It may have interested you to see that I place the ills of the etheric body in the second place and not the first. The reason for this is that the group ills and diseases which have fastened upon the race, work primarily through the etheric body and find their way out into manifestation via the etheric bodies of all forms. But I have placed them second, even though they are in the last analysis the most numerous, owing to the fact that humanity cannot as yet deal with [25] these en masse. The approach has to be through individuals, and men must clear their astral or emotional bodies of those conditions which predispose them to disease, as individuals. At present, the race is astrally polarized. The emotional sentient nature is all-powerful in the masses. This leads to a relatively negative etheric body which is tuned in on the entire etheric substance of the planet. This substance, which underlies all forms, is simply a transferring and transmitting agency for vital energy to the outer dense physical body. Energy sweeps through this etheric substance, free from all control by the individual human being, and quite unrealized by him because his focus of attention is astral. From the astral or emotional state of consciousness, much concerning individual physical conditions can be deduced. We must, however, eliminate those ills which are group ills and which have swept into and through all mankind from the world of etheric force, leaving him in some way depleted, or over-stimulated, or in such a condition that Death naturally supervenes. It might be stated as a basic generalization that personal physical trouble has its seat at present in the emotional body, and that that vehicle of expression is the one predominant predisposing agent in the ill health of the individual, just as group ills and the sweep of epidemics of any kind through the masses are founded in some condition in the etheric substance of the planet. Those diseases which are general, national, racial and planetary find their way to an individual via his etheric body, but are not so personal in their implications. Upon this I will later enlarge. Today I but lay down the general proposition.

I would also like to point out that the diseases for the masses, for the average citizen, for the intelligentsia, and for the disciples of the world may, and do, differ widely - not so much in their expression as in their field of expression. [26] This is a point most difficult for the average healer to recognize; it is not easy or possible for him to grasp these distinctions and to gauge the point in evolution which a man may have reached. Some diseases must be dealt with from the mental plane, and will call in the mind of the healer; others require a concentration of emotional energy by the healing agent; and again, in other cases, the healer should seek to be only a transmitter of pranic energy to the etheric body of the patient, via his own etheric body. How many healers are really consciously aware of the focus of the consciousness or the life force in the patient with whom they may be concerned? How many realize anything of the type of healing which it is possible and necessary to apply to a disciple? How few realize that no disciple, for instance, can place himself in the hands of the average magnetic healer or radiatory worker, or psychological expert of any kind! A disciple dare not subject himself to the auric emanations of any chance healer, nor put himself in the power of the inexperienced academic psychologist, no matter how prominent he may be. He may, however, subject himself to the wise skill of the physical plane physician or surgeon, as - for him - the physical body is but an automaton. He can therefore avail himself of physical means for its benefiting. Much of the failure of the healing methods at present employed consists in the inability of the healer to:

1. Gauge the extent of the trouble, where it may be located basically, and in what body it principally arises and lies.
2. Know where the patient stands upon the ladder of evolution, and where, therefore, he must look first for the source of the difficulty.
3. Differentiate between the diseases which are due to inner personal conditions, or to inherited tendencies, or to group distribution. [27]
4. To know whether the disease should be handled,
   1. All opathically or homeopathically, for both can play their part at times, or through any of the other media of modern skill and science.
   2. Through radiation or magnetization, or both.
   3. Through right inner psychological adjustment, aided by true insight on the part of the healing agent.
   4. Through calling in the power of a man's own soul - a thing that is not possible except to advanced people.
   5. Through definite occult means, such as forming a healing triangle of - Master - Patient - Healer
      This method involves much knowledge and a high point of spiritual attainment on the part of the healer; - it also presupposes the healer's link with a Master and the Master's group, plus the earned right to call upon that group for energy on behalf of the patient - a thing as yet rarely granted.