In Search of the Miraculous

detail which we had not had before.

He again used the Eastern comparison of man with a carriage, horse, driver, and

master, and drew the diagram with one addition that was not there before.

"Man is a complex organization," he said, "consisting of four parts which may be connected or unconnected, or badly connected. The carriage is connected with the

horse by shafts, the horse is connected with the driver by reins, and the driver is

connected with the master by the master's voice. But the driver must hear and

understand the master's voice. He must know how to drive and the horse must be

trained to obey the reins. As to the relation between the horse and the carriage, the

horse must be properly harnessed. Thus there are three connections between the four

sections of this complex organization [see Fig. 5b]. If something is lacking in one of

the connections, the organization cannot

act as a single whole. The connections are therefore no less important than the actual

'bodies.' Working on himself man works simultaneously on the 'bodies' and on the

'connections.' But it is different work.

"Work on oneself must begin with the driver. The driver is the mind. In order to be

able to hear the master's voice, the driver, first of all, must not be asleep, that is, he must wake up. Then it may prove that the master speaks a language that the driver

does not understand. The driver must learn this language. When he has learned it, he

will understand the master. But concurrently with this he must learn to drive the

horse, to harness it to the carriage, to feed and groom it, and to keep the carriage in

order—because what would be the use of his understanding the master if he is not in a

position to do anything? The master tells him to go yonder. But he is unable to move,

because the horse has not been fed, it is not harnessed, and he does not know where

the reins are. The horse is our emotions. The carriage is the body. The mind must

learn to control the emotions. The emotions always pull the body after them. This is

the order in which work on oneself must proceed. But observe again that work on the

'bodies,' that is, on the driver, the horse, and the carriage, is one thing. And work on

the 'connections'—that is, on the 'driver's understanding,' which unites him to the

master; on the 'reins,' which connect him with the horse; and on the 'shafts' and the

'harness,' which connect the horse with the carriage—is quite, another thing.

"It sometimes happens that the bodies are quite good and in order, but that the

'connections' are not working. What then is the use of the whole organization? Just as

in the case of undeveloped bodies, the whole organization is inevitably controlled

from below, that is, not by the will of the master, but by accident.

"In a man with two bodies the second body is active in relation to the physical

body; this means that the consciousness in the 'astral body* may have power over the

physical body."

G. put a plus over the 'astral body' and a minus over the physical. [See Fig. 5c.]

"In a man with three bodies, the third or 'mental body' is active in relation to the

'astral body' and to the physical body; this means that the consciousness in the 'mental

body' has complete power over the 'astral body' and over the physical body."

G. put a plus over the 'mental body' and a minus over the 'astral' and the physical

bodies, bracketed together.

"In a man with four bodies the active body is the fourth. This means that the

consciousness in the fourth body has complete power over the 'mental,' the 'astral,'

and the physical bodies."

G. put a plus over the fourth body and a minus over the other three bracketed

together.

"As you see," he said, "there exist four quite different situations. In one case all the functions are controlled by the physical body. It is active; in relation to it everything else is passive. [See Fig. 5a.] In another case the second body has power over the

physical. In the third case the 'mental' body has power over the 'astral' and the

physical. And in the last case the fourth body has power over the first three. We have

seen before that in man of physical body only, exactly the same order of relationship

is possible between his various functions. The physical functions may control feeling,

thought, and consciousness. Feeling may control the physical functions. Thought may

control the physical functions and feeling. And consciousness may control the

physical functions, feeling, and thought.

"In man of two, three, and four bodies, the most active body also lives the longest, that is, it is 'immortal' in relation to a lower body."

He again drew the diagram of the ray of creation and by the side of earth he placed

the physical body of man.

"This is ordinary man," he said, "man number one, two, three, and four. He has only the physical body. The physical body dies and nothing is left of it. The physical

body is composed of earthly material and at