HERE WE COME TO THE FOURTH and final nature of humanity in earthly existence. If a group of thinking persons were to be asked what of this group is the strongest appetite, the first reply might place the stomach demand ahead of the others. Then as the matter was given more serious attention, the sex impulse would come to the front. Still again there would be many reasons why greed is to be regarded as the most common and most insistent. The fact is that all four are equally distributed in the activities of life.

The stomach appetite is seemingly paramount because the body must live, and to live it must be fed. Yet every body that lives must die; and as long as death is at one end of life, with birth at the other, so long will the spiritual appetite demand feeding. For this reason, ever since man first came on earth, and has been compelled to face the problems of death, the chief business of mankind has been religion. In the ages of savagery, 100 percent of all human beings were religious; what they could not discern they invented, but always in the same way and for the same purpose.

No normal person today wishes to die. Nor does any normal person omit the study of the problems of birth and death. Every normal mind thinks of these mysteries, and seeks information at every source where it is possible to attain it. No matter what the result or what the convictions, this normal condition is spiritual.

Every appetite may be taken advantage of by crafty persons, and thus used as means of gain either in money, property, influence or power. In the earliest age of savagery the demands of the stomach and of the sexual nature were held in check and not used as means of gain or greed by superior minds, as is now the case. Nor were there sufficient attractions in greed among the masses to incite the appeal in that direction. This left to the leaders and the upper castes the greater field of the spiritual appetite. Influence, power, rule, homage and contributions were the price paid to a select upper class by the terrified middle and lower classes; nor did the superior minds hesitate to teach and preach every kind of fear based on the mysteries of death and the hereafter, if they could retain their hold on the people in that way.

In every tribe there was the central control composed of priests and teachers and those who shared the spoils with them, and to this center there flowed an unceasing stream of contributions and homage. These leaders kept the people in a continued state of terror. The images that were worshipped were likenesses supposed to be of the devils that hovered over all living things; and these were used to supplement the threats and terrors that attended all persons. No matter how much wealth a man had in herds or in grain, or even gold, there was no hesitancy in parting with it when demanded in the names of the unseen gods; and the spirit of contributions has been kept alive in all the ages that have come and gone. It is only in the most recent times that these contributions made to the churches have been devoted to the uses for which they serve a rightful purpose.

In times past practically no man or woman refused to give freely in the cause of religion, and now a large majority of the people support liberally both the church and the charitable organizations; for charity is a part of the spiritual nature. Every appetite properly fed, and properly controlled, is a blessing. To give to the stomach the foods that make it a perfect organ whereby it may give health to all the body, is doing the most good in that direction. To employ the box appetite in the manner intended by Nature, is likewise doing good. Greed when its name is changed to careful saving of surplus earnings, is always a desirable trait. So the rapport of religion, the support of charity, and the study of the problems of life and death, is fully normal, and most commendable.

It is the misuse of them, the attempt to take advantage of others by crafty minds who know human appetites, and their value in securing control over those who are swayed by them, that is reprehensible. How many persons who have just buried their loved ones, are induced when in a state of emotion, to part with their wealth at the solicitation of those who know how to prey on this spiritual appetite? And how many more persons who themselves had come to their own deathbeds, have been induced even while perfectly sane to give their property away in the name of religion? So frequently has this been done that several States have enacted laws making such gifts illegal; thus seeking to save emotional persons from their spiritual impulses. We are not passing judgment on the matter either one way or the other; our only purpose being to depict the trait called the spiritual appeal.

The spiritual appetite, as we have said, embraces charity, and it also includes all mystery worship, such as superstition, and the search for occult phenomena. In this free and enlightened country, it is estimated that there are forty millions of people who believe in the existence of the spirit world, and the communication of spirits with mortals. In the name of this belief countless thousands of crafty minds have exacted a big toll in the way of contributions and money. More than two millions believe in theosophy, and several other millions in kindred teachings; while the Hindoo influence of transmigration, transmutation, metempsychosis, and all sorts of happenings after death, has saturated whole sections of this country. Probably all such cults came out of India, and are related. It is predicted that if the prevailing religions crumble, those of ancient India will take their places.

