Light
on the Path - written in 1888 by Mable Collins
A
treatise written for the personal use of those who are ignorant
of the eastern wisdom, and who desire to enter within it's
influence.
Part
I
THESE
rules are written for all disciples: Attend you to them.
Before
the eyes can see, they must be incapable of tears. Before the
ear can hear, it must have lost its sensitiveness. Before the
voice can speak in the presence of the Masters it must have
lost the power to wound. Before the soul can stand in the presence
of the Masters its feet must be washed in the blood of the
heart.
1.
Kill out ambition. (notes)
2.
Kill out desire of life.
3.
Kill out desire of comfort.
4.
Work as those work who are ambitious.
Respect
life as those do who desire it. Be happy as those are who live
for happiness.
Seek
in the heart the source of evil and expunge it. It lives fruitfully
in the heart of the devoted disciple as well as in the heart
of the man of desire. Only the strong can kill it out. The
weak must wait for its growth, its fruition, its death. And
it is a plant that lives and increases throughout the ages.
It flowers when the man has accumulated unto himself innumerable
existences. He who will enter upon the path of power must tear
this thing out of his heart. And then the heart will bleed,
and the whole life of the man seem to be utterly dissolved.
This ordeal must be endured; it may come at the first step
of the perilous ladder which leads to the path of life: it
may not come until the last. But, O disciple, remember that
it has to be endured: and fasten the energies of your soul
upon the task. Live neither in the present nor the future,
but in the eternal. This giant weed cannot flower there: this
blot upon existence is wiped out by the very atmosphere of
eternal thought.
5.
Kill out all sense of separateness. (notes)
6.
Kill out desire for sensation.
7.
Kill out the hunger for growth.
8.
Yet stand alone and isolated, because nothing that is imbodied,
nothing that is conscious of separation, nothing that is out
of the eternal, can aid you. Learn from sensation and observe
it, because only so can you commence the science of self-knowledge,
and plant your foot on the first step of the ladder. Grow as
the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open
its soul to the air. So must you press forward to open your
soul to the eternal. But it must be the eternal that draws
forth your strength and beauty, not desire of growth. For in
the one case you develop in the luxuriance of purity, in the
other you harden by the forcible passion for personal stature.
9.
Desire only that which is within you.
10.
Desire only that which is beyond you.
11.
Desire only that which is unattainable.
12.
For within you is the light of the world - the only light that
can be shed upon the Path. If you are unable to perceive it
within you, it is useless to look for it elsewhere. It is beyond
you; because when you reach it you have lost yourself. It is
unattainable, because it for ever recedes. You will enter the
light, but you will never touch the flame.
13.
Desire power ardently.
14.
Desire peace fervently.
15.
Desire possessions above all.
16.
But those possessions must belong to
the
pure soul only, and be possessed therefore by all pure souls
equally, and thus be the especial property of the whole only
when united. Hunger for such possessions as can be held by
the pure soul, that you may accumulate wealth for that united
spirit of life which is your only true self. The peace you
shall desire is that sacred peace which nothing can disturb,
and in which the soul grows as does the holy flower upon the
still lagoons. And that power which the disciple shall covet
is that which shall make him appear as nothing in the eyes
of men.
17.
Seek out the way. (notes)
18.
Seek the way by retreating within.
19.
Seek the way by advancing boldly without.
20.
Seek it not by any one road. To each temperament there is one
road which seems the most desirable. But the way is not found
by devotion alone, by religious contemplation alone, by ardent
progress, by self-sacrificing labor, by studious observation
of life. None alone can take the disciple more than one step
onward. All steps are necessary to make up the ladder. The
vices of men become steps in the ladder, one by one, as they
are surmounted. The virtues of man are steps indeed, necessary
- not by any means to be dispensed with. Yet, though they create
a fair atmosphere and a happy future, they are useless if they
stand alone. The whole nature of man must be used wisely by
the one who desires to enter the way. Each man is to himself
absolutely the way, the truth, and the life. But he is only
so when he grasps his whole individuality firmly, and, by the
force of his awakened spiritual will, recognizes this individuality
as not himself, but that thing which he has with pain created
for his own use, and by means of which he purposes, as his
growth slowly develops his intelligence, to reach to the life
beyond individuality. When he knows that for this his wonderful
complex separated life exists, then, indeed, and then only,
he is upon the way. Seek it by plunging into the mysterious
and glorious depths of your own inmost being. Seek it by testing
all experience, by utilizing the senses in order to understand
the growth and meaning of individuality, and the beauty and
obscurity of those other divine fragments which are struggling
side by side with you, and form the race to which you belong.
