Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/109

 immortal is very manifest. The highest principle in the animal individuality is the nerve-principle, the principle of consciousness which can perceive material forms and material phenomena. That interior principle is not unfolded in the animal. The inmost principle of the animal, I grant, is spiritual, but that principle is not individualized. The animal has only the nerve-principle, but in the spirit-principle; and joining perceive facts and phenomena; but he can not perceive relations—has no desire after relations—and knows nothing of moral duties. He can not be active in that way, because his highest individuality is his mere nervous individuality. God does not breathe into the animal that breath of life which makes him a living soul. But man is individualized not only in this nerve-principle, but in the spirit-principle; and joining upon the infinite he does take the divine breath into him as the inmost principle of his being. Man is immortal by his relation to the self-sufficient and self-existent. It is his relation to God that makes him immortal. The animal is not immortal, because he has not this relation. Man having this higher principle individualized in him becomes a religious being.

In the example heretofore cited of Sir Isaac Newton and his dog perceiving the falling of an apple, the dog was seen as observing only the fact, while Sir Isaac Newton observed the law, which he called gravitation; yet not being developed in his divine consciousness, which perceives the absolute and divine, he could not tell the absolute cause of the phenomenon. The dog is in the manifestational sphere, while Sir Isaac Newton was developed in the manifestational