differences of form and substance.  And then let us realize that the vital energy or Prana that man uses in his life work is but a portion of that great universal energy which permeates everything and everywhere, the portion being used by us at any particular moment being drawn from the universal supply, and again passing out from us into the great ocean of force or energy.  And then let us realize that even the mind, which is so close to the real Self that it is often mistaken for it—­even that wonderful thing Thought—­is but a portion of the Universal Mind, the highest emanation of the Absolute beneath the plane of Spirit, and that the Mind—­substance or Chitta that we are using this moment, is not ours separately and distinctly, but is simply a portion from the great universal supply, which is constant and unchangeable.  Let us then realize that even this thing that we feel pulsing within us—­that which is so closely bound up with the Spirit as to be almost inseparable from it—­that which we call Life—­is but a bit of that Great Life Principle that pervades the Universe, and which cannot be added to, nor subtracted from.  When we have realized these things, and have begun to feel our relation (in these particulars) to the One Great Emanation of the Absolute, then we may begin to grasp the idea of the Oneness of Spirit, and the relation of the “I” to every other “I,” and the merging of the Self into the one great Self, which is not the extinction of Individuality, as some have supposed, but the enlargement and extension of the Individual Consciousness until it takes in the Whole.

In Lessons X and XI, of the “Advanced Course” we called your attention to the Yogi teachings concerning Akasa or Matter, and showed you that all forms of what we know as Matter are but different forms of manifestation of the principle called Akasa, or as the Western scientists call it, “Ether.”  This Ether or Akasa is the finest, thinnest and most tenuous form of Matter, in fact it is Matter in its ultimate or fundamental form, the different forms of what we call Matter being but manifestations of this Akasa or Ether, the apparent difference resulting from different rates of vibration, etc.  We mention this fact here merely to bring clearly before your mind the fact of the Universality of Matter, to the end that you may realize that each and every particle of your physical body is but a portion of this great principle of the Universe, fresh from the great store-house, and just about returning to it again, for the atoms of the body are constantly changing.  That which appears as your flesh to-day, may have been part of a plant a few days before, and may be part of some other living thing a few days hence.  Constant change is going on, and what is yours to-day was someone’s else yesterday, and still another’s to-morrow.  You do not own one atom of matter personally, it is all a part of the common supply, the stream flowing through you and through all Life, on and on forever.