lower is a composition of various elements; its
decomposition is inevitable. When this composed form undergoes
decomposition--in other words, when these elements separate and
disintegrate--that is what we call the death of the flower. For inasmuch as
it is composed of single elements, the grouping of multitudinous cellular
atoms, it is subject to disintegration. This is the mortality of the
flower. Similarly, the body of man is composed of various elements. This
composition of the elements has been given life. When these elements
disintegrate, life disappears, and that is death. Existence in the various
planes, or kingdoms, implies composition; and nonexistence, or death, is
decomposition.

But the inner and essential reality of man is not composed of elements
and, therefore, cannot be decomposed. It is not an elemental composition
subject to disintegration or death. A true and fundamental scientific
principle is that an element itself never dies and cannot be destroyed for
the reason that it is single and not composed. Therefore, it is not
subject to decomposition.

Another evidence or proof of the indestructibility of the reality of man
is that it is not affected by the changes of the physical body. These
changing conditions of the bodily composition are definite and continual.
At one time it is normal, at another time abnormal. Now it is weak, now
strong. It suffers injury, a hand may be amputated, a limb broken, an eye
destroyed, an ear deafened or some defect appear in a certain organ, but
these changes do not affect the human spirit, the soul of man. If the body
becomes stout or thin, decrepit or strong, the spirit or soul is
unaffected thereby. If a part of the bodily organism be destroyed, even if
it be dismembered completely, the soul continues to function, showing that
no changes of the body affect its operation. We have seen that death and
mortality are synonymous with change and disintegration. As we find the
soul unaffected by this change and disintegration of the body, we,
therefore, prove it to be immortal; for that which is changeable is
accidental, evanescent.

Furthermore, this immortal human soul is endowed with two means of
perception: One is effected through instrumentality; the other,
independently. For instance, the soul sees through the instrumentality of
the eye, hears with the ear, smells through the nostrils and grasps
objects with the hands. These are the actions or operations of the soul