and who sees above
_himself_ the higher attributes. To such people the body is the "I."
Their "I" is bound up with the senses, and that which comes to them
through the senses. Of course, as Man advances in "culture" and
"civilization," his senses become educated, and are satisfied only with
more refined things, while the less cultivated man is perfectly satisfied
with the more material and gross sense gratifications. Much that we call
"cultivation" and "culture" is naught but a cultivation of a more refined
form of sense gratification, instead of a real advance in consciousness
and unfoldment. It is true that the advanced student and Master is
possessed of highly developed senses, often far surpassing those of the
ordinary man, but in such cases the senses have been cultivated under the
mastery of the Will, and are made servants of the Ego instead of things
hindering the progress of the soul--they are made servants instead of
masters.

As Man advances in the scale, he begins to have a somewhat higher
conception of the "I." He begins to use his mind and reason, and he
passes on to the Mental Plane--his mind begins to manifest upon the plane
of Intellect. He finds that there is something within him that is higher
than the body. He finds that his mind seems more _real_ to him than does
the physical part of him, and in times of deep thought and study he is
able almost to forget the existence of the body.

In this second stage, Man soon becomes perplexed. He finds problems that
demand an answer, but as soon as he thinks he has answered them the
problems present themselves in a new phase, and he is called upon to
"explain his explanation." The mind, even although not controlled and
directed by the Will, has a wonderful range, but, nevertheless, Man finds
himself traveling around and around in a circle, and realizes that he is
confronted continually by the Unknown. This disturbs him, and the higher
the stage of "book learning" he attains, the more disturbed does he
become. The man of but little knowledge does not see the existence of
many problems that force themselves before the attention of the man of
more knowledge, and demand an explanation from him. The tortures of the
man who has attained the mental growth that enables him to see the new
problems and the impossibility of their answer, cannot be imagined by one
who has not advanced to that stage.

The man in this stage of consciousness thinks of his "I" as a mental
th