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Chapter XVIII: The Second Soul-Sleep2267
desire) the soul falls into a current sweeping toward rebirth and the selection
of proper parents and advantageous circumstances and surroundings. In
consequence thereof it again falls into a state of soul-slumber, gradually, and
so when its time comes it “dies” on the Astral Plane, as it did before on the
material plane, and passes forward toward re-birth on earth.
But, strictly speaking, the soul continues in a condition of partial slumber
even after it has been re-born on earth-life, for it does not at once wake up
in the body of the newborn child, in which form it has reincarnated. On the
contrary, it awakens gradually during the early childhood and youth, of the
child. This is a most interesting fact of occult science, and one that is but little
known even to many careful students. We have spoken of it as follows, in a
previous work: “A soul does not fully awaken from its second soul-slumber
immediately upon re-birth, but exists in a dream-like state during the days of
infancy, its gradual awakening being evidenced by the growing intelligence
of the babe, the brain of the child keeping pace with the demands made
upon it. In some cases, however, the awakening is premature, and we see
cases of prodigies, child-geniuses, etc., but such cases are more or less
abnormal and unhealthy. Occasionally, the dreaming soul in the child halfwakes,
and startles us by some profound observation, or mature remark or
conduct…. The rare instances of precocious children and infant genius, are
illustrations of cases in which the awakening has been more than ordinarily
rapid. On the other hand, cases are known where the soul does not awaken
as rapidly as the average, and the result is that the person does not show
signs of full intellectual activity until nearly middle-age. Cases are known
where men seem to ‘wake up’ when they are forty years of age, or even
older, and then take on freshened activity and energy, surprising those who
had known them before.”
But we are principally concerned now with the earlier stages of the
second soul-slumber—the stages which are passed on the Astral Plane.
In these early stages, the slumbering soul undergoes a peculiar stage of
what might be called “spiritual digestion and assimilation.” Just as, in its first