That power which the disciple shall covet is that which shall make him appear as nothing in the eyes of men.

—Light on the Path

These words from Light on the Path have doubtless seemed to many "a hard saying," understandable as they are in the light of the first of the "Notes" included in that work of which it was written in Lucifer for December 1888 (Vol. III, p. 347):

This little book—a true jewel—belongs to, and emanates from the same school of Indo-Aryan and Buddhist thought and learning as the teachings in the Secret Doctrine.

In that first note it was stated that "Ambition is the first curse: the great tempter of the man who is rising above his fellows." And it was added:

It is the simplest form of looking for reward. Men of intelligence and power are led away from their higher possibilities by it continually. Yet it is a necessary teacher. Its results turn to dust and ashes in the mouth; like death and estrangement it shows the man at last that to work for self is to work for disappointment.

Nevertheless, "A strange power indeed to covet!" will be the reaction to the opening quotation in this article on the part of the unthinking many, perhaps of the majority, including, paradoxically, not a few who have acquired that power without desiring it in the least; perhaps, indeed, without the slightest suspicion that others may be so regarding them!

To make one's mark in the world, to be recognized as "Somebody," if not as a Very Important Person, is almost certainly, however unconsciously to themselves, the hope behind the efforts of many a social climber, no less than of many a business magnate and many a politician, and even of not a few writers, composers and artists, however mixed in the better of these with the worthier motive of sharing their dreams and insights with the less sensitive majority.

Honest self-examination should reveal this weakness of the personality, in which so many share. Who does not feel a quick surge of resentment, even though unexpressed, at any evidence of others' regarding us with disesteem or—perhaps even harder for the sensitive to bear—with amused tolerance? Such a tell-tale sign should not be passed over by the sincere aspirant.

How many even of those familiar with the Letters That Have Helped Me have seriously put themselves to the test of trying to apply the directions given in the first of the extracts in the section entitled "On Occult Philosophy"? It is a serious test that Mr. Judge proposes and the difficulty experienced by one who tries it will show him how far he has so far been from coveting the power to appear in others' eyes as nothing. It is there suggested:

Begin by trying to conquer the habit, almost universal, of pushing yourself forward. This arises from personality. Do not monopolize the conversation. Keep in the background. If someone begins to tell you about himself and his doings, do not take first chance to tell him about yourself, but listen to him and talk solely to bring him out. And when he has finished suppress in yourself the desire to tell about yourself, your opinions and experiences.... Try to recollect that you are a very small affair in the world, and that the people around do not value you at all and grieve not when you are absent. Your only true greatness lies in your inner true self and it is not desirous of obtaining the applause of others.

And how truly was it added:

If you will follow these directions for one week you will find they will take considerable effort, and you will begin to discover a part of the meaning of the saying, "Man, know thyself."

Unwise is the aspirant who, confronted with the result of this test, concedes the stronghold that this weakness has upon him but takes refuge in the delusion that it is after all a minor fault, even "an amiable weakness," as if there were any such! That the contrary is the case was indicated by Madame Blavatsky when she wrote in The Key to Theosophy that in almost every case the cause of people's turning against the Theosophical Society and its leaders in her day was "wounded vanity in some form or other....Generally, because their dicta and advice are not taken as final and authoritative....Because, in short, they cannot bear to stand second to anybody in anything."

In Letters That Have Helped Me "the word of Masters" was quoted: "He who does what he can and all that he can, and all that he knows how to do, does enough for us," and it was explained that "this task includes that of divesting yourself of all personality through interior effort, because that work, if done in the right spirit, is even more important to the race than any outward work we can do."

Frank self-praise is rather ludicrous, and has been held up to redicule in the couplet:

I am the master of this college
And what I don't know is not knowledge.

This invites the smile of derision even from the hapless student of this paragon in his own eyes; but self-praise, in however poor tast it be, seems less contemptible than the self-depreciation that but too plainly looks for contradiction from the hearer. Both weaknesses, however, should reveal to him who has them the strength of his own ahankaric tendencies.

In "Some Words on Daily Life" included in U.L.T. Pamphlet No. 22, a Master of Wisdom called for forgetting SELF in working for others, and for heeding only the praise or blame of the God within one's own soul, called "the Higher Consciousness."

The verdicts of the self-appointed "judges," including, alas, some who, being students of Masters' Teachings, should know better, can be impersonally considered for such truth as they may contain, applied when seen to be just, and otherwise ignored.

The humble and sincere aspirant leaves to the crowd such satisfaction as it may give them to proclaim, "Behold, I know," as know perhaps indeed they do the "Doctrine of the Eye." It is "they who in humbleness have garnered," who low confess, "Thus have I heard," the followers of the "Doctrine of the Heart," who are named in The Voice of the Silence as "the elect." These are they who have been able to "discern the real from the false, the ever-fleeting from the everlasting...to separate Head-learning from Soul-wisdom."

The Dharma of the "Eye" is the embodiment of the external, and the non-existing.

The Dharma of the "Heart" is the embodiment of Bodhi, the Permanent and Everlasting.

"Great Sifter" is the name of the "Heart Doctrine," O Disciple.

And, among the worthless husks that are driven by "the wheel of the Good Law...from out the golden grain" must surely be the craving of the personality for notice and for praise.

Meanwhile the world of real Occultists smiles silently, and goes on with its laborious process of sifting out the living germs from the masses of men. For occultists must be found and fostered and prepared for coming ages when power will be needed and pretensions go for naught.

Back of tranquillity lies always conquered unhappiness.

—David Grayson