It is this place of consciousness that we need to reach out to.  That it is not reserved only for men of genius is shown by the fact that martyrs and heroes have found it and dwelt in it.  It is not reserved for men of genius only, but it can only be found by men of great soul.

In this fact there is no need for discouragement.  Greatness in man is popularly supposed to be a thing inborn.  This belief must be a result of want of thought, of blindness to facts of nature.  Greatness can only be attained by growth; that is continually demonstrated to us.  Even the mountains, even the firm globe itself, these are great by dint of the mode of growth peculiar to that state of materiality,—­accumulation of atoms.  As the consciousness inherent in all existing forms passes into more advanced forms of life it becomes more active, and in proportion it acquires the power of growth by assimilation instead of accumulation.  Looking at existence from this special point of view (which indeed is a difficult one to maintain for long, as we habitually look at life in planes and forget the great lines which connect and run through these), we immediately perceive it to be reasonable to suppose that as we advance beyond our present standpoint the power of growth by assimilation will become greater and probably change into a method yet more rapid, easy, and unconscious.  The universe is, in fact, full of magnificent promise for us, if we will but lift our eyes and see.  It is that lifting of the eyes which is the first need and the first difficulty; we are so apt readily to be content with what we see within touch of our hands.  It is the essential characteristic of the man of genius that he is comparatively indifferent to that fruit which is just within touch, and hungers for that which is afar on the hills.  In fact he does not need the sense of contact to arouse longing.  He knows that this distant fruit, which he perceives without the aid of the physical senses, is a subtler and a stronger food than any which appeals to them.  And how is he rewarded!  When he tastes that fruit, how strong and sweet is its flavor, and what a new sense of life rushes upon him!  For in recognising that flavor he has recognised the existence of the subtile senses, those which feed the life of the inner man; and it is by the strength of that inner man, and by his strength only, that the latch of the Golden Gates can be lifted.

In fact it is only by the development and growth of the inner man that the existence of these Gates, and of that to which they admit, can be even perceived.  While man is content with his gross senses and cares nothing for his subtile ones, the Gates remain literally invisible.  As to the boor the gateway of the intellectual life is as a thing uncreate and non-existent, so to the man of the gross senses, even if his intellectual life is active, that which lies beyond is uncreate and non-existent, only because he does not open the book.