The birth and evolution of the soul : two lectures / by Annie Besant.

  • Annie Besant
Date:
1895
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The birth and evolution of the soul : two lectures / by Annie Besant. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    most striking illustration of the baby sense, if I may so call it, of the Ego which is incarnated in these abori- gines. They are dying off very fast, and no English government will be able to keep them alive, because their work is done. A race dies when it is of no more use to the Soul; it becomes sterile when its purpose in the evolution of the Soul is over. For as the Universe only exists for the sake of the Soul, so all these stages in the Universe exist for the Soul, and when there are no more Souls so little developed that such a race is of any use to them, it becomes sterile and gradually dis- appears. I do not mean when it is helped to disappear by the superior races, though that is often the case ; but even if they do not help it to disappear rapidly, it will inevitably disappear slowly on its own account, by the barrenness which falls upon it. It is of no more use, therefore it does not continue. That illustration may give you some idea of what the spark is like in its early stages, as you find it in these sparks that have burned low and not developed. Memory will be very, very slowly developed, but when it is developed, even in a limited way, you will at once see that an element is present conducing to more rapid growth, because the moment that this baby remembers past experiences it is then beginning to accumulate a little store which will impel it to action without impulse from without. It will have an impulse beginning from within which will lead it to seek experiences. Farther,, not until it has memory can it distinguish, in their