ted out here of what induces the ego to work upon the
etheric body. There are many similar influences in human life which are
not so apparent at the first glance. But these instances are enough to
show that there is yet another principle of man's nature hidden within
him, which the ego is making more and more manifest. Occult science
denotes this second principle of the spirit the _Life-Spirit_. (It is the
same which in current theosophical literature is called Budhi, a term
borrowed from Eastern wisdom.) The expression "Life-Spirit" is
appropriate, because the same forces are at work within it as are active
in the vital body, with the difference that when they are manifesting in
the latter the ego is not active. When, however, these powers express
themselves as the Life-Spirit, they are interpenetrated by the ego.

Man's intellectual development, the purification and ennobling of his
feelings and of the manifestations of his will, are the measure of the
degree in which he has transformed the astral body into the Spirit-Self.
His religious experiences, as well as many others, are stamped upon the
etheric body, making it into the Life-Spirit. In the ordinary course of
life this happens more or less unconsciously; so-called initiation, on the
contrary, consists in man's being directed by occult science to the means
through which he may quite consciously take in hand this work on the
Spirit-Self and Life-Spirit. These means will be dealt with in later parts
of this book. In the meantime it is important to show that, besides the
soul and the body, the spirit also is working within man. It will be seen
later how this spirit belongs to the eternal part of man, as contrasted
with the perishable body.

But the work of the ego on the astral and etheric bodies does not exhaust
its activity, which is also extended to the physical body. A slight effect
of the influence of the ego on the physical body may be seen when certain
experiences cause a person to blush or turn pale. In this case the ego is
actually the occasion of a process in the physical body. Now if through
the activity of the ego in man, changes occur influencing the physical
body, the ego is really united with the hidden forces of the physical
body, that is, with the same forces which bring about its physical
processes. Occult science says that during such activity the ego is
working on the physical body. This expression must not be misunderstood.
It must on no account