That which propels towards, and forces evolution, _i.e._, compels the growth and development of Man towards perfection, is (_a_) the Monad, or that which acts in it unconsciously through a Force inherent in itself; and (_b_) the lower Astral Body or the _Personal_ Self. The former, whether imprisoned in a vegetable or an animal body, is endowed with, is indeed itself, that Force. Owing to its identity with the ALL‐FORCE, which, as said, is inherent in the Monad, it is all‐potent on the Arûpa, or formless plane. On our plane, its essence being too pure, it remains all‐potential, but individually becomes inactive. For instance, the rays of the Sun, which contribute to the growth of vegetation, do not select this or that plant to shine upon. Uproot the plant and transfer it to a piece of soil where the sunbeam cannot reach it, and the latter will not follow it. So with the Âtman: unless the Higher Self or Ego gravitates towards its Sun—the Monad—the Lower Ego, or _Personal_ Self, will have the upper hand in every case. For it is this Ego, with its fierce selfishness and animal desire to live a senseless life (Tanha), which is the “maker of the tabernacle,” as Buddha calls it in the _Dhammapada_.(250) Hence the expression, the Spirits of the Earth clothed the shadows and expanded them. To these “Spirits” belong temporarily the human Astral Selves; and it is they who give, or build, the physical tabernacle of man, for the Monad and its conscious principle, Manas, to dwell in. But the “Solar” Lhas, or Spirits, warm the Shadows. This is physically and literally true; metaphysically, or on the psychic and spiritual plane, it is equally true that the Âtman alone _warms_ the Inner Man; _i.e._, it enlightens it with the Ray of Divine Life and alone is able to impart to the Inner Man, or the Reïncarnating Ego, its immortality. Thus, we shall find, for the first three and a half Root‐Races, up to the middle or turning point, it is the Astral Shadows of the “Progenitors,” the Lunar Pitris, which are the formative powers in the Races, and which build and gradually force the evolution of the physical form towards perfection—this, at the cost of a proportionate loss of Spirituality. Then, from the turning point, it is the Higher Ego, or Incarnating Principle, the Nous or Mind, which reigns over the Animal Ego, and rules it whenever it is not carried down by the latter. In short, Spirituality is on its ascending arc, and the animal or physical impedes it from steadily progressing on the path of its evolution, only when the selfishness of the Personality has so strongly infected the real Inner Man with its lethal _virus_, that the upward attraction has lost all its power on the thinking reasonable man. In sober truth, vice and wickedness are an _abnormal, unnatural_ manifestation, at this period of our human evolution—at least they ought to be so. The fact that mankind was never more selfish and vicious than it is now—civilized