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"Simply put, The Law of Permanence states that there is a certain threshold of 'integrated-ness' or unification which an entity must reach before it is able to remain unitary and 'together' without the help of a form or vehicle of some kind. Moreover, the less the degree of integrated-ness, the denser the form must be in order to hold the entity together."
"Let Us offer an example. Consider The Mineral Kingdom: rocks, grains of sand, boulders -- all of these are ensouled, in a manner of speaking, because all manifestations of form must be utilized to allow spiritual substance to know itself in accordance with The Law of Manifestation. But what is the nature of the spiritual essence found within the rocks and boulders? Compared to man's Soul, that essence is elementary in the extreme. Indeed, so tenuous is its hold on the very idea of 'being' or integrated-ness that it needs the relatively dense and solid body of rock or mineral to hold it together. Smash the rock or melt down the mineral to release the spiritual entity within, and it immediately rejoins 'The Sea of Spirit' from Which it was derived."
"We hasten to point out that these elementary spiritual beings -- those that inhabit The Mineral Kingdom -- are not expected, through that experience, to learn how to hold themselves together as an integrated unit without the aid of the mineral body. The basic lesson being learned in the mineral phase is simply that there is such a thing as being, and the hope is that a desire will awaken to remain in the 'being' state, of which the entity had a taste while incarnated in The Mineral Kingdom."
"Let Us now consider vegetable life as it is known on this Planet. Almost without exception, the life-forms in this second great Kingdom are also below the threshold of permanence, in the sense that, once the plant is killed or the tree dies, the essence which inhabited it is drawn ineluctably back into the particular part of 'The Sea of Spirit' from whence it came."
"Here We should explain an important point. The Sea of Spirit, We have mentioned, is not merely an amorphous and undifferentiated mass of homogeneous spiritual 'stuff'. Instead, The Mother Lode of spiritual essence is differentiated into many, many degrees or vibrations, running the entire scale from the most elementary and unself-aware to the most complex and self-aware. When a portion of this supply of spiritual essence is withdrawn to ensoul a particular life-form for the purpose of learning through the manifestation in form, it is not taken indiscriminately but, instead, is carefully selected from that part which is best suited to learn from the new phase being planned."
"The Plant Devas are trained to winnow out of the soul-material in The Aura of this Planet precisely that fraction which is best suited to learning through an experience in a given plant species. To place an unsuited fraction or vibration into a plant would serve nothing and could even retard the progress of the spiritual material selected."
"To return now to the main theme of this part of the discussion, one can distinguish the animals and the human life on this Planet as belonging to that category which has reached the threshold of permanence and is able to remain 'intact' and integrated even without the aid of a physical body. To be accurate, We should state that certain of the more elementary animal life-forms, like amoeba, bacteria, and some of the simpler worms, have not yet attained the threshold of permanence. Others, like the single entities who ensoul a whole colony of bees or ants, are precisely at the point of that threshold and are struggling to 'hold themselves together' in the physical form, i.e. the colony or hive as a unified and working unit, just as they are struggling to learn integration and permanence at the soul or spirit level."
"Here again is an instance of The Law of Reflection. The outer circumstances of the entity exactly correlates with the process of learning which is going on at the soul level. However, for virtually all other animal life-forms on this Planet, the threshold of permanence has already been attained, and the entity within has moved on to the round of lessons appropriate to an integrated being that does not require a body to remain a complete unit of consciousness."
"Now, in relation to The Law of Karma, it will perhaps be realized that to bring pain or limitation upon one of these more advanced entities -- one that has begun a series of incarnations in order to build up an individuality which it can use to manifest the facets of God that lie as seeds within it -- it is a more serious matter than to do the same to an entity not yet at that point of developement."
"Indeed, the 'beings' within the plants and trees are as yet impermanent and cannot really be set back in their progress to a great degree through actions undertaken by human beings. This does not give Man license for wanton destruction or deliberate interference with the growth patterns in the great Plant Kingdom. Reverence for all manifestations of God's Light and Being should be the watchword of every spiritually aware human soul."
"Nonetheless, We hope that what We have explained above will help clear up some of the doubts and questions which surround the matter of treating life-forms in The Plant Kingdom. Many seekers have been perplexed by the apparent contradiction inherent in having a reverence for animal life while continuing to eat the bodies of the plant entities."
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