Creation being by type, everything must have a _generic_ basis of being
in the Cosmic Law, not peculiar to that individual thing, but peculiar
to the class to which it belongs, an adaptation of the Cosmic Soul for
the production of all things belonging to that particular order, in
fact, what makes them what they are and not something else. Now just
because this basis is generic and common to the whole genus that is
built upon it, it is not specific, but it acquires _localization through
Form_; the form being that of the class to which it belongs, thus
producing the individual of that class, whether a cat or a cabbage. It
is this underlying _generic_ being of the thing, that I want the student
to understand by "the soul of the subject." In fact we may call it the
Noumenon or essential being of the class, as distinguished from the
specific characteristics that differentiate the individual from others
of the same class. It follows from this that this _generic_ soul has no
individuality of its own, and consequently is open to receive
impressions from any source that can penetrate the sheath of outward
form and specific characteristic that envelopes it. At the same time it
is a manifestation of Cosmic Law, and so cannot depart from its own
class-nature, and therefore any influence that may be impressed upon it
from some other source will always show itself _in terms of the sort of
generic soul that is thus impressed_; for instance, it would be
impossible so to impress a dog as to make it write a book; and we may
therefore generalize the statement, and lay down the rule, that "Every
_im_press receives _ex_pression in terms of the medium through which it
is expressed." This becomes almost a self-obvious truism when put into
plain language like this; thus, if I paint a picture in oils, my
impression is conveyed in terms of this medium, and if I paint one in
water-colours my conception will be conveyed in terms of that medium,
and the methods of handling will be perfectly different in the two
pictures.