Nearly every man and woman is superstitious; and nearly all of them deny it. Superstition was once the mother of all savage religion, and it is as natural as any form of the spiritual appetite.

We believe that without a noble religion and without the churches, life on earth would not be worth living; no person would be safe; and property would have no value because it would have no protection. In any great city the police department will tell you that religious belief and church influence are greater aids in the suppression of crime than all the laws, courts and police combined. But we accord to every man and woman the full right to believe according to their own convictions.

Our purpose in this study is to show that a power that is inherently good may be used to take advantage of people at times when they are brought into spiritual hunger by public or private calamities, or are swayed by too deep an emotion of fear or dread.

Charity, as we have said, is a part of the spiritual nature; and knowing this there are countless bodies of organized solicitors in the name of charity which so follow up the people that escape is not creditable. Most contributors respond in fear of being harmed either socially or in their business. Thus the same spirit of prey is at work in the best of good causes. There are many organized bodies engaged in charity who absorb from fifty to eighty-five percent of the contributions in their salaries and other expenses. You do not feel as if your money were going in the right direction if more than half of it is spent in collecting and handling it. The question may arise, what kind of charity spirit prevails in the giving of funds to such organizations, especially by business men who know full well that omission to contribute would be heralded city-wide and would drive them out of business. Every merchant and professional person is known, is listed, and his contributions are recorded and even given publicity. He is therefore compelled to give in self defence, and not in the true spirit.

Referring again to the uses of mental magnetism as guides in human conduct we find another law helping us through this better influence; and it is this: The best charity is that which helps men and women to become permanently helpful to themselves; not that which merely sustains them in a state of helplessness. Teach the true spirit of independence; give freely of money and time to this end; and help people help themselves.

In this country, surprising as it may seem, there are eight hundred thousand professional and non-profesional fortune tellers, who employ the so-called visits of sprits from the spirit world to tell their clients what the future has in store for them. [mated that of the population of the United States, numbering possibly close to one hundred and twenty millions, if a census were secured, it would be found that some time in the past or present, fifty millions of them have visited spirit-fortune tellers and paid good money in return for messages from the spirits. The majority of these clients do not believe what they are told. But many do, and are so completely swayed by this belief that they are easily victimized.

A familiar cheat is the spirit-fortune teller who charges for general services, but will not accept fees for advice as to how to safely invest money. The events proceed somewhat as follows: The client has money to invest, or may have good bonds paying low interest and wishes to find a higher rate. The fortune teller goes into a trance and, after some difficulty, figures out the names and addresses of several brokers, some of them well known and reliable, but one in particular is the most honorable and the most honest of them all. His name and address are scrawled on a piece of paper. Certain stocks are just ready to rise; if secured without delay a fine profit will be obtained. No time must be lost. On coming out of the trance the spirit-fortune teller does not know what is written, but says that if the spirit told it, there could be no doubt about it. The client is as sure of the honesty and reliability of the advice as that the sun will rise again; so hastens to the broker who is the most honorable of them all, parts with good money, or with high grade bonds, and buys worthless stock in exchange. This and similar methods of defrauding people who have faith in the spirit world, are robbing them by the thousands in this country. It is greed making use of the spiritual appetite, and the latter uniting with greed sometimes, but generally seeking only honest investments, though lured into bad ones by falling prey to the power of the spirit appeal.

A person who lacks magnetism allows the mind to enter into a cloud in which all positive thinking ceases, and only the thoughts and beliefs that come from others' minds are active. Suspicion is the only safety valve left to such persons; and this trait works both ways: It shuts off the approach of fraud; and it leaves the mind stalled in the deep woods in every transaction, turning humanity into non-progressive mules. Magnetismquickly disperses the clouds, and life is flooded with the light of knowledge.