Magick Without Tears

REINCARNATION 299 On the Remembrance of Past Lives Second Method-Preliminary Practices. Let him seated in his Asana, consider any event, and trace it to its immediate causes. And let this be done very fully and minutely . Here for example, is a body erect and motionless. Let the adept consider the many forces which maintain it; firstly, the attraction of the earth, of the sun, of the planets, of the farthest stars, nay of every mote of dust in the room, one of which (could it be annihilated) would cause that body to move although so imperceptibly. Also the resistance of the floor, the pressure of the air, and all other external conditions. Secondly, the internal forces which sustain it, the vast and complex machinery of the skeleton, the muscles, the blood, the lymph, the marrow, all that makes up a man. Thirdly the moral and intellectual forces involved, the mind, the will, the consciousness. Let him continue this with unremitting ardour, searching Nature, leaving nothing out . Next, let him take one of the immediate causes of his position, and trace out its equilibrium. For example, the will. What determines the will to aid in holding the body erect and motionless? This being discovered, let him choose one of the forces which determined his will, and trace out that in similar fashion, and let this process be continued for many days until the interdependence of all things is a truth assimilated in his inmost being. This being accomplished, let him trace his own history, with special reference to the causes of each event . And in this practice he may neglect to some extent the universal forces which at all times act on all, as for example, the attraction of masses, and let him concentrate his attention upon the principal and determining or effective causes. For instance, he is seated, perhaps, in a country place in Spain. Why? Because Spain is warm and suitable for meditation and because cities are noisy and crowded . Why is Spain warm? and why does he wish to meditate? Why choose