the bodies. All such thoughts cherished by
man, that carry with them an enrichment of the physical world have their
origin in this region. By such thoughts are meant not only the ideas of
great inventors and men of genius; but those ideas found in every
individual which he does not owe solely to the external world, but through
which he, so to speak, transforms that world.

In so far as feelings and passions are concerned, the cause of which lies
in the outer world, these feelings are perceptible in the third region of
the spirit-world; but everything which so lives in a man's soul as to make
him a creator,--influencing, transforming and fertilizing his
environment,--is manifest in its original and intrinsic form in the fourth
division of the spirit-world.

That which exists in the fifth region may be compared to physical light.
In its archetypal form it is wisdom in manifestation. Beings who diffuse
wisdom throughout their surroundings, as the sun pours light on physical
beings, belong to this realm. Whatever is illuminated by their wisdom
stands forth in its true meaning and significance for the spiritual world,
just as the colour of a physical object is seen when the light falls upon
it. There are still higher regions of the spirit-world, which will be
described later in this work.

Into this world the ego is plunged after death, together with the results
it carries with it out of physical life. And these results are still
united with that part of the astral body which is not cast off at the end
of the time of purification. In fact, only that part falls away which, in
its desires and wishes, turned, after death, toward physical life. The
plunging of the ego into the spiritual world, with what it has acquired in
the physical world, may be compared to the planting of a grain of seed in
the soil in which it can mature. As the grain of seed draws substances and
forces from its surroundings in order that it may develop into a new
plant, so the condition of the ego, when implanted in the spiritual world,
is one of development and growth.

Hidden within that which is perceived by an organ, there lies the force
whereby that same organ was formed. The eye perceives light; but without
light there would be no eye. Creatures spending their lives in darkness do
not develop organs of sight. Thus the whole of man's physical body is
created out of the hidden forces of that of which he becomes conscious
through his bodily organs.