personified.

This elevating and refining process to which I have referred is not a
matter of sentiment or emotion, but a matter of fact, with a definite,
scientific formula.

In a previous chapter belief in the existence AND SEPARABILITY OF THE
HUMAN SOUL HAS BEEN SHOWN to be virtually universal, and in some cases,
even with people of very low development, the belief is held that the soul
may be separated from the body and reunited again during life.

This is, however, a _belief_, and proves nothing as to _fact_, _science_,
and _law_, beyond the existence of the belief, with all the appurtenances,
concomitants, and subjective experiences of individuals thereunto
belonging.

We thus arrive at the real _theorem_ as a cold psychological problem.

Can the existence and separability of the soul of man, during his physical
embodiment on earth, and its survival of the death of the physical body,
be scientifically demonstrated as a _fact_?

If so, then the principles involved, the methods employed and the whole
_modus operandi_ must be capable of exact, scientific formulation, the
same as any other theorem of science.

Furthermore, granting that this is true, and that it can be done according
to exact formulary, the value, the effect of such a demonstration upon the
character and the normal faculties, capacities, and powers of the
individual who undertakes and accomplishes such a demonstration, must be
revealed and taken fully into account.

Does it elevate or degrade him? Is it in line with normal evolution, and
therefore, potentially the birthright, and finally, through spiritual
evolution, the higher destiny of all men?

Nor is this all. The effect of the existence of such Knowledge and of its
teaching, upon communities, as a substitute for blind superstition,
credulity, or belief, must also be taken into account.

It may thus be seen how much even beyond the mere _fact_ of demonstration,
is included in this transcendent problem; this question of all ages, "If a
man die, shall he live again?" or, "Does the real man ever die at all?"

Now it is a demonstrated fact, proven in every case of a genuine Master,
and held inviolable in the "Greater Mysteries" of every age and time, that
the ethical question above raised, as to the effect upon individuals and
society, _comes first_, and is made a _test_ of the "first step" in the
way of demonstration.

This is the meaning of the oft repeated quotation, the candidate fo