Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/197

 But as man has needs pertaining to his physical, intellectual, moral, and religious natures, and as there are pleasures pertaining to the proper supplying of them, man's lusts may lead him to act in either the physical, intellectual, or moral and religious departments; and, as already remarked, the grossness of the lust will depend upon the plan and the means by which it seeks gratification. Reflection will demonstrate that the different lusts, as they are called, differ not in the primary impulse, but differ in the manner of seeking gratification. Man, in the external and finite of his being, may be differently affected by the different modes of gratification which his lust prompts him to seek. Thus the physical effect produced upon him by seeking gratification through his appetite for strong drink, will be different from that produced upon him by seeking gratification through his relish for food or social amusement. Seeking gratification through the improper exercise of any of the faculties of the body or mind tends to produce injury in two ways.

First, the tendency is to call off the attention from the actual needs of the being, so that the proper demands are neglected, and thereby lustful desires become intensified by the influx of an unnatural degree of energy in that false direction. And second, by over-*taxing the capacity of those organs which are used for lustful gratification. Thus the inebriate and glutton who make use of their appetites as a means of gratification, often weaken and disease the organs of digestion and assimilation, and thereby disqualify them for performing their proper functions. Man can not engage in lustful exercises without subjecting himself to