We have previously pointed out that in its wants a living being perceives its own ego as related to something else. This is an axiom that needs no demonstration. If now the soul comprehends the collective wants of the cells as its own, this can only mean that the soul comprehends that part of the cells’ inner nature which expresses itself as their collective wants, as a part of its own ego. Again the cells within the same limits on their part comprehend the soul’s inner nature as belonging to their own individuality. The connection within these limits is so intimate that they cannot comprehend themselves without at the same time comprehending each other. The soul must consequently perceive the body as its own body because the same wants that cause the cells to upbuild the soul also belong to the soul’s own entity. On the other hand the soul in conceiving itself cannot comprehend the cells as such because the identity is not extended to their whole individuality.
When a being conceives the wants of somebody else as its own wants it is at the same time directly influenced by the other. Thus the soul and the cells act upon each other throughout the body. A will of the soul takes with natural necessity the form of a common impulse upon the cells bringing them into action in the will’s direction. If the soul, for instance, wishes to move an arm or a hand, a collective want is simultaneously created in the cells that form the organ in question to execute that movement.
We arrive at the same result by considering the fact that the different wants of the soul and of the cells are identical in substance. The same substance cannot enter into and define different beings unless they themselves enter in and define each other. As now both parties comprehend wants identical in substance, the soul must necessarily belong to the cells so that it is the ground for their collective wants. But these wants were the cell-individual’s higher wants, manifested in the organization of the body. The soul therefore is potentially present in the cells in the form of their higher wants and is consequently developed along with the upbuilding of the body. Only when this is ready is the soul’s entity developed. The soul must then comprehend the organism as its particular body when conscious of its own ego, but the cells do not enter into the soul’s entity as individuals and are therefore not present as such in man’s consciousness.
For this organic co-operation the soul and the cells need no language, no signs to communicate with each other. It is not even necessary that they are aware of each other’s existence. It is sufficient that each party comprehends its own wants and acts for their satisfaction according to its own nature. If they do this their co-operation through the body receives a simple and at the same time complete explanation.
But however natural this interaction is, it is nevertheless a wonder above all wonders. The world that exists to the soul does not exist to the cells, and vice versa. They have an entirely different conception of the realm in which they live. They have different apprehensions, feelings and wants and perform accordingly different functions. But in spite of this they are, as we have seen, within certain limits so intimately connected that these different comprehensions and labors are interlinked with each other, regulating each other as accurately as the wheels in a clock.
CHAPTER XI.
Resurrection.
From the relationship existing between the soul and the cells it appears that the former cannot live a life independent of the latter. The soul receives its entire individuality, all its qualities, forces, and faculties, through the organism built by the cells, which therefore must exist before the soul can exist as the real unity in the organism. This does not mean that the soul is an empty form void of independent substance. Even before the cells have combined into an organic unit the soul is potentially present in them in the form of the wants that force them to upbuild the organism, and this organism is that of the soul, not that of the cells, of which each possesses its individual organism.