Men's lives and their way of evolution

Man evolved in a circle; as a matter of fact his course is not a perfect circle, it is almost more pear-shaped and proceeds in a series of spirals. 

Each loop or spiral represents an incarnation or life on earth; the whole is the total of his experience. The general outline and size are practically the same in all, the variation is in the number and colour of the loops.

Some have as few as three—these are the people who earnestly try to learn every lesson and benefit by every experience; others have as many as thirty spirals in the picture of their lives—they are those who do not learn quickly nor try to benefit by experience.

The downward curve of each loop is the coming to earth of the spirit, the upward curve is its return to the spirit world. The loops become longer, for, as the spirit progresses, it passes back higher into the spirit world; at first it may only return to the lowest astral. You know, for instance, that a man's character is expressed by his aura, for its colours are decided and regulated by his thoughts and desires. 

Claude cites an example—

So, in the diagram (missing illustrations) of A's life of seven incarnations which I am going to explain to you, you will remember that the man's aura while on earth would have actually shown the colours by which he is represented in the picture.

The infinitesimal drop that God sends to form the nucleus of each individual spirit is, of course, pure and perfect—so his life map starts with a white line. 

However, by the time he left the earth after his first incarnation his colour was a dark, murky red, indicating a low and sensual disposition. He realised when he got back to the astral what he had to eradicate, and he returned to earth for his second incarnation, improved, but still red, a paler shade and no longer murky. If he had been entirely purged during his sojourn in the astral, his personality would have been washed out, for it is only by accumulated experience that personality develops. Thus, the aura shows one colour until the individual develops some fresh attribute which automatically produces another shade. (I don't say the red was not streaked or flecked with any other colour; I am speaking of the one that predominates). Prompted by his subconscious memory he had a natural desire to try and curb his sensual instincts this second time, and he became a depressed, surly, heavy type of man, going to the other extreme through repression and in consequence changed to brown tinged with red, for he had relapses and gave way also to sudden violent outbursts of temper. He went back to the astral a dull, depressed brown, not a good colour but better than the murky red. These were his lowest physical stages; he had not developed mentally so far, he had not consciously tried, and that is the thing that counts. The third occasion he arrived on earth a much lighter brown and this time, prompted by his subconscious mind, he fought against becoming the slave of his physical body, either through sensuality or depression (one is often the reaction of the other); he tried to develop mentally, and went in for study, and was by way of becoming a recluse. The more he progressed, the more yellow mixed with his brown and he left the earth eventually a fawn colour. The fourth time he came back much lighter in colour, still desirous of developing mentally, but from a higher standpoint; he was kinder too, but not demonstrative, and troubled occasionally with a few flecks of the old red, which, when regulated, was rather good, as by this time yellow predominated, and the combined effect was orange colour, which improved the cold, mental, aloof attitude with a warm, human feeling, and he departed this time a beautiful yellow. His sojourn after this was in a higher sphere of the spirit world, and he learnt he must develop two more attributes, love and spirituality. So when he returned to earth again for the fifth time, he strove for spiritual grace as well as mental attainments and so blue entered his aura and, with the yellow already there, turned to a beautiful bright pale green, the colour of hope. He accomplished much, and before he left earth again he was a beautiful pure blue, which denotes spirituality. He had conquered his physical disabilities and attained mental and a certain amount of spiritual development, but in a rather cold, detached, aesthetic way, and he knew now that it remained for him to learn to love and perhaps sacrifice himself. So back he came for the sixth time to God's school, and became a very clever writer, but gave up many earthly chances and opportunities of advancement for love of an invalid wife, and, at last, as he had learnt to sacrifice his own desires and wishes and to truly love, a beautiful pink showed in his aura, and with the blue already there blended to perfect mauve, the sign of a great all round development. Having attained this, he went back this time an iridescent, glowing figure—yellow, blue, pink, mauve. He had worked out the imperfections and purified his colours, for the beautiful pink, pure, perfect, unselfish love was the cleansed, refined, spiritualised remainder of the murky, sensual red of his first incarnation. He returned even once again for the seventh time; it was especially his wish, in order to become a reformer and leader of men; after this he went back to the spirit world for good. There, he now looks like a wonderful, iridescent opal, radiant with every shade of beautiful colour. I know, for A. is my teacher, and the map of life he showed me was his own.

Discovered in 1989, this is one of the largest (2,765 carats) and finest quality boulder opals ever mined. This opal is unique not only for its size but also for its quality—every colour the spectrum is visible which is extremely rare, even in the finest of opals—Ryan KaldariCreative—Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic