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Other particles of matter which it assimilates. At the same time, while it assimilates all these it destroys the life of these particles. If these particles lived their own life always independently of the life of the tree, there could be no growth. . Suppose in the human body so many living beings, each living its own life the human being cannot live. The physical elements must be assimilated. So in the physical life there is no possibility of existence without destruction of other life; at the same time we know that to a certain extent there is always gathering of inore and more particles every moment, but finally the organism collects less and less and at last it disintegrates and the life force departs from it and we call this death. This is the ordinary idea of the physical life, and most of us who have not studied occult sciences think that there is no life beyond this, and that all rules must be based only on facts observed in this life and that advancement in this life is the object to be gained. To a certain extent the destruction of the physical life is the deith of the soul, for it is a change in the condition of the soul; the relation is broken. In order to live the highest kind of life there ought to be the greatest amount of spiritual life, and this killing of other beings ought to be carried only to that extent necessary to support the body and not for any otner purpose. No act therefore ought to be done which would necessarily lead to killing other beings.
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