On Some Difficultiesofthe Inner Life.^51
crowd round him? whence these mutterlngs
andwhisperingsasof devilsinhis ear? They
fillhimwithshudderingrepulsion,yettheyseem
to be his; can he really be the fatherof this
foulswarm?
Onceagainanunderstandingof thecauseat
work may rob the effect of its sharp poison-
tooth, and deliver us from the impotence due
to ignorance. It is a commonplace of theo-
sophical teaching that life embodies itself in
forms, and that the life-energy which comes
forth from that aspect of the Self which is
knowledge moulds the matter of the mental
plane into thought-forms. Thevibrations that
affect the mental bodydetermine the materials
that are built into its composition, and these
materialsareslowlychangedinaccordancewith
thechangesinthevibrationssentforth. If the
consciousnessceasetoworkinaparticularway,
thematerialswhich answeredtothose previous
workings gradually lose their activity, finally
becomingeffetematterand beingshakenoutof
the mental body. A considerable number of
stages, however, intervene between the full
activity of the matter constantly answering to
mental impulses and its final deadness when
ready for expulsion. Until the last stage is
reached it is capable of being thrown into
