LEO TOLSTOI—­RUSSIAN PHILOSOPHER

Tolstoi the strangest and most unusual figure of the Nineteenth Century; His almost unbearable sufferings; his avowed materialism; his horror of death; The prevailing gloom of his writings and to what due.  Incidents in his life previous to his illumination.  The remarkable and radical change made by his experience.  To what was due Tolstoi’s great struggle and suffering?  Why the great philosopher sought to die in a hut.  His idea not one of penance.  The signal change in his life after illumination.  What he says of this.

HONORE DE BALZAC

Balzac’s classification as of the psychic temperament.  His amazing power of magnetic attraction.  His feminine refinement in dress.  His power of inspiration gave him his place in French literature.  The dominant motive of all his writings.  His unshakable conviction of immortality.  His power to function on both planes of consciousness.  The lesson to be drawn from Seraphita.  Balzac’s evident intention, and why veiled.  The inevitable conclusion to be drawn from the Symbolical character.

CHAPTER XIV

ILLUMINATION AS EXPRESSED IN THE POETICAL TEMPERAMENT

Poetry the language of Cosmic Consciousness.  Unconscious instruments of the Cosmic law.  The true poet and the maker of rhymes.  The mission and scope of the poetical temperament.  How “temperament” affects expression.  No royal road to Illumination.  Teaching of Oriental mysticism.  Whitman’s extraordinary experience.  His idea of “Perfections.”  Lord Tennyson’s two distinct states of consciousness; his early boyhood and strange experiences.  Facts about his illumination.  The after effects.  Tennyson’s vision of the future.  Wordsworth, the poet of Nature.  How he attained and lost spiritual illumination.  How he again received the great Light.  The evidences of two states of consciousness.  Outline of his illumination.  Noguchi—­a most remarkable instance of Illumination in early youth; Lines expressive of an exalted state of consciousness; how it resulted in later life.  The strange case of William Sharp and “Fiona Macleod:”  a perfect example of dual consciousness; the distinguishing features of the self and the Self; the fine line of demarcation.  How the writer succeeded in living two distinct lives and the result.  Remarkable contribution to literature.  A puzzling instance of phases of consciousness.

CHAPTER XV

METHODS OF ATTAINMENT:  THE WAY OF ILLUMINATION

The four Oriental methods of liberation.  The goal of the soul’s pilgrimage.  Strange theory advanced.  Revolutionary results that follow.  How to perceive the actuality of the higher Self.  Gaining immortality “In the flesh;” What Revelation has promised and its substantiation in modern Science.  The prize and the price.  Some valuable Yoga exercises to induce spiritual ecstacy.  What “union with God” really means.  The “Brahmic Bliss” of the Upanashads.  The new race; its powers and privileges.  “The man-god whom we await” as described by Emerson.