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The Ninth Lesson: The Mental Planes.627
merely the restoring of normal conditions, so that this part of the body may
do its work without the hindrance of adverse conscious thought.
On this plane of the mind is found all of the vital functions and operations.
The work is done out-of-consciousness, and the consciousness is aware of
this part of the mind only when it makes demands upon the conscious
for food, etc. On this plane also resides the elementary instinct that tends
toward reproduction and sexual activity. The demand of this part of the
mind is always “increase and multiply,” and according to the stage of growth
of the individual is the mandate carried out, as we shall see presently.
The elementary impulses and desires that we find rising into the field of
consciousness come from this plane of the mind. Hunger, thirst and the
reproductive desires are its messages to the higher parts of the mind. And
these messages are natural and free from the abuses and prostitution often
observed attached to them by the intellect of man in connection with his
unrestrained animal impulses. Gluttony and unnatural lust arise not from the
primitive demand of this plane of the mind—for the lower animals even are
free from them to a great extent—but it is reserved for man to so prostitute
these primitive natural tendencies, in order to gratify unnatural and artificial
appetites, which serve to frustrate nature rather than to aid her.
As Life advanced in the scale and animal forms appeared on the scene
new planes of mind were unfolded, in accordance to the necessity of the
living forms. The animal was compelled to hunt for his food—to prey upon
other forms, and to avoid being preyed upon by others. He was compelled
to struggle for the unfoldment of latent powers of his mind that would give
him means to play his part in the scheme of life. He was compelled to do
certain things in order to live and reproduce his kind. And he demanded
not in vain. For there came to him slowly an unfolding knowledge of the
things necessary for the requirements of his life. We call this Instinct. But,
pray remember, by Instinct we do not mean the still higher something that
is really rudimentary Intellect that we notice in the higher animals. We are
speaking now of the unreasoning instinct observed in the lower animals, and