from its germ, makes an effort--the effort of the divine
Will incarnated in this germ--develops its potentialities up to a
certain step in the ladder of evolution, then garners the acquired
qualities and again returns to activity in continuous cycles of life
until its full development is reached.

PROGRESS.

The observer of Nature makes a third discovery. Every fresh cycle of
life is characterised by an advance on the preceding cycle; every
stage brings the end nearer. This represents progress, and it is seen
everywhere; when it does not appear, it is because our limited vision
cannot pierce its veil. Minerals slowly develop in the bowels of the
earth, and miners well know when the ore is more or less "ripe,"[45]
and that certain portions, now in a transition stage, will in a
certain number of centuries have become pure gold; experiments[46]
have proved that metals are liable to "fatigue" from excessive
tension; and that, after a rest, they acquire greater power of
resistance than before; magnets "are fed," _i.e._, they increase their
power of attraction, by exercise; cultivation improves and sometimes
altogether transforms certain species of vegetables; the rapid mental
development of domestic animals by contact with man is a striking
instance of the heights to which progress may attain when it is aided,
whilst the influence of teaching and education on the development of
individuals as well as of races is even more striking.[47]

THE GOAL OF EVOLUTION.

_The Formation of Centres of Consciousness that become "Egos."_

Through innumerable wanderings this general progress traces a clear,
unwavering line. Those capable of following evolution on the planes of
finer matter at once perceive, as it were, wide-spreading centres
forming in the sea of divine Essence, which is projected by the Logos
into the Universe. As the ages pass, these centres are sub-divided
into more restricted centres, into clearer and clearer "blocks" in
which consciousness, that is, the faculty of receiving vibrations from
without, is gradually developed, and when this consciousness within
them reaches its limit, they begin to differentiate from their
surroundings, to feel the idea of the "I" spring up within them. From
that time, there is added to the power of receiving vibrations
consciously, that of generating them voluntarily; no longer are they
passive centres, but rather beings that have become capable of
receiving and giving freely, in