Occultism and Spiritualism

in man: 1st, a mechanical part continuing its action just as much during sleep as in the waking state; this is the organism proper; 2nd, another part, this one intellectual, appearing only in the waking state; this is what we call Consciousness, the Spirit.

The domain of the organism therefore seems as clearly defined as that of the Spirit. But what occurs within this organism?

Everything that depends upon the Spirit—the limbs, the face and its organs, the voice, even general sensitivity—all this rests, as we have seen. But all this surrounds the human being; all this is peripheral. It is within the interior of the trunk, in the three segments that constitute it—abdomen, chest, or head—that the phenomena producing the automatic operation of the human machine take place.

Like every kind of machine, the human organism possesses driven organs, a motive force, and a center for the maintenance and renewal of this motive force. Thus, if we consider, to take a very material example, a locomotive, we shall find in it steel parts set in motion by steam, and the renewal of this steam is maintained by a continual release of heat.

Likewise, in the human organism, we find organs of a particular constitution (smooth-fiber organs), arteries, veins, digestive organs, etc., etc., moved by nervous force carried by the network of the great sympathetic. This force, as well as the particular life of each of the cells constituting the organs, is maintained by the arterial blood stream. Therefore: organs, centers of action for various forces, nervous motive force, and sanguine animating force—such are the essential principles that constitute the human machine in action.

But the man awakes. Something more comes