cking the mere fact that they now have
family relationships is no guarantee of such future intimate
association. When two souls have strong ties arising out of past
association the failure to remember that incarnation does not in the
least weaken the ties. But it does mercifully hide the past contentions
that are to be found in nearly all lives.

The failure to remember previous incarnations will be more clearly
understood if we now give some thought to the fact that the personality
here on the material plane is only a fragment of the whole consciousness
of the soul. As we come down into lower planes from the mental world
each grosser grade of matter through which the ego expresses itself is a
limitation of consciousness. On the astral plane each of us, whatever he
may be here, is more alive and enjoys an actual extension of
consciousness. On the mental plane he has enormously greater wisdom than
here, with a still further extension of consciousness that is quite
beyond the present comprehension of the brain intelligence.

To put it differently, the ego really does not come into incarnation at
all. It merely sends outward a ray from itself--a mere fragment of
itself, as a man might put his hand down into the water of a shallow
stream to gather bits of ore from which gold can be obtained. So the ego
puts a finger, only, down into denser matter to get the general
experience that can be transmuted into the gold of wisdom and skill.
That finger of the ego, that we know as the personality, gathers the
experience and then it is withdrawn into the ego. During the incarnation
the personality has been animated by only a little of the ego's vast
intelligence and that is why it blunders so often. But, veiled in dense
matter, not much of the ego's consciousness can reach it.

The relationship between the ego and the personality may be illustrated
by that which exists between the brain consciousness and that of the
finger-tip. The difference, of course, is great. The finger tip cannot
see of hear or taste or smell. It is limited to one sense--touch. But it
is a form of consciousness, and it can get experience and pass it on to
the brain consciousness. A man may be addressing an audience and see
some substance on the table before him. It may be sand or sugar. Without
interrupting his lecture he can put down his finger and get at the truth
about the matter. The finger-tip gets the information and passes it on
to the brain consciousn