MAN AND THEMETHOD OFEVOLUTION 135
The seed atom of the vital body is next aroused into
activity, but here the process of formation is not so simple as
in the case of the mind and the desire body, for it must be
remembered that those vehicles were comparatively
unorganized, while the vital body and the dense body are
more organized and very complicated. The material, of a
given quantity and quality, is attracted in the same manner
and under the operation of the same law as in the case of the
higher bodies, but the building of the new body and the
placement in the proper environment is done by four great
Beings of immeasurable wisdom, which are the Recording
Angels, the “Lords of Destiny.” They impress the reflecting
ether of the vital body in such a way that the pictures of the
coming life are reflected in it. It (the vital body) is built by
the inhabitants of the Heaven World and the elemental
spirits in such a manner as to for m a particular type of brain.
But mark this,the reincarnating Ego itself incorporates
therein the quintessence of its former vital bodies and in
addition to this also does a little original work. This is done
that in the coming life there may be some room for original
and individual expression, not predetermined by past action.
It is very important to remember this fact. There is too
great a tendency to think that all which now exists is the
result of something that previously existed, but if that were
the case there would be no margin left for new and original
effort and for new causes. The chain of cause and effect is
not a monotonous repetition.There is an influx of new and
original causes all the time. That is the real backbone of
evolution—the only thing that gives it meaning and makes it
other than an unrolling of latent actualities. This is
“Epigenesis”—the free will that consists of the freedom to
inaugurate something entirely new, not merely a choice