Vedas or mysterious acts of grace, each of these will stop him and throw him into a rut from which even heavenly death will not release him.  Religion can only teach morals and ethics.  It cannot answer the question “what am I?” The Buddhist ascetic holds a fan before his eyes to keep away the sight of objects condemned by his religion.  But he thereby gains no knowledge, for that part of him which is affected by the improper sights has to be known by the man himself, and it is by experience alone that the knowledge can be possessed and assimilated.

The book closes gloriously, with some hints that have been much needed.  Too many, even of the sincerest students of occultism, have sought to ignore that one-half of their nature, which is here taught to be necessary.  Instead of crushing out the animal nature, we have here the high and wise teaching that we must learn to fully understand the animal and subordinate it to the spiritual.  “The god in man, degraded, is a thing unspeakable in its infamous power of production.  The animal in man, elevated, is a thing unimaginable in its great powers of service and of strength,” and we [are] told that our animal self is a great force, the secret of the old-world magicians, and of the coming race which Lord Lytton foreshadowed.  “But this power can only be attained by giving the god the sovereignty.  Make your animal ruler over your self, and he will never rule others.”

This teaching will be seen to be identical with that of the closing words of The Idyll of the White Lotus:  “He will learn how to expound spiritual truths, and to enter into the life of his highest self, and he can learn also to hold within him the glory of that higher self, and yet to retain life upon this planet so long as it shall last, if need be; to retain life in the vigor of manhood, till his entire work is completed, and he has taught the three truths to all who look for light.”

There are three sentences in the book which ought to be imprinted in the reader’s mind, and we present them inversely: 

“Secreted and hidden in the heart of the world and the heart of man is the light which can illumine all life, the future and the past.”

“On the mental steps of a million men Buddha passed through the Gates of Gold; and because a great crowd pressed about the threshold he was able to leave behind him words which prove that those gates will open.”

“This is one of the most important factors in the development of man, the recognition—­profound and complete recognition—­of the law of universal unity and coherence.”