While the animal kingdom has not acquired the faculty of thought, some of the higher domestic animals do think by induction on the same principle that a highly charged wire will induce a weak current in another wire brought close to it. Animals are not individualized but are divided into species and all members of the same animal tribe act alike under similar conditions. Man is individualized, and each individual is a law unto himself, separate and apart from any other individual and as different from his fellow man as one species of the animal kingdom is from another. Before reaching individualization he was under a Group Spirit. Later he was placed under the guidance of a Race Spirit (Archangel), from which he is gradually freeing himself as he becomes more and more capable of self-government.

What makes man an individual? (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception , page 72.)

   While man is an individual and is guided by his own indwelling spirit which dictates his thoughts and actions, the three lower kingdoms have group spirits which are variously located in the Higher Worlds.

What is a group-spirit? (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, pages 70-75.)

   Each species of the animal kingdom is ruled by a group spirit. This is a Being belonging to the Archangelic life wave that works from the outside, directing the animal's actions by means of the silver cord of the animal, which is attached to the group spirit.

Explain the fact that the animal often seems to display more wisdom than man. (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, pages 77-85.)

   The relation of plant, animal, and man to the life currents in the earth's atmosphere are symbolically represented by the Cross. The mineral kingdom is not represented because it does not possess a vital body.

Explain the symbology of the Cross in relation to the three higher kingdoms. (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, pages 85-86.)

   No animal can be made to remain constantly upright, because in that case the currents of the group spirit could not guide it, and if it were not sufficiently individualized to endure the spiritual currents which enter the vertical human spine, it would die.

What are the three requisites for the expression of an individual ego? (The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, page 86.)

1] (a) Man moves, grows, and propagates his species. The mineral, in its native state, does none of these things. The plant grows and propagates, but cannot move or perceive things exterior to itself. The animal feels, moves, grows, propagates, and is capable of sense perception, but man, in addition, has the faculty of speech, a superior structure of the brain, and hands.

   (b) To function in any world it is necessary to have a vehicle composed of the material of that world.

2] In the vital body of the plant only the chemical and life ethers are fully active. In the animal the chemical, life, and light ethers are dynamically active. In man all four ethers are dynamically active.

3] The vital body permeates the dense body and extends out beyond it about one and one-half inches. The part outside of the dense body is very luminous, and is about the color of a new-blown peach blossom.

4] The exception is that the vital body of man is female or negative, while that of a woman is male or positive.

5] Separation of the vital from the dense body prevents the ingress of the solar force and if carried far enough results in death.

6] The source of our vital force is the Sun, and it gains entrance to the dense body through the etheric counterpart of the spleen.

7] The radiations from the vital body when in health carry away disease germs.