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When a man steps out of the general mass and steps upon the probationary path, and thus becomes a candidate for discipleship, then the diseases of the flesh and the inharmony of his entire threefold system, plus the conveying stream, constitute a conscious problem and one which the aspirant must himself tackle—thus revealing to him the need for conscious, creative building.

It is at this point that the doctrine of reincarnation becomes of supreme value; the disciple begins to institute those conditions, to create those forms and build those vehicles which, in another life, will prove more suitable for Soul control and more adequate instruments with which to carry forward the perfecting process which the Soul demands.

In connection with physical disease and its relation to the centers (regarding these as focal points for incoming energies from some source or another) it might be useful if certain broad generalisations were made here, remembering that to all of these there may be exceptions, particularly in the case of the health or the non-health of disciples.

1. Each of the seven major centers governs or conditions—from the material angle as well as from that of the Soul and of the life principle—the area of the physical body in which it is found, including the multitude of lesser centers of energy and plexi of force which may be found therein.

2. The three great basic and manifesting divisions of divinity are to be found (symbolically) in every center:

1. The life principle, the first aspect, discloses itself when the entire center is esoterically unfolded or awakened. It is present all the time in latency, but it is not a dynamic factor producing Monadic stimulation until the end of the great cycle of evolution.

2. The quality or Soul aspect is gradually disclosed in the process of evolutionary unfoldment and produces, in time and space, the definite effect which the center has upon its environment. This quality is dependent upon the Ray (either of the personality or the Soul) which is the source of the incoming energy, or upon the Ray governing the Astral body in the case of the little evolved: it is also dependent upon the point in evolution and upon the radiatory influence of other centers.

3. The appearance in the Etheric body of a developed or a developing center indicates the place of the man upon the ladder of evolution, his racial affiliations, and his conscious goal; this latter can range all the way from an emphasis upon the sex life, and consequent activity of the sacral center, to the goal of the initiate, which brings the Head center into activity. All this produces a consequent effect upon the surrounding tissue, substance and organic forms within the radius of influence of the center. The area of this influence is variable according to the activity of the center and this is dependent upon the point of development reached by the individual and the preponderant type of energy to which the individual reacts.

THE ETHERIC BODY, NERVOUS AND ENDOCRINE SYSTEMS

The outgoing forces from a center play upon the Etheric counterpart of the entire intricate network of nerves which constitute the nervous system. These counterparts of identical subjective correspondences are called in the Hindu philosophy, the "nadis"; they constitute an intricate and most extensive network of fluid energies which are an intangible, interior, paralleling system to that of the bodily nerves, which latter system is in fact an externalisation of the inner pattern of energies.

The nadis, therefore, determine the nature and the quality of the nervous system with its extensive network of nerves and plexi covering the entire physical body. The nadis, and consequently the network of nerves, are related primarily to two aspects of man's physical equipment—the seven major centers in the Etheric body (the substantial body which underlies the dense physical body), and the spinal column with the head.

It must always be remembered that the Etheric body is a physical body, though composed of subtler material than the one we can see and touch. It is made of substance or of that which "substands," or underlies, every part and particle of the dense physical vehicle.

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