Seek it by study of the laws of being, the laws of nature,
the laws of the supernatural: and seek it by making the profound
obeisance of the soul to the dim star that burns within. Steadily,
as you watch and worship, its light will grow stronger. Then
you may know you have found the beginning of the way. And when
you have found the end its light will suddenly become the infinite
light. (notes)
21.
Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the
storm: not till then.
It
shall grow, it will shoot up, it will make branches and leaves
and form buds, while the storm continues, while the battle
lasts. But not till the whole personality of the man is dissolved
and melted - not until it is held by the divine fragment which
has created it, as a mere subject for grave experiment and
experience - not until the whole nature has yielded and become
subject unto its higher self, can the bloom open. Then will
come a calm such as comes in a tropical country after the heavy
rain, when Nature works so swiftly that one may see her action.
Such a calm will come to the harassed spirit. And in the deep
silence the mysterious event will occur which will prove that
the way has been found. Call it by what name you will, it is
a voice that speaks where there is none to speak - it is a
messenger that comes, a messenger without form or substance;
or it is the flower of the soul that has opened. It cannot
be described by any metaphor. But it can be felt after, looked
for, and desired, even amid the raging of the storm. The silence
may last a moment of time or it may last a thousand years.
But it will end. Yet you will carry its strength with you.
Again and again the battle must be fought and won. It is only
for an interval that Nature can be still.
These
written above are the first of the rules which are written
on the walls of the Hall of Learning. Those that ask shall
have. Those that desire to read shall read. Those who desire
to learn shall learn. (notes)
PEACE
BE WITH YOU.
Part
II
OUT
of the silence that is peace a resonant voice shall arise.
And this voice will say, It is not well; thou hast reaped,
now thou must sow. And knowing this voice to be the silence
itself thou wilt obey.
Thou
who art now a disciple, able to stand, able to hear, able to
see, able to speak, who hast conquered desire and attained
to self-knowledge, who hast seen thy soul in its bloom and
recognized it, and heard the voice of the silence, go thou
to the Hall of Learning and read what is written there for
thee. (notes)
1.
Stand aside in the coming battle, and though thou fightest
be not thou the warrior.
2.
Look for the warrior and let him fight in thee.
3.
Take his orders for battle and obey them.
4.
Obey him not as though he were a general, but as though he
were thyself, and his spoken words were the utterance of thy
secret desires; for he is thyself, yet infinitely wiser and
stronger than thyself. Look for him, else in the fever and
hurry of the fight thou mayest pass him; and he will not know
thee unless thou knowest him. If thy cry meet his listening
ear, then will he fight in thee and fill the dull void within.
And if this is so, then canst thou go through the fight cool
and unwearied, standing aside and letting him battle for thee.
Then it will be impossible for thee to strike one blow amiss.
But if thou look not for him, if thou pass him by, then there
is no safeguard for thee. Thy brain will reel, thy heart grow
uncertain, and in the dust of the battlefield thy sight and
senses will fail, and thou wilt not know thy friends from thy
enemies.
He
is thyself, yet thou art but finite and liable to error. He
is eternal and is sure. He is eternal truth. When once he has
entered thee and become thy warrior, he will never utterly
desert thee, and at the day of the great peace he will become
one with thee.
5.
Listen to the song of life. (notes)
6.
Store in your memory the melody you hear.
7.
Learn from it the lesson of harmony.
8.
You can stand upright now, firm as a rock amid the turmoil,
obeying the warrior who is thyself and thy king. Unconcerned
in the battle save to do his bidding, having no longer any
care as to the result of the battle, for one thing only is
important, that the warrior shall win, and you know he is incapable
of defeat -- standing thus, cool and awakened, use the hearing
you have acquired by pain and by the destruction of pain. Only
fragments of the great song come to your ears while yet you
are but man. But if you listen to it, remember it faithfully,
so that none which has reached you is lost, and endeavor to
learn from it the meaning of the mystery which surrounds you.
In time you will need no teacher. For as the individual has
voice, so has that in which the individual exists. Life itself
has speech and is never silent. And its utterance is not, as
you that are deaf may suppose, a cry: it is a song. Learn from
it that you are part of the harmony; learn from it to obey
the laws of the harmony.
9.
Regard earnestly all the life that surrounds you.
10.
Learn to look intelligently into the hearts of men. (notes)
11.
Regard most earnestly your own heart.
12.
For through your own heart comes the one light which can illuminate
life and make it clear to your eyes.
