[It should here be remarked that the great majority of those who are considered enlightened, and to whom the world is indebted for the sciences which it now possesses, do not accept this theory of re-incarnation. As commonly stated, it is liable to many decisive objections, and these objections, which I have clearly stated in the Religio-Philosophical Journal, have not been, and I think will not be, removed by the teachers of re-incarnation.] It may perhaps not be premature to examine how far the doctrines of Dr. Buchanan correspond with the doctrines of occult science; that is to say, with that science which is based upon a perception and understanding of certain facts, which, to be perceived, require spiritual powers of perception, such as are not yet developed in the majority of mankind, but which are only in possession of those who have mentally risen above the sphere of external phenomena and accustomed themselves to look at spiritual things with the eye of the spirit. It is not my intention to enter at present into an elaborate review of the most prominent writers on occult subjects, and to quote passages from such authors to support the views expressed in the following pages, but rather to give a short statement of their doctrines in regard to the omnipotent power of Will and Life; both these powers being fundamentally identical; both being merely different modes of actions, or functions, of that universal, eternal, and divine Central Power of the universe, which is beyond the conception of mortals, and which the latter call _God_. The ancient religions, as well as reason and logic, tell us that there is, and can be, only one supreme God, or First Cause of the universe, and that from this one first and fundamental Cause or Power every secondary power and everything that exists has come into existence, or been evolved within it and through its eternal activity. The whole of the universe with everything contained therein, man included, is and can be nothing else but a manifestation of this internal fundamental power, or, as it has been expressed by the ancient philosophers, the universe is the product of the Divine Imagination (thought) of the First Great Cause, thrown into objectivity by its eternal Will.