But this is but a small part of the work of the Instinctive Mind.  For this part of the mind has stored up all the experiences of ourselves and ancestors in our evolution from the lower forms of animal life into the present stage of evolution.  All of the old animal instincts (which were all right in their place, and quite necessary for the well-being of the lower forms of life) have left traces in this part of the mind, which traces are apt to come to the front under pressure of unusual circumstances, even long after we think we have outgrown them.  In this part of the mind are to be found traces of the old fighting instinct of the animal; all the animal passions; all the hate, envy, jealousy, and the rest of it, which are our inheritances from the past.  The Instinctive Mind is also the “habit mind” in which is stored up all the little, and great, habits of many lives, or rather such as have not been entirely effaced by subsequent habits of a stronger nature.  The Instinctive Mind is a queer storehouse, containing quite a variety of objects, many of them very good in their way, but others of which are the worst kind of old junk and rubbish.

This part of the mind also is the seat of the appetites; passions; desires; instincts; sensations; feelings and emotions of the lower order, manifested in the lower animals; primitive man; the barbarian; and the man of today, the difference being only in the degree of control over them that has been gained by the higher parts of the mind.  There are higher desires, aspirations, etc., belonging to a higher part of the mind, which we will describe in a few minutes, but the “animal nature” belongs to the Instinctive Mind.  To it also belong the “feelings” belonging to our emotional and passional nature.  All animal desires, such as hunger and thirst; sexual desires (on the physical plane); all passions, such as physical love; hatred; envy; malice; jealousy; revenge, etc., are part of this part of the mind.  The desire for the physical (unless a means of reaching higher things) and the longing for the material, belong to this region of the mind.  The “lust of the flesh; the lust of the eyes; the pride of life,” belong to the Instinctive Mind.

Take note, however, that we are not condemning the things belonging to this plane of the mind.  All of them have their place—­many were necessary in the past, and many are still necessary for the continuance of physical life.  All are right in their place, and to those in the particular plane of development to which they belong, and are wrong only when one is mastered by them, or when he returns to pick up an unworthy thing that has been cast off in the unfoldment of the individual.  This lesson has nothing to do with the right and wrong of these things (we have treated of that elsewhere) and we mention this part of the mind that you may understand that you have such a thing in your mental make-up, and that you may understand the thought, etc., coming from it, when we start in to analyze the mind in the latter part of this lesson.  All we will ask you to do at this stage of the lesson is to realize that this part of the mind, while belonging to you, is not You, yourself.  It is not the “I” part of you.