74 ROSICRUCIANCOSMO-CONCEPTION
and the resulting state of consciousness.
From diagram 3 we learn that the separate Ego is
definitely segregated within the Universal Spirit in the
Region of Abstract Thought. It shows that only man
possesses the complete chain of vehicles correlating him to
all divisions of the three Worlds. The animal lacks one link
of chain—the mind; the plant lacks two links—the mind and
the desire body; and the mineral lacks three links of the
chain of vehicles necessary to function in a self-conscious
manner in the Physical World—the mind, the desire and the
vital bodies.
The reason for the various deficiencies is that the
Mineral Kingdom is the expression of the latest stream of
evolving life; the Plant Kingdom is ensouled by a life wave
that has been longer upon the path of evolution; the life