SAND DOLLARS

 
The soul at first uses various forms of stones for its experiences, discarding them for new ones until it has had all the experiences a stone can possibly have. The sages tell us that almost everything is made in the form of a star. It has five points. If you stand with your arms outstretched and feet apart, thinking of your head as one point, you will see what I mean. The sages, who see more clearly than we ordinary people, say that the stone actually looks to them like a rag doll all folded up, because almost everything has a latent human form.

A beautiful illustration of this can be seen if one examines a little marine creature commonly washed up on the seashore in the Carolinas and many other places — these little creatures are referred to as "sand dollars". When they dry on the beach and the greenish hair rubs off of them, they will be seen to contain five ventricles.

On the flat side is etched what appears to be five large leaves. On the slightly rounded side, it looks as if a five-petalled violet had been etched in the center, with a perfectly symmetrical star in its heart. If you gently break open the violet, you will find ensconced under it another exquisite and perfect star. Sometimes this can be taken out intact, but if it falls apart the little pieces look exactly like flying birds. It is impossible to examine these exquisite little forms, not too high in the long run of evolution, without marvelling at the imagination of the Creator of all things.