Study
the hearts of men, that you may know what is that world in
which you live and of which you will to be a part. Regard the
constantly changing and moving life which surrounds you, for
it is formed by the hearts of men; and as you learn to understand
their constitution and meaning, you will by degrees be able
to read the larger word of life.
13.
Speech comes only with knowledge. Attain to knowledge and you
will attain to speech. (notes)
14.
Having obtained the use of the inner senses, having conquered
the desires of the outer senses, having conquered the desires
of the individual soul, and having obtained knowledge, prepare
now, O disciple, to enter upon the way in reality. The path
is found: make yourself ready to tread it.
15.
Inquire of the earth, the air, and the water, of the secrets
they hold for you. The development of your inner senses will
enable you to do this.
16.
Inquire of the holy ones of the earth of the secrets they hold
for you. The conquering of the desires of the outer senses
will give you the right to do this.
17.
Inquire of the inmost, the one, of its final secret which it
holds for you through the ages.
The
great and difficult victory, the conquering of the desires
of the individual soul, is a work of ages; therefore expect
not to obtain its reward until ages of experience have been
accumulated. When the time of learning this seventeenth rule
is reached, man is on the threshold of becoming more than man.
18.
The knowledge which is now yours is only yours because your
soul has become one with all pure souls and with the inmost.
It is a trust vested in you by the Most High. Betray it, misuse
your knowledge, or neglect it, and it is possible even now
for you to fall from the high estate you have attained. Great
ones fall back, even from the threshold, unable to sustain
the weight of their responsibility, unable to pass on. Therefore
look forward always with awe and trembling to this moment,
and be prepared for the battle.
19.
It is written that for him who is on the threshold of divinity
no law can be framed, no guide can exist. Yet to enlighten
the disciple, the final struggle may be thus expressed:
Hold
fast to that which has neither substance nor existence.
20.
Listen only to the voice which is soundless.
21.
Look only on that which is invisible alike to the inner and
the outer sense.
PEACE
BE WITH YOU.
Consider
with me that the individual existence is a rope which stretches
from the infinite to the infinite and has no end and no commencement,
neither is it capable of being broken. This rope is formed
of innumerable fine threads, which, lying closely together,
form its thickness. These threads are colorless, are perfect
in their qualities of straightness, strength, and levelness.
This rope, passing as it does through all places, suffers strange
accidents. Very often a thread is caught and becomes attached,
or perhaps is only violently pulled away from its even way.
Then for a great time it is disordered, and it disorders the
whole. Sometimes one is stained with dirt or with color, and
not only does the stain run on further than the spot of contact,
but it discolors other of the threads. And remember that the
threads are living - are like electric wires, more, are like
quivering nerves. How far, then, must the stain, the drag awry,
be communicated! But eventually the long strands, the living
threads which in their unbroken continuity form the individual,
pass out of the shadow into the shine. Then the threads are
no longer colorless, but golden; once more they lie together,
level. Once more harmony is established between them; and from
that harmony within the greater harmony is perceived.
This
illustration presents but a small portion - a single side of
the truth: it is less than a fragment. Yet, dwell on it; by
its aid you may be led to perceive more. What it is necessary
first to understand is, not that the future is arbitrarily
formed by any separate acts of the present, but that the whole
of the future is in unbroken continuity with the present as
the present is with the past. On one plane, from one point
of view, the illustration of the rope is correct.
It
is said that a little attention to occultism produces great
Karmic results. That is because it is impossible to give any
attention to occultism without making a definite choice between
what are familiarly called good and evil. The first step in
occultism brings the student to the tree of knowledge. He must
pluck and eat; he must choose. No longer is he capable of the
indecision of ignorance. He goes on, either on the good or
on the evil path. And to step definitely and knowingly even
but one step on either path produces great Karmic results.
The mass of men walk waveringly, uncertain as to the goal they
aim at; their standard of life is indefinite; consequently
their Karma operates in a confused manner. But when once the
threshold of knowledge is reached, the confusion begins to
lessen, and consequently the Karmic results increase enormously,
because all are acting in the same direction on all the different
planes: for the occultist cannot be half-hearted, nor can he
return when he has passed the threshold. These things are as
impossible as that the man should become the child again. The
individuality has approached the state of responsibility by
reason of growth; it cannot recede from it.
