the higher Trinity of the
Soul--the part of man which persists; while the lower Four principles,
namely, Rupa, Prana-Jiva, Linga-Sharira, and Kama-Rupa, respectively,
are the lower principles, which perish after the passing out of the
higher principles at death. At Death the higher principles, or Triad,
lives on, while the lower principles of Quarternary dissolve and
separate from each other and finally disintegrate, along the lines of a
process resembling chemical action.

Theosophy teaches that there is a great stream of Egos, or Monads, which
originally emanated from a Source of Being, and which are pursuing a
spiral journey around a chain of seven globes, including the earth,
called the Planetary Chain. The Life Wave of Monads reaches Globe A,
and goes through a series of evolutionary life on it, and then passes on
to Globe B, and so on until Globe G is reached, when after a continued
life there the Life Wave returns to Globe A, but not in a circle, but
rather in a spiral, that is, on a higher plane of activity, and the
round begins once more. There are seven Races to be lived through on
each globe, many incarnations in each--each Race having seven sub-races,
and each sub-race having seven branches. The progress of the Life Wave
is illustrated by the symbol of a seven-coil spiral, sweeping with a
wider curve at each coil, each coil, however, being divided into a minor
seven-coil spiral, and so on. It is taught that the human soul is now on
its fourth great round-visit to the Earth, and is in about the middle of
the fifth Race of that round. The total number of incarnations necessary
for each round is quite large, and the teaching is that none can escape
them except by special merit and development. Between each incarnation
there is a period of rest in the Heaven World, or Devachan, where the
soul reaps the experiences of the past life, and prepares for the next
step. The period of rest varies with the degree of attainment gained by
the soul, the higher the degree the longer the rest. The average time
between incarnations is estimated at about fifteen hundred years.
Devachan is thus a kind of temporary Heaven, from whence the soul must
again pass in time for a rebirth, according to its merits or demerits.
Thus, accordingly, each soul has lived in a variety of bodies, even
during the present round--having successively incarnated as a savage, a
barbarian, a semi-civilized man, a native of India, Egypt, Chaldea,
Rome, G