202 OCCULT PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH & HEALING
action that we need in life, as you will readily see by
this illustration. Suppose a little seed of those beautiful
carnations were endowed with speech, and it came to
you saying, “I am a carnation.” Would you not answer,
“No, you are not a carnation, you foolish little thing.
You have the potentiality in you, but you will have to
go out in the garden and bury yourself for awhile and
grow. By that process alone you can become a
carnation, never by affirmation.” Similarly with
ourselves. All the “affirmations” of divinity are vain
unless accompanied by actions of a divine character,
and they will prove our divinity as words never can.
Relation of Spirituality to Health
The rupture of physically robust health is
necessary before it is possible to attain poise in the
spiritual world, and the stronger and more vigorous the
instrument, the more drastic must be the method of
breaking it down. Then come years when there is an
unbalanced fluctuating condition of health, until
finally we are able to adjust ourselves so as to maintain
health in the Physical World while we retain the ability
to function also in the higher realms.
When we understand the higher philosophies,
when we live the life that is taught by them, our body
becomes extremely sensitive and must be given more
care than is necessary to the body of an Indian or
Negro in the wilds of Africa. They have no delicately
organized nervous system like the white race. Those
who are interested along the lines of spiritual
development are particularly high-strung, therefore, as
we progress it becomes necessary to take more and