olding them into houses, railways,
steam-boats, chairs, etc, etc., so those beings, who are now Lords of
Mind, worked with us when we were mineral-like. They have since advanced
three steps, through stages similar to that of the Angels and Archangels,
before they attained their present position and became creative
intelligences. They are expert builders of mind stuff, as we are builders
of the present mineral substances and therefore they have given us
necessary help to acquire a mind which is the highest development of the
human being.

According to the foregoing explanation it seems to be an anomaly when Paul
speaks of them as evil and exhorts us to withstand them. The difficulty
disappears, however, when we understand that good and evil are but
relative qualities. An illustration will make the point clear:--Let us
suppose that an expert organ builder has constructed a wonderful organ, a
masterpiece. Then he has followed his vocation in the proper manner, and
is therefore to be commended for the good which he has done. But if he is
not satisfied to leave well enough alone, if he refuses to give up his
product to the musician who understands how to play upon the instrument;
if he intrudes his presence into the concert hall, he is out of place and
to be censured as evil. Similarly the Lords of Mind did the greatest
possible service to humanity when they helped us to acquire our mind, but
many subtle thought influences come from them, and are to be resisted, as
Paul very properly emphasizes.

The other class of beings which must be mentioned are called Archetypal
Forces by the Western School of occultism. They direct the energies of the
creative Archetypes native to this realm. They are a composite class of
beings of many different grades of intelligences, and there is one stage
in the cyclic journey of the Human Spirit when that also labors in, and is
part of, that great host of beings. For the Human Spirit is also destined
to become a great creative intelligence at some future time, and if there
were no school wherein it could gradually learn to create, it would not be
able to advance, for nothing in nature is done suddenly. An acorn planted
in the soil does not become a majestic oak over night, but many years of
slow, persistent growth are required before it attains to the stature of a
giant of the forest. A man does not become an Angel by the mere fact of
dying and entering a new world any more than an animal advance