To have acquired the astral senses of sight and hearing; or in other words to have attained perception and opened the doors of the soul, are gigantic tasks and may take the sacrifice of many successive incarnations.  And yet, when the will has reached its strength, the whole miracle may be worked in a second of time.  Then is the disciple the servant of Time no longer.

These two first steps are negative; that is to say they imply retreat from a present condition of things rather than advance towards another.  The two next are active, implying the advance into another state of being.

III

“BEFORE THE VOICE CAN SPEAK IN THE PRESENCE OF THE MASTERS.”

Speech is the power of communication; the moment of entrance into active life is marked by its attainment.

And now, before I go any further, let me explain a little the way in which the rules written down in “Light on the Path” are arranged.  The first seven of those which are numbered are sub-divisions of the two first unnumbered rules, those with which I have dealt in the two preceding papers.  The numbered rules were simply an effort of mine to make the unnumbered ones more intelligible.  “Eight” to “fifteen” of these numbered rules belong to this unnumbered rule which is now my text.

As I have said, these rules are written for all disciples, but for none else; they are not of interest to any other persons.  Therefore I trust no one else will trouble to read these papers any further.  The first two rules, which include the whole of that part of the effort which necessitates the use of the surgeon’s knife, I will enlarge upon further if I am asked to do so.  But the disciple is expected to deal with a snake, his lower self, unaided; to suppress his human passions and emotions by the force of his own will.  He can only demand assistance of a master when this is accomplished, or at all events, partially so.  Otherwise the gates and windows of his soul are blurred, and blinded, and darkened, and no knowledge can come to him.  I am not, in these papers, purposing to tell a man how to deal with his own soul; I am simply giving, to the disciple, knowledge.  That I am not writing even now, so that all who run may read, is owing to the fact that super-nature prevents this by its own immutable laws.

The four rules which I have written down for those in the West who wish to study them, are as I have said, written in the ante-chamber of every living Brotherhood; I may add more, in the ante-chamber of every living or dead Brotherhood, or Order yet to be formed.  When I speak of a Brotherhood or an Order, I do not mean an arbitrary constitution made by scholiasts and intellectualists; I mean an actual fact in super-nature, a stage of development towards the absolute God or Good.  During this development the disciple encounters harmony, pure knowledge, pure truth, in different degrees, and, as he enters these