sical
appetites, etc. Their consciousness being largely bound up with their
bodily nature, they practically "live there." Some men even go so far as
to regard their personal apparel as a part of their "Me" and actually
seem to consider it a part of themselves. A writer has humorously said
that "men consist of three parts--soul, body and clothes." These
"clothes conscious" people would lose their personality if divested of
their clothing by savages upon the occasion of a shipwreck. But even
many who are not so closely bound up with the idea of personal raiment
stick closely to the consciousness of their bodies being their "Me" They
cannot conceive of a Self independent of the body. Their mind seems to
them to be practically "a something belonging to" their body-which in
many cases it is indeed.

But as man rises in the scale of consciousness he is able to disentangle
his "Me" from his idea of body, and is able to think of his body as
"belonging to" the mental part of him. But even then he is very apt to
identify the "Me" entirely with the mental states, feelings, etc., which
he feels to exist within him. He is very apt to consider these internal
states as identical with himself, instead of their being simply "things"
produced by some part of his mentality, and existing within him--of him,
and in him, but still not "himself." He sees that he may change these
internal states of feelings by all effort of will, and that he may
produce a feeling or state of an exactly opposite nature, in the same
way, and yet the same "Me" exists. And so after a while he is able to
set aside these various mental states, emotions, feelings, habits,
qualities, characteristics, and other personal mental belongings--he is
able to set them aside in the "not-me" collection of curiosities and
encumbrances, as well as valuable possessions. This requires much mental
concentration and power of mental analysis on the part of the student.
But still the task is possible for the advanced student, and even those
not so far advanced are able to see, in the imagination, how the process
may be performed.

After this laying-aside process has been performed, the student will
find himself in conscious possession of a "Self" which may be considered
in its "I" and "Me" dual aspects. The "Me" will be felt to be a
Something mental in which thoughts, ideas, emotions, feelings, and other
mental states may be produced. It may be considered as the "mental
womb," as the