REINCARNATION This life of the ego in his own world, which is so glorious and so fully satisfying for the developed man, plays but a very small part in the life of the ordinary person, for in his case the ego has not yet reached a sufficient stage of development to be awake in his causal body.

In obedience to the law of Nature he has withdrawn into it, but in doing so he has lost the sensation of vivid life, and his restless desire to feel this once more pushes him in the direction of another descent into matter.
This is the scheme of evolution appointed for man at the present stage--that he shall develop by descending into grosser matter, and then ascend to carry back into himself the result of the experiences so obtained.

His real life, therefore, covers millions of years, and what we are in the habit of calling a life is only one day of this greater existence.

Indeed, it is in reality only a small part of one day; for a life of seventy years in the physical world is often succeeded by a period of twenty times that length spent in higher spheres.
Every one of us has a long line of these physical lives behind him, and the ordinary man has a fairly long line still in front of him.

Each of such lives is a day at school.