Part 1
“THERE is no doubt that at the entrance on a new phase
of life something has to be given up. The child, when it has become the man,
puts away childish things.”
“With each drop of the divine draught which is put
into the cup of pleasure something is purged away from that cup to make room
for the magic drop. For Nature deals with her children generously: man’s cup is
always full to the brim; and if he chooses to taste of the fine and life-giving
essence, he must cast away something of the grosser and less sensitive part of
himself.”
“This has to be done daily, hourly, momently, in order
that the draught of life may steadily increase. And to do this unflinchingly, a
man must be his own schoolmaster, must recognize that he is always in need of
wisdom, must be ready to practise any austerities, to use the birch-rod
unhesitatingly against himself, in order to gain his end.”
“For that there is before him power, life, perfection, and that every
portion of his passage thitherwards is crowded with the means of helping him to
his goal, can only be denied by those who refuse to acknowledge life as apart
from matter. Their mental position is so absolutely arbitrary that it is
useless to encounter or combat it. Through all time the unseen has been
pressing on the seen, the immaterial overpowering the material; through all
time the signs and tokens of that which is beyond matter have been waiting for
the men of matter to test and weigh them.”
Relevant passages from Light on the Path:
All steps are necessary to make up the ladder. The vices of men become steps in the ladder, one by one, as they are surmounted. The virtues of man are steps indeed, necessary — not by any means to be dispensed with. Yet, though they create a fair atmosphere and a happy future, they are useless if they stand alone. The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way. (1,20)
Seek it by testing all experience, by utilizing the senses in order to understand the growth and meaning of individuality, and the beauty and obscurity of those other divine fragments which are struggling side by side with you, and form the race to which you belong. (1,20)
All steps are necessary to make up the ladder. The vices of men become steps in the ladder, one by one, as they are surmounted. The virtues of man are steps indeed, necessary — not by any means to be dispensed with. Yet, though they create a fair atmosphere and a happy future, they are useless if they stand alone. The whole nature of man must be used wisely by the one who desires to enter the way. (1,20)
Seek it by testing all experience, by utilizing the senses in order to understand the growth and meaning of individuality, and the beauty and obscurity of those other divine fragments which are struggling side by side with you, and form the race to which you belong. (1,20)
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