the final culmination in embodiments on earth the spiritual harvest is riper before entering spirit life, so the interval of time between embodiments is much lessened, for as the embodiments approach the final culmination there is more rapid tendency to expression. It would not be surprising to you to know that where geniuses have been perfected in many ways and there are many lines of culminations coming together that the embodiments are much more rapid, that the earthly ties are less dominant, as they are not needed, and that at last only the spirit prevails and the Soul seeks expression in its final states on earth. 

We have endeavored in this and the preceding lessons to impress upon you the equality of all Souls, we have endeavored to impress upon you the absolute justice of this law of expression as applied to all Souls. We should like to impress upon you more fully that which should be the lesson, particularly to mortals in their present state, that not only everything is possible for each individual Soul, but that no Soul ever expressed any genius or splendid quality that all will not express. 

We would like to give encouragement to such as are athirst, seemingly restless and dissatisfied, that what is not attained will surely be won; and even though it may be valueless when it is attained, you must each accomplish it and find it out for yourself. No one can have expression for another. Even in the short space of one generation the son never follows the admonitions of the father, unless the son is older than the father in expression, but if he is not older in experience be will have his own experience, whatever the admonition may be, and he soon gets it in life. No human life can have experience for another. One who has never experienced love can not declare what it is, so that divine impulse, of love, must ultimately come into every life in all guises until the light of Soul-love is known. No one can tell what religion is, until a religious force is born within; others may call it a dream, enthusiasm, unreality; may have no interpretation where with to solve the sacred flame, but if it has been experienced it is understood. The same is true of poetry: many may write in the rhyme, or rhythm, or measure, of poetry who are not poets; but no one can understand    the quality or essence of poetry unless he is a poet. This can be applied to music, to all attainments. Often that which one will throw away when it is won, proves by the desire of having it that it must be won; and each will be obliged to win for this experience. the joy of conquest and the disappointment of it too. 

That which allures and captivates man's ambition and deceives his conscience, is a false height from which he may, perhaps, perceive the real mountains upon which the true light shines afar off, but he must descend into the valleys to reach them. Man may build towers for observing the stars, but he can not reach them by climbing to the top of the towers. So each tower of pride, ambition, false hope, or love, man will build; nay more than this: he may wear the laurel wreath and the wreath of bay, and prove what the greatest in the world have known for all the ages, that both of these bear more thorns than did the crown of thorns on the brow of Christ. 

Please also remember, that it is not possible while one is measuring the deeps to recoil from them, nor for any to have had experience that all have not had, or that they must not have; it is not possible for one height to have been attained or any beauty or perfection, however fair they seem, or that fairest height of all, moral and spiritual perfection, exemplified in the greatest teachers, revealed in the loftiest minds of earth, that all will not one day attain. 

As, sometimes, one's past is a background against which one draws the contrast of the present with the past attainment, let your present imperfections be the background against which the light that is divine shall picture the future achievement in glorious and triumphant beauty; and then remember that that achievement, great, and wonderful and perfect as it may be, will form but the stepping stone to that higher height, that diviner glory which shall follow. 

LESSON III..THE SOUL: ITS  NATURE, RELATIONS, AND EXPRESSIONS IN HUMAN EMBODIMENTS..LESSON V