How then can it be thought possible for a man to enter the “strait gate” of occultism when his daily and hourly thoughts are bound up with worldly things, desires of possession and power, with lust, ambition and duties, which, however honorable, are still of the earth earthy?  Even the love for wife and family—­the purest as the most unselfish of human affections—­is a barrier to real occultism.  For whether we take as an example the holy love of a mother for her child, or that of a husband for his wife, even in these feelings, when analysed to the very bottom, and thoroughly sifted, there is still selfishness in the first, and an egoisme a deux in the second instance.  What mother would not sacrifice without a moment’s hesitation hundreds and thousands of lives for that of the child of her heart? and what lover or true husband would not break the happiness of every other man and woman around him to satisfy the desire of one whom he loves?  This is but natural, we shall be told.  Quite so; in the light of the code of human affections; less so, in that of divine universal love.  For, while the heart is full of thoughts for a little group of selves, near and dear to us, how shall the rest of mankind fare in our souls?  What percentage of love and care will there remain to bestow on the “great orphan”?  And how shall the “still small voice” make itself heard in a soul entirely occupied with its own privileged tenants?  What room is there left for the needs of Humanity en bloc to impress themselves upon, or even receive a speedy response?  And yet, he who would profit by the wisdom of the universal mind, has to reach it through the whole of Humanity without distinction of race, complexion, religion or social status.  It is altruism, not ego-ism even in its most legal and noble conception, that can lead the unit to merge its little Self in the Universal Selves.  It is to these needs and to this work that the true disciple of true Occultism has to devote himself, if he would obtain theo-sophy, divine Wisdom and Knowledge.

The aspirant has to choose absolutely between the life of the world and the life of Occultism.  It is useless and vain to endeavor to unite the two, for no one can serve two masters and satisfy both.  No one can serve his body and the higher Soul, and do his family duty and his universal duty, without depriving either one or the other of its rights; for he will either lend his ear to the “still small voice” and fail to hear the cries of his little ones, or, he will listen but to the wants of the latter and remain deaf to the voice of Humanity.  It would be a ceaseless, a maddening struggle for almost any married man, who would pursue true practical Occultism, instead of its theoretical philosophy.  For he would find himself ever hesitating between the voice of the impersonal divine love of Humanity, and that of the personal, terrestrial love.  And this