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1The soul is formless and intangible, and constitutes the attributes of the divine spirit; therefore, we can only conceive and know of the soul by learning the powers or attributes of the spirit. When we have learned them, we shall possess a clear conception of the soul and its real nature. In order to make ourselves better understood, let us illus¬ trate the idea. Take a ray of light. What do we know concerning it? THE SOUL 141
2Nothing, except by its action upon something else. This action we term the attributes of light. In themselves the attributes of light are formless, but they may easily be rendered visible, either by their colors when refracted by the prism, or by their effects when concen¬ trated upon material objects. Here we have what may be correctly termed the soul of a ray of light. Another example may be taken as illustrative and expressive of the idea we wish to convey, viz.; the organism of man. Man, as at present constituted, possesses five external senses, viz.; seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling. In reality, he has seven senses which may be used externally, but the two higher attributes of the sensuous gamut are still in embryo so far as the gen¬ erality of mankind are concerned. The sixth race or atomic age child¬ ren who are externalizing at the present time, will evolve the sixth sense (intuition or perception through spiritual sensation, and learn to use it in their daily lives); the seventh race will evolve the seventh sense; and then mankind will be physically perfect. But as these two higher senses need not interfere with our illustration, we will only notice man as he is, and be content with five. All our knowledge con¬ cerning external phenomena must come, at present, through the mediumship of one or more of these senses. The organs through which the functions of the senses become manifest are visible, but the senses themselves are invisible and formless. We know them only as the attributes of the body; while the mind, which is perfectly and abso¬ lutely dependent upon the senses for information, well represents the spiritual Ego in its relation to the soul.
3The reader will observe from what is here stated, that the soul, itself is, as before said, formless and intangible, and therefore can only be defined as the attribute of spirit. The one cannot exist without the other, but at the same time they cannot be called one and the same, as there is the same difference between the two as there is between a ray of light and its action; and the same distinction as there is be¬ tween the body and its physical senses. Without the one we cannot know the other, and vice versa. A very large percentage of the readers of mystical literature have imagined that the human soul is some kind of a spiritual organism, similar in many respects to the body, and the means whereby the divine spirit manifests itself. But, as shown, this idea is radically erroneous. The spiritual body is the result or outcome of the soul’s c lOoqle O IZBA 142 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT action, but is not the soul itself. It is an attribute of the soul, just as the soul is an attribute of the divine Ego, and this divine Ego, in its turn, is a crystallized attribute or expression of Deity. What then is Deity? the reader may ask. All that we are able to answer is, Abso¬ lute Potentiality; pure, formless spirit; unlimited, unconditioned in¬ telligence. Definition can go no further in this direction.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1The soul is formless and intangible, and constitutes the attributes of the divine spirit; therefore, we can only conceive and know of the soul by learning the powers or attributes of the spirit. When we have learned them, we shall possess a clear conception of the soul and its real nature. In order to make ourselves better understood, let us illus¬ trate the idea. Take a ray of light. What do we know concerning it? THE SOUL 141
2Nothing, except by its action upon something else. This action we term the attributes of light. In themselves the attributes of light are formless, but they may easily be rendered visible, either by their colors when refracted by the prism, or by their effects when concen¬ trated upon material objects. Here we have what may be correctly termed the soul of a ray of light. Another example may be taken as illustrative and expressive of the idea we wish to convey, viz.; the organism of man. Man, as at present constituted, possesses five external senses, viz.; seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling. In reality, he has seven senses which may be used externally, but the two higher attributes of the sensuous gamut are still in embryo so far as the gen¬ erality of mankind are concerned. The sixth race or atomic age child¬ ren who are externalizing at the present time, will evolve the sixth sense (intuition or perception through spiritual sensation, and learn to use it in their daily lives); the seventh race will evolve the seventh sense; and then mankind will be physically perfect. But as these two higher senses need not interfere with our illustration, we will only notice man as he is, and be content with five. All our knowledge con¬ cerning external phenomena must come, at present, through the mediumship of one or more of these senses. The organs through which the functions of the senses become manifest are visible, but the senses themselves are invisible and formless. We know them only as the attributes of the body; while the mind, which is perfectly and abso¬ lutely dependent upon the senses for information, well represents the spiritual Ego in its relation to the soul.
3The reader will observe from what is here stated, that the soul, itself is, as before said, formless and intangible, and therefore can only be defined as the attribute of spirit. The one cannot exist without the other, but at the same time they cannot be called one and the same, as there is the same difference between the two as there is between a ray of light and its action; and the same distinction as there is be¬ tween the body and its physical senses. Without the one we cannot know the other, and vice versa. A very large percentage of the readers of mystical literature have imagined that the human soul is some kind of a spiritual organism, similar in many respects to the body, and the means whereby the divine spirit manifests itself. But, as shown, this idea is radically erroneous. The spiritual body is the result or outcome of the soul’s c lOoqle O IZBA 142 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT action, but is not the soul itself. It is an attribute of the soul, just as the soul is an attribute of the divine Ego, and this divine Ego, in its turn, is a crystallized attribute or expression of Deity. What then is Deity? the reader may ask. All that we are able to answer is, Abso¬ lute Potentiality; pure, formless spirit; unlimited, unconditioned in¬ telligence. Definition can go no further in this direction.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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