With this vast problem, I cannot here deal. I can only indicate it. It will be solved when the fear of death disappears and when humanity learns the significance of time and [279] the meaning of cycles. It will be simplified when true astrological findings become possible, when man knows the hour of his departure from this outer plane, and masters the technique of "withdrawal" and the methods of abstracting himself consciously from the prison of the body. But much research has to take place first. The fact, however, that the problem is recognized and that speculation and investigation are rife, indicate that the time has come - karmatically and from the angle of human evolutionary development - for a study of the etheric body, of the conditioning rays which govern its manifestation in space, and of astrology, which governs its manifestation in time.

It is for this reason that the world today is full of groups in revolt against orthodox medicine - wrongly in revolt, because in their fanatical enthusiasm for their particular approach to the problem of healing, they ignore the beneficent aspects of developed medical science. They thus attempt to throw overboard the contribution of the ages to man's knowledge of the human organism, its interrelations and its care, cure and preservation; they fail to profit from past wisdom, but prefer to set sail upon the sea of research in a spirit of revolt, full of prejudice and totally unequipped for the task in hand. Naturopaths of many kinds, professors of methods of healing by electricity or light and color, food dietitians with infallible cures for all diseases, the many who practice systems founded on the Abrams mode of diagnosis, and many advocates of the chiropractic methods, as well as the various healing systems which are completely divorced from medicine but which undertake to bring about cures, are all indicative of new and hopeful trends; they are nevertheless extremely experimental in nature, and are so fanatically endorsed, so exclusive of all recognized methods of healing aid (except their own), so violently opposed to all the findings [280] of the past, and so unwilling to cooperate with orthodox medicine that, in many cases, they constitute a definite and real danger to the public. It is largely their own faulty approach which is responsible for this; their undoubted ignorance of the nature of the human body, their attack on existent medical practices (even of proven value), and their biassed belief in the infallibility of their experimental techniques, have brought them under the attack of the rigidly orthodox medical practitioners and of the fundamentalists within the ring-pass-not of academic medicine. Yet within the ranks of medicine are many enlightened men who would gladly cooperate if the small and vociferous cults would relinquish their exclusiveness and be willing to cooperate and accept that which the divine instinct in man down the ages has taught in connection with the healing of the human body. It will be through the collaboration of the new experimental schools and the older and proven methods that the medicine of the future will be developed. The value of all the many groups - good and indifferent - lies in the fact that they point the way towards new trends and indicate the lines along which the medicine of the future can enrich itself and become better adapted to man's need. They are too experimental as yet to be trustworthy, and are not yet scientifically proved. They are pioneering groups, and have a real contribution to make, but this will only be possible if they refuse to divorce themselves from the past and are willing to compromise in the present. Academic medicine is the result of the God-given gifts of the human mind; it is a proven divine expression and a most beneficent force in the world, in spite of human weakness, commercial exploitation and many mistakes. It is the same with religion. Both of these great sciences must eliminate the reactionary and fundamentalist positions, and then proceed with an [281] open mind into the new ways of approach to divinity and of approach to physical well-being.

Let me reiterate that I am laying the foundation for an approach to the subject of the physical body in health and disease which will deal primarily with the etheric body. This should eventually lead to an accumulation of knowledge anent energy, its focal points and distribution in the etheric body, which will equal that already gained in the field of exact physical knowledge, and that exact knowledge is a fact.