Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/147

 and how much to the internal and infinite; because that which makes me to differ from you is finite; but that which makes myself or yourself one and the same with every other individual being in the universe, is infinite. Therefore the first point of investigation is to ascertain what it is that makes you and me differ from every other individual being in the universe—in what that difference consists—because when I speak of you as a Spiritual being, I speak of you in view of that difference, and not in view of that sameness.

You understand that individuality makes the difference between us. My individuality makes me to differ as an individual being from you. The question now arises, what constitutes my individuality, this "I, myself"—what enables me, when speaking of the events Of childhood, to say, "When I was a child," though every thing has changed that pertained to my individuality as a child—thoughts, feelings, tastes, pleasures, form? What is it that connects the events of twenty or thirty years ago with my present being?

I wish each one to go down into his own mind and solve that problem, because if we are to talk about Spirits we must learn about ourselves. When each man understands thoroughly the Spirit that is at present speaking to him, he will be able to form some correct ideas respecting its condition in the Spiritual world.

Upon examination, each will find that there is within himself a principle of absolute consciousness—a principle which is self-conscious, which represents itself to itself, and is not represented by any thing but itself. It can not be analyzed. It is absolute in itself. To