y,
except as a Temple of the Spirit, and a habitation of the soul. The
physical body, to the Occultist, is a mere material shell, constantly
changing its constituent cells, serving to house the soul of the
individual, and which when cast off and discarded is no more than any
other bit of disintegrating material. They know of the existence of
the soul separate from the body, both after the death of the latter
and even during its life, in the case of Astral Travel, etc. And in
many other ways it becomes natural for the Occultist to regard his
body, and the bodies of others, as mere "shells," to be treated well,
used properly, and then willingly discarded or exchanged for another.

In view of the above facts, you may readily see that any theory or
doctrine which made the Absolute--God--overshadow a human woman's body
and cause her to physically conceive a child, would appear crude,
barbarous, unnecessary and in defiance of the natural laws established
by the Cause of Causes. The Occultist sees in the conception _of every
child_, the work of the Divine Will--_every conception and birth a
miracle_. But he sees Natural Law underlying each, and he believes
that the Divine Will always operates under Natural Laws--the seeming
miracles and exceptions thereto, resulting from the mastery and
operation of some law not generally known. But the Occultist knows of
no law that will operate to produce conception by other than the
physiological process.

In short, _the Occultist does not regard the physical body of Jesus as
Jesus Himself_--he knows that the Real Jesus is something much greater
than His body, and, consequently, he sees no more necessity for a
miraculous conception of His body than he would for a miraculous
creation of His robe. The body of Jesus was only material
substance--the Real Jesus was Spirit. The Occultists do not regard
Joseph as the father of the Real Jesus--_no human being can produce or
create a soul_. And so, the Occultist sees no reason for accepting the
old pagan doctrine of the physical Virgin Birth which has crept into
Christianity from outside sources. To the Occultist, there is a real
Virgin Birth of an entirely different nature, as we shall see
presently.

But, not so with the people who flocked to the ranks of Christianity
toward the close of the first century--coming from pagan people, and
bringing with them their pagan legends and doctrines. These people
_believed that the Body was the Real Man_,