High Ambition.—­Fig. 20 gives us another manifestation of desire—­the ambition for place or power.  The ambitious quality is shown by the rich deep orange colour, and the desire by the hooked extensions which precede the form as it moves.  The thought is a good and pure one of its kind, for if there were anything base or selfish in the desire it would inevitably show itself in the darkening of the clear orange hue by dull reds, browns, or greys.  If this man coveted place or power, it was not for his own sake, but from the conviction that he could do the work well and truly, and to the advantage of his fellow-men.

[Illustration:  FIG. 20.  HIGH AMBITION]

Selfish Ambition.—­Ambition of a lower type is represented in Fig. 21.  Not only have we here a large stain of the dull brown-grey of selfishness, but there is also a considerable difference in the form, though it appears to possess equal definiteness of outline.  Fig. 20 is rising steadily onward towards a definite object, for it will be observed that the central part of it is as definitely a projectile as Fig. 10.  Fig. 21, on the other hand, is a floating form, and is strongly indicative of general acquisitiveness—­the ambition to grasp for the self everything that is within sight.

[Illustration:  FIG. 21.  SELFISH AMBITION]

ANGER

Murderous Rage and Sustained Anger.—­In Figs. 22 and 23 we have two terrible examples of the awful effect of anger.  The lurid flash from dark clouds (Fig. 22) was taken from the aura of a rough and partially intoxicated man in the East End of London, as he struck down a woman; the flash darted out at her the moment before he raised his hand to strike, and caused a shuddering feeling of horror, as though it might slay.  The keen-pointed stiletto-like dart (Fig. 23) was a thought of steady anger, intense and desiring vengeance, of the quality of murder, sustained through years, and directed against a person who had inflicted a deep injury on the one who sent it forth; had the latter been possessed of a strong and trained will, such a thought-form would slay, and the one nourishing it is running a very serious danger of becoming a murderer in act as well as in thought in a future incarnation.  It will be noted that both of them take the flash-like form, though the upper is irregular in its shape, while the lower represents a steadiness of intention which is far more dangerous.  The basis of utter selfishness out of which the upper one springs is very characteristic and instructive.  The difference in colour between the two is also worthy of note.  In the upper one the dirty brown of selfishness is so strongly evident that it stains even the outrush of anger; while in the second case, though no doubt selfishness was at the root of that also, the original thought has been forgotten in the sustained and concentrated wrath.  One who studies Plate XIII. in Man Visible and Invisible will be able to image to himself the condition of the astral body from which these forms are protruding; and surely the mere sight of these pictures, even without examination, should prove a powerful object-lesson in the evil of yielding to the passion of anger.