For man has become a self- conscious factor in that great scheme of evolution which has for its basis Divine compassion.

Recognizing, then, the dual aspect of that which we term cvolution, but which is only an evolution of form and a becoming in consciousness, let us once more retrace our steps somewhat in our study of the becoming of the human soul. Yet in all this we must not lose sight of the fact that "every entity in the Universe either is, was, or prepares to become, a man." * We must not view man for one instant as apart from nature as a whole, or as not subject to her every law in common with all other entities, whether of high or low degree. We have seen, in a general way, how the process of evolution, which has been well termed the Cycle of Necessity, forces entities into progressively higher forms of matter; that, in fact, every descent or involution of spirit, or consciousness, in matter is the exact equivalent of an evolution of material form. For the new descent compels the building of higher forms to contain, or to allow expression for, the entities crowded out - if the term be allowable - of their old habitations by the incoming guests.

We have seen, also, that consciousness is at first monadic - using this term in its true sense of One-ness, and which is quite different from that in which we speak of the human Monad, - and is only very gradually impressed with the stamp of any individual experience. It might be likened to the crude gold nuggets, which are simply gold at first, and indistinguishable from other nuggets until they become coins of different values under the various individualizing processes and stamps received in the mint. If, now, we remember that this which we have termed a Great Manvantara, or objective arc of the Universe, is interrupted by an almost infinite number of minor pra- layas, or subjective cycles of rest, of equally infinite degrees of incompleteness, we shall at length be in a position to appreciate evolution as we perceive its action in nature about us. For under the general view, with which this chapter was prefaced, it would seem to have been inferred that only Great Pralayas, or times of Universal Rest, allowed of the liberation of consciousness and its consequent progression in future manvantaras. This is by no means the case.

These pralayas extend from the unthinkable periods contemplated by the Brahmanical classification, and represented arithmetically by fifteen places of figures, to periods of perhaps less than a second, as in the case of deaths and renewals of the molecules composing the cells of our bodies. The death of a human body is only a pralaya or rest for the soul, affording another opportunity, after the rest is over, for further conscious experiences. The death of a planet is its pralaya; and so on for a cell, a sun, or any entity whatever. These minor pralayas by no means restore consciousness to its absolute condition, as the Great Pralayas do, but only to relative and infinitely varying states of freedom from material form. Thus, sleep is a pralaya which temporarily frees man's higher Principles, while death is similar, but of much higher degree. After the first, consciousness must return to the same body; after the second, it clothes itself with an entirely new one. Minor and incomplete pralayas, such as sleep, are often spoken of as Obscurations.

* Secret Doctrine.

Returning from this necessary digression: The consciousness expressed in mineral form, upon its dissociation from any cause from this, could easily re-enter any, or almost any, portion of the entire mineral kingdom. So the lowly forms of vegetable or animal life, respectively, might easily be capable of a wide range of choice among other lowly forms of their kingdoms. But how about that consciousness expressed in the elephant, the tiger, or the stately tree? Is it possible to conceive of a magnificent oak, for example, upon the destruction of its cellular clothing, reentering a fungus or a daisy? or of the carnivorous, cruel tiger reappearing as a dove ? These would be but senseless attempts to make the lesser contain the greater - to pour the ocean into the thimble.

It is easy to see that each conscious experience added makes it more and more difficult, as the ages go by, for a reincarnating entity to even re-enter its own class; and that thus, in its minor degree, it will travel its own cycle of necessity, first as an element, then as a mineral, then as a plant, an animal, a man, and - a god! It is also comprehensible, if but dimly, how the beginnings of individuality are thus faintly impressed upon potential centers of consciousness in kingdoms far below the human, or even the animal. How these potential centers themselves originate is not a subject for finite inquiry; it is a mystery pertaining to the Great Unknowable Causelesss Cause. We only know that they do originate; and, as stated, may, without transcending finite limits, dimly conceive of their after processes. It is within our power, also, to imagine, and even to trace, a pathway by following which we can perceive that, after unthinkable periods of conscious experiences in lower forms,there would at last come a time when a conscious center forced into a higher kingdom would recognize that this state was unlike former ones - and, lo! the mystery of self- consciousness is achieved, and a human soul has become! For self-consciousness is but the recognition that our consciousness is different from that of entities around us - in the differentiation of Ego from Non-Ego. This once recognized, all our magnificent introspective or subjective mental processes become only a question of widening phenomenal experience.

Yet the view of man's becoming will still be one-sided if we lose sight of the spiritual aspect of evolution, already referred to. Every advanced entity in the Universe, as we have seen, is forced during the Cycle of Necessity, by this grand law of involution, plus evolution, to clothe itself with entities occupying lower forms of matter. It thus secures its own continued conscious experiences, and mercifully assists those with which it is thus associated to rise in the scale of being. This is the true mystery of man's relation to the bodies in which he is incarnated. He is using lower forms of life to enable him to obtain conscious experiences on the material plane. Until this simple explanation is recognized by Western nations they will continue to grope between the Scylla of materialistic negation and Charybdis of dogmatic superstition.

Once this spiritual aspect of evolution is recognized, however, much of the mystery of man's dual nature, of those two souls which Goethe declares strive in every human breast, becomes intelligible. The entities - our Higher Egos - thus occupying the highly complex molecular associations composing our bodies, light up, by their presence in this form, a reflection of the pure flame constituting their own higher essence. Having thus rationalized that which was before but physical senses common to all animals as well as animal man, they - or we - can now relate themselves to sensuous phenomena through this reflection thus imparted by their presence. But, alas, in rationalizing they have not destroyed the desires and passions of purely animal, sensuous existence. On the contrary, these are strengthened a thousandfold by being thus illumined by reason. There has been added to the sensuous delight that of anticipation as well as remembrance. The reasoning, remembering animal now runs riot in its mad chase after sensuous delights. And to control this fatally beautiful animal, to spiritualize senses thus rationalized, is the hard task set before every human soul.

This is the conflict - the two souls within our breast fighting for mastery - which has been the theme of many an inspired poem, from the Bhagavad Gita down to the humble Salvation Army enthusiast who sings, "My Soul, be on thy guard!" Yet this very conflict strengthens, even as the fierce winds only cause the oak to strike more deeply its roots into the earth. It is a necessary part of the great scheme of evolution - a rugged, dangerous portion of that* way which "leads up hill to the very end,"