9 -- DIFFERENTIATION OF MIND AND SPIRIT
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25. It may be mentioned here that the instrument of thinking is the mind, and that this is as much dependent upon the spirit-current for its action as the senses are for the performance of their functions; as like the senses, the mind becomes inoperative when the spirit-currents are withdrawn from the mental plane in deep slumber or coma. The spirit-entity should therefore never be confounded with mind. That entity is the focus of vital energy which sends forth currents to the mental and physical planes.
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10 -- DISEMBODIED SPIRITS
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26. From the various extraordinary cases which are recorded by investigators into spiritualism, it appears that after the spirit has quitted the physical frame, it is not lost or dissipated, but that it assumes other conditions about which we shall speak presently. The importance of these conditions, if they really exist, is supreme in a scientific study of the essence and laws of the spirit-force. We would therefore suggest that the extraordinary occurences,referred to above, be subjected to such tests as would establish them once for all or disprove their accuracy.
These extraordinary conditions, if established, would throw considerable light on the question of the essence and laws of the spirit-force, and would contribute in no small measure to an advance in the study of the spirit-force. Assuming for the present the accuracy of the reports of the more accomplished investigators into the phenomena of spiritualism, our enquiry leads to the following results.
27. The first condition, after separation of the spirit from the physical frame, is the assumption of a subtle form known as the astral body. The prejudices and predilections of the spirit in this body are more or less akin to those possessed by it during life. In shape and colour also the astral form resembles the original physical form.
28. From what we have mentioned above, it would follow that the condition of disembodiedness, referred to, does not liberate spirit from that mental association which constitutes a source of pain. The causes which brought about the mental associations, and the eventual assumption of the physical frame, are not therefore eliminated by the spirit becoming merely disembodied. We shall have later on occasion to show that these mundane prejudices, predications, and desires are the causes of the descent of spirit into the physical world and of the assumption of the physical frame.
Unless these causes are eradicated and, in lieu of them, communion is established with higher spiritual sources, the associations with mind and matter will continue, and the spirit will remain subject to mundane pains and pleasures.
29. The propositions so far established are, therefore, that, in cases of disembodied spirits, referred to,
(i) they remain subject to pleasure and pain similar to ours, and
(ii) they are not dissipated after death.
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