Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/146

 CHAPTER VIII.

CONDITION OF THE SPIRIT IN THE SPIRIT-WORLD.

In order that I may present the general condition of the Spirit in the Spirit-world in the most intelligible form, it will be necessary for us to enter into a very close and accurate analysis of what constitutes the Spirit, because if we do not well understand what constitutes the Spirit, we shall only be able to conjecture of its condition of happiness in the Spirit-world; and if we are to have a close and rigid analysis of the Spirit, we, can only have it by having a close and rigid analysis of our own conscious being, because we can know nothing but our own consciousness; and if we are to learn of the condition of Spirits in the other world, that condition must be translated into our consciousness, and we must find it therein recorded, or we can only conjecture of their condition.

Then the first point to which I wish to call your attention, is that which distinguishes the condition of absolute consciousness from that condition which goes to make up individuality—that which is universal and applicable to all, and that which is only individual and applicable to each and every individual. Every individual has the means of determining how much of this being—"I, myself"—belongs to the external and finite,