He
who would escape from the bondage of Karma must raise his individuality
out of the shadow into the shine; must so elevate his existence
that these threads do not come in contact with soiling substances,
do not become so attached as to be pulled awry. He simply lifts
himself out of the region in which Karma operates. He does
not leave the existence which he is experiencing because of
that. The ground may be rough and dirty, or full of rich flowers
whose pollen stains, and of sweet substances that cling and
become attachments - but overhead there is always the free
sky. He who desires to be Karmaless must look to the air for
a home; and after that to the ether. He who desires to form
good Karma will meet with many confusions, and in the effort
to sow rich seed for his own harvesting may plant a thousand
weeds, and among them the giant. Desire to sow no seed for
your own harvesting; desire only to sow that seed the fruit
of which shall feed the world. You are a part of the world;
in giving it food you feed yourself. Yet in even this thought
there lurks a great danger which starts forward and faces the
disciple, who has for long thought himself working for good,
while in his inmost soul he has perceived only evil; that is,
he has thought himself to be intending great benefit to the
world while all the time he has unconsciously embraced the
thought of Karma, and the great benefit he works for is for
himself. A man may refuse to allow himself to think of reward.
But in that very refusal is seen the fact that reward is desired.
And it is useless for the disciple to strive to learn by means
of checking himself. The soul must be unfettered, the desires
free. But until they are fixed only on that state wherein there
is neither reward nor punishment, good nor evil, it is in vain
that he endeavors. He may seem to make great progress, but
some day he will come face to face with his own soul, and will
recognize that when he came to the tree of knowledge he chose
the bitter fruit and not the sweet; and then the veil will
fall utterly, and he will give up his freedom and become a
slave of desire. Therefore be warned, you who are but turning
toward the life of occultism. Learn now that there is no cure
for desire, no cure for the love of reward, no cure for the
misery of longing, save in the fixing of the sight and hearing
upon that which is invisible and soundless. Begin even now
to practice it, and so a thousand serpents will be kept from
your path. Live in the eternal.
The
operations of the actual laws of Karma are not to be studied
until the disciple has reached the point at which they no longer
affect himself. The initiate has a right to demand the secrets
of nature and to know the rules which govern human life. He
obtains this right by having escaped from the limits of nature
and by having freed himself from the rules which govern human
life. He has become a recognized portion of the divine element,
and is no longer affected by that which is temporary. He then
obtains a knowledge of the laws which govern temporary conditions.
Therefore you who desire to understand the laws of Karma, attempt
first to free yourself from these laws; and this can only be
done by fixing your attention on that which is unaffected by
those laws.
Note
on Rule 1. - Ambition is the
first curse: the great tempter of the man who is rising above
his fellows. 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. But though this first rule
seems so simple and easy, do not quickly pass it by. For these
vices of the ordinary man pass through a subtle transformation
and reappear with changed aspect in the heart of the disciple.
It is easy to say, I will not be ambitious: it is not so easy
to say, when the Master reads my heart he will find it clean
utterly. The pure artist who works for the love of his work
is sometimes more firmly planted on the right road than the
occultist, who fancies he has removed his interest from self,
but who has in reality only enlarged the limits of experience
and desire, and transferred his interest to the things which
concern his larger span of life. The same principle applies
to the other two seemingly simple rules. Linger over them and
do not let yourself be easily deceived by your own heart. For
now, at the threshold, a mistake can be corrected. But carry
it on with you and it will grow and come to fruition, or else
you must suffer bitterly in its destruction.
Note
on Rule 5. - Do not fancy
you can stand aside from the bad man or the foolish man. They
are yourself, though in a less degree than your friend or your
master. But if you allow the idea of separateness from any
evil thing or person to grow up within you, by so doing you
create Karma, which will bind you to that thing or person till
your soul recognizes that it cannot be isolated. Remember that
the sin and shame of the world are your sin and shame; for
you are a part of it; your Karma is inextricably interwoven
with the great Karma. And before you can attain knowledge you
must have passed through all places, foul and clean alike.
Therefore, remember that the soiled garment you shrink from
touching may have been yours yesterday, may be yours tomorrow.
And if you turn with horror from it, when it is flung upon
your shoulders, it will cling the more closely to you. The
self-righteous man makes for himself a bed of mire. Abstain
because it is right to abstain - not that yourself shall be
kept clean.
Note
on Rule 17. - These four
words seem, perhaps, too slight to stand alone. The disciple
may say, Should I study these thoughts at all did I not seek
out the way? Yet do not pass on hastily. Pause and consider
awhile. Is it the way you desire, or is it that there is a
dim perspective in your visions of great heights to be scaled
by yourself, of a great future for you to compass? Be warned.
The way is to be sought for its own sake, not with regard to
your feet that shall tread it.
There
is a correspondence between this rule and the 17th of the 2nd
series. When after ages of struggle and many victories the
final battle is won, the final secret demanded, then you are
prepared for a further path. When the final secret of this
great lesson is told, in it is opened the mystery of the new
way -- a path which leads out of all human experience, and
which is utterly beyond human perception or imagination. At
each of these points it is needful to pause long and consider
well. At each of these points it is necessary to be sure that
the way is chosen for its own sake. The way and the truth come
first, then follows the life.
