ries in power with the
development of the body that gives birth to it. At first it is dim and
uncertain,[236] and acquires some degree of intensity only when it
receives, through the mental and astral vehicles, the simple and
intense vibrations of the physical body.[237] In savage races, for
instance, man possesses a definite consciousness only in his waking
condition; as soon as the soul is attached to the astral body,
externalised by sleep, it experiences only a dim consciousness in this
undeveloped vehicle. In advanced races, the astral body, being far
more developed, brings about distinct consciousness during sleep. As
man evolves, consciousness begins to function in the mental and the
astral bodies, without the assistance of the vibrations of the lower
vehicles, and when all the grades[238] of matter which compose the
human constitution are thus vitalised, man has become perfect; he
knows the Universe because he feels it within himself--he echoes it,
so to speak, and possesses all its powers.[239]

In ordinary man, the memory of events that have taken place in his
waking state can be brought back by that special effort of will which
sets in motion the cerebral molecules that have previously been put
into vibration by these events.

Sometimes the will, of itself, is powerless to recall this vibration,
either because the brain is tired or in some unfavourable condition or
other; it is then aided by bringing its automatism into play, by
endeavouring, for instance, to call back one constituent element of
the fact desired, a place, sound, scent, person, &c, and often in this
way is brought about the vibration of the molecules that constituted
the rest of the circuit, and the fact sought for presents itself;
association of ideas is a phenomenon based on this mechanical process.

A third method--a far more difficult one--is also used; the bringing
of every mental effort, to a standstill. The suppression of thought,
when sufficiently complete, brings the brain into a state of calm,
allows of the soul concentrating on the astral body whose memory is
keen and only slightly subject to obstruction, and then it often
happens that the vibration of the astral memory repercusses on to the
physical apparatus which suddenly remembers the thing desired.

On the death of the physical, the soul acts in the astral body; there
it retains a complete memory of life on earth, but the vibrations of
the physical plane no longer reach it,[