necessitates a sacrifice of memory. One useful purpose of the
confinement of consciousness in matter, through the use of a physical
body, is that it narrows the scope of consciousness and thereby
increases its efficiency. The consciousness of the ego sweeps over a
vast range, forward and backward, including all past incarnations. But
the limitation of matter which compels consciousness to be expressed
through a physical body, focuses the attention on the evolutionary work
immediately in hand. The brain becomes the instrument of consciousness
but also, fortunately, the limitation of consciousness. If there were
not loss of memory our minds would now range over the adventures of
thousands of years in the past. It would encompass a vast drama with
countless loves and hates, of many lives filled with pathos and tragedy.
To thus distract the mind from the present life would retard our
progress. When one is alone and in a secluded place one can think better
and accomplish more than when in the midst of turbulent scenes and
throngs of people. When there is less to think about the thinking is
more effective. It is necessary to restrict the consciousness and limit
the mind to the present life in order to get the most satisfactory
results. The same truth is embodied in that old saying that whoever is
jack of all trades is master of none. Concentration alone can produce
satisfactory results. If we would master the lessons of this life we
must not take other lives within the field of consciousness. The very
process of reincarnation is a coming out of the general into the
particular, with the consequent narrowing of consciousness.

We should keep in mind the fact that our true and permanent life is in
the causal body, and on the mental plane, and that there, alone, is
unbroken memory possible. The descent into matter in each incarnation is
also beyond reach of the brain memory, of course. Getting new bodies is
the working out of natural law even as instinct works in animals. The
whole animal kingdom, lacking the reasoning power of man, nevertheless
adapts means to ends with unerring accuracy and with a depth of wisdom
that is beyond our comprehension. And so is human evolution directed by
impelling forces that are unknown to our waking consciousness. But our
waking consciousness is only a small part of our consciousness--that
fragment of it that can be expressed through the physical brain. The
physical brain is a limitation of consc