edom of thought must be grateful
to Dr. J. R. Buchanan for his discovery of the science of SARCOGNOMY.
His system brings us nearer to a recognition of the true nature of
man, his origin and his destiny, and of the relations which he bears
to the Divine Source from which he emanated in the beginning, and to
which he will ultimately return; for the enlightened ones of all
nations agree that the _real_ man, who resides temporarily in the
physical human body, who feels through the instrumentality of the
heart, and thinks through the instrumentality of the brain of the
external body, does not originate in the womb of the mother from which
the physical body is born, but is of a spiritual origin, again and
again re-incarnating itself in physical masks and forms of flesh and
blood, living and dying, and being reborn, until, having attained that
state of perfection, which renders the inner man capable to exist in a
state of spiritual consciousness without being encumbered by a gross
earthly organization, which chains him to animal life.

[It should here be remarked that the great majority of those who
are considered enlightened, and to whom the world is indebted
for the sciences which it now possesses, do not accept this
theory of re-incarnation. As commonly stated, it is liable to
many decisive objections, and these objections, which I have
clearly stated in the Religio-Philosophical Journal, have not
been, and I think will not be, removed by the teachers of
re-incarnation.]

It may perhaps not be premature to examine how far the doctrines of
Dr. Buchanan correspond with the doctrines of occult science; that is
to say, with that science which is based upon a perception and
understanding of certain facts, which, to be perceived, require
spiritual powers of perception, such as are not yet developed in the
majority of mankind, but which are only in possession of those who
have mentally risen above the sphere of external phenomena and
accustomed themselves to look at spiritual things with the eye of the
spirit. It is not my intention to enter at present into an elaborate
review of the most prominent writers on occult subjects, and to quote
passages from such authors to support the views expressed in the
following pages, but rather to give a short statement of their
doctrines in regard to the omnipotent power of Will and Life; both
these powers being fundamentally identical; both being merely
diffe