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189 case has to do with getting rid, from the astral body, of the material of any plane in which it is entangled, but in discussing so subtle a subject we naturally work back to the moral causes at the back of the material condition, and speak of them as determining the result So that the lower levels of the astral region above the lowest would be the natural habitat of those whose lives are largely dominated by the pettier trivialities of existence,—for whom their things have been of very much greater moment than their thoughts,—for whom the work they may have had to do has not been merely performed as a necessary part of life’s duty, but has itself become an end, as in the case of the miser whose wealth is not merely accumulated for the sake of the ease of mind it may procure for himself or others, but for its own sake. As we ascend to the higher regions of the astral plane—keeping for the present to those of its aspects which concern the souls of people dying in the ordinary course of Nature—the conditions change very matert- ally. Putting the same idea another way, we may say, as we come to consider the condition on the astral plane of those who are imbued with aspirations, emotions, and desires of a higher order, we find this region of existence a very different one for them as compared with what it is for humanity of a lower type. My great difficulty now is to do justice to the ethereal and graceful features of the higher astral existence without giving rise to conceptions of it which only belong properly to the spiritual plane. But let the clue to the mystery be sought for in the question, what Igo THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. would be the appropriate response of Nature to a state of mind, which without being degraded or sensual, had yet never risen above,—or had, at least, been mainly dominated by,—conceptions of happiness and ideals having to do entirely with earthly pursuits, enjoyments, and surroundings ? We may even recognise these ideals as blended with the exercise of the affec- tions ; still, if the affections concerned are not altogether the main thing—if the craving of the soul is for the whole aggregation of circumstances constituting earth life—it cannot get entirely beyond the attraction of the astral counterparts of the earth life’s scenery and decorations. Instead of pressing onward to higher realms of thought and feeling—to that spiritual plane in which interior states of consciousness are the all-important conditions—such a personality as I am now endeavour- ing to depict will be content to reproduce for himself on the astral plane a routine of life not very dissimilar from that he has quitted on earth. As I have said already, the matter of the astral plane is much more plastic and obedient to imagination and desire than that of the gross earth; and the astral body is entirely exempt from those imperious cravings and necessities, and from those liabilities to fatigue, heat and cold, injury and suffering, which put so many obstacles in the way of attaining the ideals of well being on the physical plane. It follows, therefore, that for beings on the astral plane, free of distinctly physical, without being free of material, desires, an ethereal counterpart of the earth life may gradually be constructed or thought out, which becomes a com- THE ASTRAL PLANE. 1gl plete world in its way. A populous world, too, repro- ducing many of the companionships of earth life, and in which such as are still missing from the circle of old acquaintanceship may be looked forward to as destined to be welcomed eventually. These remarks especially apply to the three higher regions of the astral condition which we come now to consider in detail. The fifth is that phase in which the external characteristics of life, in regard to its more graceful, but still non-spiritual aspects, are most com- pletely reproduced. Here we find in their fullest development the conditions which represent the realities as the back of that somewhat too idealistic conception of the astral plane existence, which gather round the notion some Spiritualists have formed of what they call the ‘‘summer land.’ In this condition of being people are well aware that they have quitted the earth life and have passed through the change spoken of here as death, but conceive themselves translated to another world filled with the same interests and occupations as those they have quitted, although these are divorced completely from the strained and painful aspects they have worn down here. The inhabitants of this region create for themselves dwellings, churches, entertain- ments, music and instruments, and social surroundings of all sorts, in the midst of which they pass their time in a state of placid contentment. Those to whom this mere purified reflection of physical life would be an unsatisfactory version of the after-state, would be carried on by interior forces to other regions of which we will speak hereafter; but by the hypothesis, this Ig2 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. fifth level of astral life must necessarily fulfil the aspira- tions of those to whom it is appropriate, and a gentle self-sufficient incredulity on their part is exhibited towards anyone whose higher evolution enables him to function on that plane of existence for a while, though still in incarnation, and who may endeavour to repre- sent to those around him that loftier states of being are attainable. From the point of view, indeed, of those whose perceptions are more widely open, the scenery and decorations of summer land are woefully imperfect and unfinished, although so eminently satisfactory to their creators. These, by a curious misapprehension of the actual truth, regard with a certain sympathetic pity persons whose interior growth is tending to carry them higher; but who, through some characteristics in their astral vehicle, are entangled on this plane, and remain during their sojourn in a torpid and imper- fectly conscious state. The fully awakened inhabitants of the fifth plane look upon these persons as less developed than themselves rather than more so, and confidently anticipate a period when they will wake completely and appreciate the excellences of the life around. Their complete awakening is really reserved for higher planes, perhaps for those truly spiritual regions to be dealt with hereafter, perhaps for those immediately superior conditions of astral life which we find in manifest- ation on the sixth and seventh sub-divisions. On ‘the sixth especially the predominant nature of the prevalent feeling has to do with religious sentiment. In its finer and purer aspects, religious sentiment THE ASTRAL PI.ANE. 193 would seek its fruition on Devachanic levels. But intervening conditions of thought and religious emotion lying between the worldly temperament and the truly spiritual aspiration which concerns itself pre-eminently with the externals of religious worship rather than with its essence, are those which delay the soul in the astral region we are considering. Thus the sixth level of the astral plane becomes in one, at all events, of its aspects,—the home of those who are devoted to what may be called the ecclesiastical side of religion rather than its spiritual aspect, who find their delight in rituals and services, for whom the material ceremonies of church-going and pious formality have taken the place of a more deeplv-seated devotion. By a natural gravitation the representatives of each great faith gather together on this level of astral existence, and each great group constitutes a world for itself, altogether out of touch with that developed by adjacent groups. We must remember on the astral plane we are not by any means outside the range of time and space, so that we are not doing violence to the truth of things if we recognise the astral levels as involving some corres- pondence with the geographical distribution of the physical population on the earth’s surface. The predominant characteristic of the highest level of the astral plane is intellectual activity. This, as we see but too plainly around us, is often dissociated entirely from spiritual growth; it may be compatible with the total neglect of all problems having to do with the unity of consciousness, or the possibilities connected with the enlargement of that consciousness 194 THRE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. beyond the limits assigned to it by the activity of the physical brain. Of course the physical brain of the most intellectual person during life is, after all, merely an instrument on which he plays; those capacities which guide its exercise reside really in the. constitution of the Ego; but while they are unaccompanied by any true spiritual evolution they may seek for no other manifestation than that to which they are used during earth life. They do find themselves, however, in presence of a condition of things in which intellectual activity is emancipated from some of the restraints imposed upon it during physical life, and thus they have an exhilarating consciousness of enlarged capacity. This may be associated to a considerable degree with philanthropic instincts, and the inhabitants of the highest astral plane are strongly impressed with the idea that their influence may contribute largely to the growth and development of human intelligence, and with that end in view they are often on the alert to find persons amongst those still living on the physical plane, on whom they may impress their improved and brighter conceptions.