The world's long list of heroes refutes this idea. The pre-historic species of human, then, in common with his brother, the animal, sought to preserve this physical self, because he felt that this physical self, his body, was all there was of him, and he wished to preserve it, even as the _wise_ man of to-day, sacrifices everything to the preservation of the moral and spiritual Self which he realizes is the _real_ of him. To this end, he cultivated physical force, sufficient to overcome his environment; and as he developed a little of that consciousness which we term mental (using the term merely as a part of the physical organism called the brain), he realized that co-operation would greatly enhance his chances for self-preservation, and therefore, this mental consciousness impelled him to annex to his forces other physical organisms so that their united strength might preserve each other. This side of the story of man's evolution in consciousness is not however a part of our present work, and we will therefore leave it, for a brief consideration of the successive steps in attainment of consciousness, leading through devious paths, and through millions of relative time called years, into the present state of man's consciousness which in so many instances presages the oncoming of that state, called liberation, or illumination--mukti. Through mental self-consciousness the way has been long and arduous. There are many, many degrees of this phase of consciousness, and to this phase we owe what is called our present civilization. The true occultist, whether viewing manifestation from the standpoint of Oriental or of Occidental ideals, realizes that everything is right which makes for human betterment, and that _dharma_ (right-action) consists in acting in accordance with the highest motive of which one's consciousness is capable. That our present civilization is most _uncivilized_ in many respects, will be admitted by all whose range of consciousness has touched in any degree, the infinite areas of wisdom expressed in altruistic action. But, though the path be long, and thorny, the cycle is closing, and many have reached the goal through its zigzag course. But, underlying, as it were, and upholding and uplifting the expression of sense consciousness in which so many persons seem lost to-day, there are evidences of a consciousness which _observes the effects_, of this tremendous mental activity, and knows itself as something apart from, and superior to this manifestation. This, we define as soul--individualized expression of the spiritual consciousness--the central light, which as we previously quoted, "lighteth every man that cometh into the world."