Five Years of Theosophy | Page 3

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these, as that war of terms may be postponed to another occasion.
Neither does it matter what relation each of these men has to the
various "elements" of the Kosmos of which he forms a part. This
knowledge, though of vital importance in other respects, need not be
explained or discussed now. Nor does it much more concern us that the
Scientists deny the existence of such an arrangement, because their
instruments are inadequate to make their senses perceive it. We will
simply reply--"get better instruments and keener senses, and eventually
you will."
All we have to say is that if you are anxious to drink of the "Elixir of

Life," and live a thousand years or so, you must take our word for the
matter at present, and proceed on the assumption. For esoteric science
does not give the faintest possible hope that the desired end will ever be
attained by any other way; while modern, or so-called exact
science--laughs at it.
So, then, we have arrived at the point where we have determined--
literally, not metaphorically--to crack the outer shell known as the
mortal coil or body, and hatch out of it, clothed in our next. This "next"
is not spiritual, but only a more ethereal form. Having by a long
training and preparation adapted it for a life in this atmosphere, during
which time we have gradually made the outward shell to die off
through a certain process (hints of which will be found further on) we
have to prepare for this physiological transformation.
How are we to do it? In the first place we have the actual, visible,
material body--Man, so called; though, in fact, but his outer shell--to
deal with. Let us bear in mind that science teaches us that in about
every seven years we change skin as effectually as any serpent; and this
so gradually and imperceptibly that, had not science after years of
unremitting study and observation assured us of it, no one would have
had the slightest suspicion of the fact.
We see, moreover, that in process of time any cut or lesion upon the
body, however deep, has a tendency to repair the loss and reunite; a
piece of lost skin is very soon replaced by another. Hence, if a man,
partially flayed alive, may sometimes survive and be covered with a
new skin, so our astral, vital body--the fourth of the seven (having
attracted and assimilated to itself the second) and which is so much
more ethereal than the physical one--may be made to harden its
particles to the atmospheric changes. The whole secret is to succeed in
evolving it out, and separating it from the visible; and while its
generally invisible atoms proceed to concrete themselves into a
compact mass, to gradually get rid of the old particles of our visible
frame so as to make them die and disappear before the new set has had
time to evolve and replace them. We can say no more. The Magdalene
is not the only one who could be accused of having "seven spirits" in

her, though men who have a lesser number of spirits (what a misnomer
that word!) in them, are not few or exceptional; they are the frequent
failures of nature--the incomplete men and women.*
----------- * This is not to be taken as meaning that such persons are
thoroughly destitute of some one or several of the seven principles--a
man born without an arm has still its ethereal counterpart; but that they
are so latent that they cannot be developed, and consequently are to be
considered as non-existing.--Ed. Theos. ----------
Each of these has in turn to survive the preceding and more dense one,
and then die. The exception is the sixth when absorbed into and
blended with the seventh. The "Phatu" * of the old Hindu physiologist
had a dual meaning, the esoteric side of which corresponds with the
Tibetan "Zung" (seven principles of the body).
We Asiatics, have a proverb, probably handed down to us, and by the
Hindus repeated ignorantly as to its esoteric meaning. It has been
known ever since the old Rishis mingled familiarly with the simple and
noble people they taught and led on. The Devas had whispered into
every man's ear--Thou only--if thou wilt--art "immortal." Combine with
this the saying of a Western author that if any man could just realize for
an instant, that he had to die some day, he would die that instant. The
Illuminated will perceive that between these two sayings, rightly
understood, stands revealed the whole secret of Longevity. We only die
when our will ceases to be strong enough to make us live. In the
majority of cases, death comes when the torture and vital exhaustion
accompanying a rapid change in our physical conditions
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