I have shown that disease is fundamentally psychological in nature; there are, however, diseases which are inherent in the resistance of the dense physical body (and not only the subtler bodies) to the impact of the higher energies, or which are inherent in the planetary substance or matter of the Earth itself. Forget not that the physical body is constructed of such matter. This first clause of the fourth [566] law tells us that three aspects of divinity produce disease. This sounds impossible upon first reading the statement, but a careful study will reveal its essential truthfulness. How can the good, the beautiful and the true, cause disease of any kind? Let us see.

1. The Good. What is the good? Is it not the expression of the will-to-good? Does not and should not this will-to-good work out on the physical plane in what we call goodwill among men? Is it not possible that the soul, seeking constantly (on its own plane) to conform to the Plan which implements the divine will-to-good, endeavors to impel its threefold expression, the personality, to express goodwill - doing this at the right stage of evolutionary unfoldment and when it is active and functioning? Yet, because of the resistance of the form nature, as yet inadequate to the desired divine expression, friction is immediately set up and disease eventuates. I think that even a brief consideration of the above questions will demonstrate to you how probable it is that the soul's inclination to "the good" can bring about resistance upon the physical plane so that the turmoil thus engendered in the consciousness of man can and does produce disease. This type of disease is responsible for many of the difficulties of advanced people, aspirants and disciples. This "friction" produces then a secondary reaction and leads to those psychological conditions to which we give the name "depression, an inferiority complex, and the sense of failure." This particular source of disease, "the Good," is one that primarily affects the mental types.
2. The Beautiful. Here you have a word qualifying the desire of all men for what they consider a desirable objective for their life pattern and that for which they [567] choose to struggle. The beautiful, from the angle of a divine aspect, concerns the quality of life. I would refer you here to our initial definition in the first volume of this treatise of the words spirit-soul-body; we defined them as life-quality-appearance. Life is the energy in expression of the divine will-to-good; quality is the energy in expression of the soul, and this energy works at this time predominantly through the desire life and the determination of all men at every stage in evolution to possess, own and enjoy that which they regard as the beautiful. A definition of "the beautiful" and the range of man's desires are widely different and dependent upon the point in evolution; it is all dependent however, upon the outlook on life of the one who is desiring and the place where he stands upon the ladder of evolution. The inability of man to achieve at any time what he considers "the beautiful" determines his predisposition to disease, based upon the internal friction thus produced. At the present point in racial development, the majority of people are swept into diseased conditions as a result of the friction brought about by their striving after "the beautiful" - a striving enforced as an evolutionary urge because they are souls and under the influence of the quality of the second divine aspect.
3. The True. It has been said that the true or the truth is that much of the divine expression as any man can demonstrate at his particular point in evolution and at any given stage in his incarnated history. This expression of the truth presupposes that behind what he does manage to express there is much that he is unable to manifest; of this his soul remains persistently aware. This inability to live up to the highest ideal of which the man - at his particular level - is aware and can conceive, in his clearest and best moments, produces [568] inevitably a point of friction, even if the man remains unaware of it. One of the major manifestations of this particular friction and the diseased condition which it brings about is rheumatism; this is widespread today and has been for centuries; from the medical standpoint, there is no ascertained or attributable cause for it, though there are many speculations and conclusions among the orthodox. It affects primarily the bony structure and is in reality the result of the inability of the soul to produce an expression of "the true" within the man, the instrument of the soul in the three worlds. The man, in his turn, no matter how low his position on the ladder of evolution, is conscious ever of the unattainable; he is constantly aware of an urge to betterment. These urges are not related to the expression of the will-to-good or to "the beautiful" (though he may be conscious of them also to a greater or less degree), but they are definitely related to the expression of something closer to the man's ideal as he sees it, and upon the physical plane. Friction, therefore, takes place and disease of some kind follows.

It is interesting to note that this inability to express "the true" or to "be the Truth" is the real cause of death among men who are below the stage of discipleship and who have not yet taken the first initiation. The soul tires of the frictional response of its instrument and determines to end the experiment of that particular incarnation. Death, therefore, supervenes as a result of the friction engendered.

1. The good controls the man, via the head Center, and the friction engendered is due to the inactivity of the Center at the base of the spine. This Center controls the [569] expression of the first divine aspect in a man by its interplay with the head center. This interplay only takes place when the man has reached the stage of disciple or initiate.
2. The beautiful controls, via the heart center, and friction is brought about by the failure of the solar plexus Center to respond. A condition of friction is therefore set up. The ending of this condition and the evocation of the right response from the solar plexus come when the forces of the solar plexus Center are raised and blended with the energy of the heart Center.
3. The true, as an expression of the divine, finds its point of centralization in the throat Center; the failure of the personality to respond, and its inability to express the true, is to be seen in the relation of the sacral Center to the throat Center. This relation, when lacking, produces friction. There will be no real expression of "the true" until the forces of the creative Center below the diaphragm are raised to the creative Center of the throat. Then "the Word," which is man essentially, "will be made flesh" and a true expression of the soul upon the physical plane will be seen.