secure from all intrusion.

To those who have not previously studied the deeper philosophies the
question may occur: But why all these divisions; even the Bible speaks
only of soul and body, for most people believe soul and spirit to be
synonymous terms. We can only answer that this division is not arbitrary
but necessary, and founded upon facts in nature. Neither is it correct to
regard the soul and the spirit as synonymous. Paul himself speaks of _the
natural body_ which is composed of physical substances: solids, liquids,
gases and ethers; he mentions _a spiritual body_, which is the vehicle of
the spirit composed of the mind and desire body, and _the spirit itself_,
which is called Ego in Latin or "I" in English.

That term "I" is an appelation which can only be made by the human spirit
of itself. We may all call a dog, dog; or we may call a table, table, and
any one else may apply the same name to the dog and to the table, but only
a human being can be called "I" and only he himself can apply that most
exclusive of all words, I, for this is the badge of self-consciousness,
the recognition by the human spirit of _itself_ as an entity, separate and
apart from all others.

Thus we see that the constitution of man is more complex than appears upon
the surface, and we will now proceed to note the effect upon this
multiplex being of various conditions of life.

CHAPTER V. LIFE AND DEATH

_Invisible Helpers and Mediums._

There are two classes of people in the world. In one class the vital and
dense bodies are so firmly cemented that the ethers cannot be extracted
under any circumstances but remain with the dense body at all times and
under all conditions from birth to death. Those people are insensible to
any supersensuous sights or sounds. They are therefore usually exceedingly
sceptic, and believe nothing exists but what _they_ can see.

There is another class of people in whom the connection between the dense
and the vital bodies is more or less loose, so that the ether of their
vital bodies vibrates at a higher rate than in the first class mentioned.
These people are therefore more or less sensitive to the spiritual world.

This class of sensitives may again be divided. Some are weak characters,
dominated by the will of others in a _negative_ manner, as mediums, who
are the prey of disembodied spirits desirous of obtaining a physical body
when they have lost their own by death.

The other class of