Page:The astral world, higher occult powers; (IA astralworldhighe00tiff).pdf/57

 will be found that those in the same pursuit affinitize with one another—drunkards with drunkards, etc.—every sphere delighting in that which corresponds to the desires of those who compose it. So in the Spirit-world; the Spirit who was a drunkard here seeks gratification in the same direction that he did on earth; the seeker of pleasure there still has a love for the theater, routs, and balls; the libertine still delights in miserable songs he was accustomed to hear.

Governments, institutions, and associations and relations, whether social, spiritual, or otherwise, are expressions of what are the loves and delights of the soul of man. Therefore, in all institutions, you will find displayed the characters of those who founded them. The government of any country is but the child of the ruling mind or minds of that country. Then, if we wish to understand the dark spheres in the Spiritual world, we have only to drop the body and have our spiritual eyes opened, when we will see that there exist there all the phases of society that we find here. The cause of this arises from the sphere of lust. You have there your gambling Spirits, your drinking Spirits, your lustful Spirits, etc. And how do these poor creatures live there? That is the next question. What do they do to gratify their desires? I will tell you. You understand it to be a psychological principle, that when two men are brought into sympathy, or into rapport with each other (one being positive and the other negative), feelings, sensations, and desires can be communicated from one to the other. To give an illustration: You have seen, in mesmerism, an exhibition of mind separated from the