There is a story which demonstrates the idea of the universal or general consciousness apart from individual consciousness. There was a magician who imagined that he was fluid, liquid, moving, rising and falling, and turning into the sea. Then he imagined, "Now I am solid." Atoms grouped together, froze and turned into ice. Then he thought, "I am not so cold. I can try and be stable, and will not melt"; and he turned into stone. Next he said, "Now I want to change. I do not want to remain stone." And he became a tree. "But," he said, "still I am not moving, not working"; and he twisted and moved, and turned into an insect. But the magician thought, "How helpless it is to live as an insect! I should like to play and sing"; and he turned into a bird. Then he said, "I want to be more gross and dense, and feel myself more intelligent"; and he turned into an animal. Finally he said, "I want to stand on my hind legs, to stretch my spine"; and he turned into man.