The Washington herald., 1914-11-29

all Of form and Sncssential; the question
is: How does he live his religion. and
how far does the esSense Of il come out
in his thought and in his life? So, in dis
tinguishing between the real and unreal
in religion, We put aside the whole of
the forms. admitting to the full that they
are valuable to those who need them
they are the signpOsts that guide Il man
along the way of life-but, knowing that
they all mark out single road. the road
of man to Perfection. Not against any
OF them may the Occultist speak; not
cOntemptuously must he ever look even
at any forms that he may himself have
OutSrOwn; but he must realize that while
forms are many. the Wisdom is but one.
and the Wisdom is the food Of the soul.
while the forms are for tho training Of
the body.
He must learn also TO discriminate
between truth and falsehOOd. not a.
the world disCriminates. but as the
OcCultist disCriminates. Tn" man who
is training his thought to truth and to
the avoidance Of falsehoOd must never
asCribe to another man a motive which
is evil as being behind an outer action.
He cannot see the mans motive; he has
no right to judge what he cannot
know. He may ascribe a wrong mo-
tive which does not exist, and so may
break the law Of truth. A man may
speak angrily to you, and you, to whom
the angry word is said, may think
that he desired to wound or hurt you.
and see an evil motive behind the evil
word. But the man. it is pointed out.
may not be thinking of you at all; he
may have some troubles of his own.
some trials Of his own. some strain
upon him OF which you know nothing,
which makes his nerves irritable and
his lip-speech unkind.
You must discriminate also not only
between right and wrong, for to the
Occultist there is no choice between
right and wrong: he is bound to do
the right at whatever cost and AT
whatever sacrifice. He cannot, As some
will do. hesitate between the course
which is one with the divine viii and the
course that goes against it: that lie left
far behind him in his progress towards
the Path. He must ever remember. In
dealing with questions Of right and
wrong, that for the Occultist there is no
excuse II he swerves from the law of
right; he must follow it more strenu
nusly, more rigidly. more perfectly. than
the men who are living in the outer
world. To do the right i woven into his
nature. and no question can arise in the
mind as to taking the lower way when
he may not make a mistake: | do not
mean that his Judgment may not err: but
| do mean that where he sees the right
inevitably he must follow it. or else his
eyes will become utterly blinded. and ne
will stumble and fall upon the Path But
not only must he distinguish between
right and wrong, but between that which
is more Or less important in the right
things he follows. sometimes question
arises Of relative Importance. and he
must remember ever. when such question
arises. that to serve the divine Will and
follow his Masters guidance is the one
important thing in life. Everything else
must give way To that: all else must
be- broken in order that that may be
for that will marks out the
Path Of the most important duty, and as
he follows it the very best he can give.
is rendered to human service.
In this distinguishing between the Cs-
scntiaI and the uOnessentiaI, he has to
cultivate 4 gentle yielding. a sweet COUr-
t,sy. ON all matters that are not cs-
sentiaI, II Is well TO yield in little things
that do not matter in order that you
may follow perfectly those things that dU
matter. You must also learn to dis
rriminatC between the duty To help and
the desire 10 dominate. There ar" 80
many people who are always mCddling
with tho thoughts and actions Of other
people. and desiring. as il were. tu SAY"
their ncighbors' souls instead uf attend
II Z to their own. As rule. while you
may offer help, you should never try TO
control another. save in those eases
where they are placed in your hands for
guidance; then it may be your duty to
xcrCisc some control over conduct |
AlOng those lines the Master taught that
should be practiccd. in
order that this first great qualification |
might become second nature TO the dis
'iplC.
lrnntinmch r,rNt SmmdnNl