silver chord of life. In the animal, the manasa is sounding the
same note with them, making the fourfold golden chord of mind.
Even in the plant there may be a faint manasic overtone, for
the potentiality of life and mind is in everything. This unity
of the physical universe with the physical atom, and with all
things created--earth, animal, or crystal--is the physical
backbone of Oriental metaphysics. Prakriti, ether, prana, and
manasa are in our vernacular the Earth, Air, Fire, and Water of
the old philosophers--the "Four Elements."

The Oriental physics has been guarded most jealously. For many
thousands of years it has been the real occult and esoteric
teaching, while the Oriental metaphysics has been open and
exoteric. It could not be understood without the key, and the
key was in the physics known only to "the tried and approved
disciple." A little has leaked out--enough to whet the appetite
of the true student and make him ask for more.




Chapter Two

The Two Kinds of Perception


To the savage, matter appears in two forms--solid and liquid.
As he advances a step he learns it has three forms--solid,
liquid and gas. He cannot see the gas, but he knows it is there.