"I think," he continued, when we had settled ourselves comfortably, "I have already explained to you that, contrary to the general belief, Wordsworth was quite right when he said-- ’Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The soul that rises with us, our life’s Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting, And cometh from afar.’ "There are very many cases where it is necessary for certain reasons that the spirit should be re-incarnated on this earth many times before the earth-lesson is learned, and before it is able to unite with the feminine element and thereby rise to more perfect existence. Life, like matter, is indestructible, but as atoms unite and reunite to form what we call elements, and these again unite and reunite to form chemical compounds, so life or spirit, which is one and the same thing, is ever being drawn together by attraction. "Thus, for the sake of argument, we will say that the life of a flower unites with that of another flower, and rises thus to the animal kingdom where free existence is possible. I use this expression only for convenience, as no arbitrary line can be drawn between the two kingdoms. Then again, the lower animal life unites with its female element to form the higher; and so on up to man. This explains why the lower we go down in the scale the greater is the number of lives to be found on each level, for it requires millions to blend together before the higher orders are reached. This is why also in animals you see certain sides of characters which are all noticeable in man. They are, as it were, the bricks making ready for the future temple. So the spirit of man is also imperfect and one-sided lacking the feminine qualities to be found in woman. A time comes, however, when two suitable natures meet, and after death their spirits blend together even as Swedenborg has written, and they form what he calls one angel; that is to say, a still more perfect being. And this joining together does not cease even then, but angel unites with angel and archangel with archangel up to God. Thus none can harm his neighbour without injuring part of his future self, for all at last shall be one. "This view is repellent to the carnal mind, as it destroys what he is pleased to term his individuality; but this is only owing to the fact that his mind at present is unable to comprehend unity with personality. An interesting example of the confusion arising from this difficulty will be obvious if you hear a deist and a trinitarian argue together." "But," I said, "I do not like the idea myself. I wish to retain my own consciousness, and have no desire to be merged in others." "Do you not retain your own consciousness now?" he asked. "Undoubtedly." "And yet," he continued, "millions of lives have united to form that consciousness."