It lasts, in fact, just as long as the
thought-force holds it together. Most people's thoughts are so
fleeting and indecisive that the elementals created by them last only
a few minutes or a few hours, but an often-repeated thought or an
earnest wish will form an elemental whose existence may extend to many
days. Since the ordinary man's thoughts refer very largely to himself,
the elementals they form remain hovering about him, and constantly
tend to provoke a repetition of the idea they represent, since such
repetitions, instead of forming new elementals, would strengthen the
old one, and give it a fresh lease of life. A man, therefore, who
frequently dwells upon one wish often forms for himself an astral
attendant which, constantly fed by fresh thought, may haunt him for
years, ever gaining more and more strength and influence over him; and
it will easily be seen that if the desire be an evil one the effect
upon his moral nature may be of the most disastrous character.

Still more pregnant of result for good or evil are a man's thoughts
about other people, for in that case they hover not about the thinker,
but about the object of the thought. A kindly thought about any person
or an earnest wish for his good will form and project towards him a
friendly artificial elemental; if the wish be a definite one, as, for
example, that he may recover from some sickness, then the elemental
will be a force ever hovering over him to promote his recovery, or to
ward off any influence that might tend to hinder it, and in doing this
it will display what appears like a very considerable amount of
intelligence and adaptability, though really it is simply a force
acting along the line of least resistance--pressing steadily in one
direction all the time, and taking advantage of any channel that it
can find, just as the water in a cistern would in a moment find the
one open pipe among a dozen closed ones, and proceed to empty itself
through that. If the wish be merely an indefinite one for his general
good, the elemental essence in its wonderful plasticity will respond
exactly to that less distinct idea also, and the creature formed will
expend its force in the direction of whatever action for the man's
advantage comes most readily to hand. Of course in all cases the
amount of such force it has to expend, and the length of time that it
will live to expend it, depend entirely upon the strength of the
original wish or thought which gave it b