Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/44

 nature and to God. They can not have thoughts and desires that pertain to the undying spirit, their highest nature being merely animal. Were man as true to all the needs of his being as is the animal to the needs of his animal nature, he would not be the discontented, unhappy, and lustful being he now is. But in consequence of having to supply the needs of a higher nature, he finds himself far from being as contented as the brute, whose animal wants are all provided for.

There are spiritual needs pertaining to his understanding and affections which are entirely overlooked or neglected by him, whose demands are as imperative as are the demands of the animal nature. The demands of his intellectual and moral nature cause him to feel the lack of something within which destroys his rest and quiet. He seeks to satisfy this lack by gratifying his sensuous appetites and passions. Thus man runs into vice, and becomes sinful. Were it not for his immortal thirsting for the water of life, he never would be a wicked, lustful being; or if he would supply the demands of that thirst, he never would be discontented or lustful.

Now let us make the distinction between the lustful and the divine impulse, that you may better understand what I mean by the sphere to which I am calling your attention. We all can tell the difference by appealing to our own consciousness. The divine impulse informs us of a need, and leads us to seek to supply it. The Infinite only speaks of needs, and leads man to supply them, that he may grow up into a perfect being. Every impulse in man, from the lowest to the highest nature, must be attended to, in order to render him