Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/42

 *ifested coming into the true relation which gives birth to them.

The same law holds good when applied to the relations existing between the body and the spirit. My body can not be nourished so as to become an instrument of individualizing in me an immortal spirit, unless it be sustained by those things necessary to become a part of its organism. I have needs, as an immortal being, which must be supplied, or I perish; and since those needs exist, they must have some means of manifesting themselves to me; and one of the means employed for that purpose is the feeling of hunger. A desire for food proclaims a need of my wasting body. The needed material can then be taken into it to build it up and fit it for its holy mission of being an instrument in elaborating an immortal spirit. So, likewise, thirst is the voice of God proclaiming a need of my body, and my spirit is induced to seek for that which shall supply the demand of a divine impulse originating in that plane. So it is in regard to all other needs of the body calling upon the spirit for gratification. The impulses, then, pertaining to this body have not their origin in this body, but only in the relation which this body sustains to my spirit; and when the spirit has fulfilled its duty of supplying the needs of the body, the demand ceases. When, being hungry, I have appropriated the proper quantity of food, the desire for food ceases. It is so respecting every other need—when it is supplied, the demand ceases, and the individual continues to be satisfied till the demand is again created. By studying the needs of the body, and making yourself acquainted with its condition as far