MAN AND THEMETHOD OFEVOLUTION 93
down. It is not able, however, to entirely withstand the
powerful onslaughts of the impulses and thoughts. It
gradually loses ground and at last there comes a time when it
collapses. Its “points” shrivel-up, so to say. The vital fluid
ceases to flow along the nerves is sufficient quantity; the
body becomes drowsy, the Thinker is hampered by its
drowsiness and forced to withdraw, taking the desire body
with him. This withdrawal of the higher vehicle leaves the
dense body interpenetrated by the vital body in the senseless
state we call sleep.
Sleep, however, is not by any means an inactive state, as
people generally suppose. If it were, the body would be no
different on awakening in the morning from its condition
when it went to sleep at night; its fatigue would be just as
great. On the contrary, sleep is a period of intense activity
and the mor e intense it is the greater its value, for it
eliminates the poisons resulting from tissue destroyed by the
mental and physical activities of the day. The tissues are re-
built and the rhythm of the body restored. The more
thoroughly this work is done the greater the benefit accruing
from sleep.
The Desire World is an ocean of wisdom and harmony.
Into this the Ego takes the mind and the desire body when
the lower vehicles have been left in sleep. There the first
care of the Ego is the restoration of the rhythm and harmony
of the mind and the desire body. This restoration is
accomplished gradually as the harmonious vibrations of the
Desire World flow through them. There is an essence in the
Desire World corresponding to the vital fluid which
permeates the dense body by means of the vital body. The
higher vehicles, as it were, steep themselves in this elixir of
life. When strengthened, they commence work on the vital