Note
on Rule 20. - Seek it by
testing all experience, and remember that when I say this I
do not say, Yield to the seductions of sense in order to know
it. Before you have become an occultist you may do this; but
not afterwards. When you have chosen and entered the path you
cannot yield to these seductions without shame. Yet you can
experience them without horror: can weigh, observe and test
them, and wait with the patience of confidence for the hour
when they shall affect you no longer. But do not condemn the
man that yields; stretch out your hand to him as a brother
pilgrim whose feet have become heavy with mire. Remember, O
disciple, that great though the gulf may be between the good
man and the sinner, it is greater between the good man and
the man who has attained knowledge; it is immeasurable between
the good man and the one on the threshold of divinity. Therefore
be wary lest too soon you fancy yourself a thing apart from
the mass. When you have found the beginning of the way the
star of your soul will show its light; and by that light you
will perceive how great is the darkness in which it burns.
Mind, heart, brain, all are obscure and dark until the first
great battle has been won. Be not appalled and terrified by
this sight; keep your eyes fixed on the small light and it
will grow. But let the darkness within help you to understand
the helplessness of those who have seen no light, whose souls
are in profound gloom. Blame them not, shrink not from them,
but try to lift a little of the heavy Karma of the world; give
your aid to the few strong hands that hold back the powers
of darkness from obtaining complete victory. Then do you enter
into a partnership of joy, which brings indeed terrible toil
and profound sadness, but also a great and ever-increasing
delight.
Note
on Rule 21. - The opening
of the bloom is the glorious moment when perception awakes:
with it comes confidence, knowledge, certainty. The pause of
the soul is the moment of wonder, and the next moment of satisfaction,
that is the silence.
Know,
O disciple, that those who have passed through the silence,
and felt its peace and retained its strength, they long that
you shall pass through it also. Therefore, in the Hall of Learning,
when he is capable of entering there, the disciple will always
find his master.
Those
that ask shall have. But though the ordinary man asks perpetually,
his voice is not heard. For he asks with his mind only; and
the voice of the mind is only heard on that plane on which
the mind acts. Therefore, not until the first twenty-one rules
are past do I say those that ask shall have.
To
read, in the occult sense, is to read with the eyes of the
spirit. To ask is to feel the hunger within - the yearning
of spiritual aspiration. To be able to read means having obtained
the power in a small degree of gratifying that hunger. When
the disciple is ready to learn, then he is accepted, acknowledged,
recognized. It must be so, for he has lit his lamp, and it
cannot be hidden. But to learn is impossible until the first
great battle has been won. The mind may recognize truth, but
the spirit cannot receive it. Once having passed through the
storm and attained the peace, it is then always possible to
learn, even though the disciple waver, hesitate, and turn aside.
The voice of the silence remains within him, and though he
leave the path utterly, yet one day it will resound and rend
him asunder and separate his passions from his divine possibilities.
Then with pain and desperate cries from the deserted lower
self he will return.
Therefore
I say, Peace be with you. My peace I give unto you can only
be said by the Master to the beloved disciples who are as himself.
There are some even among those who are ignorant of the Eastern
wisdom to whom this can be said, and to whom it can daily be
said with more completeness.
Regard
the three truths. They are equal.
Note
on Part II - To be able
to stand is to have confidence; to be able to hear is to have
opened the doors of the soul; to be able to see is to have
attained perception; to be able to speak is to have attained
the power of helping others; to have conquered desire is to
have learned how to use and control the self; to have attained
to self-knowledge is to have retreated to the inner fortress
from whence the personal man can be viewed with impartiality;
to have seen thy soul in its bloom is to have obtained a momentary
glimpse in thyself of the transfiguration which shall eventually
make thee more than man; to recognize is to achieve the great
task of gazing upon the blazing light without dropping the
eyes and not falling back in terror, as though before some
ghastly phantom. This happens to some, and so when the victory
is all but won it is lost; to hear the voice of the silence
is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance;
to go to the Hall of Learning is to enter the state in which
learning becomes possible. Then will many words be written
there for thee, and written in fiery letters for thee easily
to read. For when the disciple is ready the Master is ready
also.
Note
on Part II Rule 5. - Look for
it and listen to it first in your own heart. At first you may
say it is not there; when I search I find only discord. Look
deeper. If again you are disappointed, pause and look deeper
again. There is a natural melody, an obscure fount in every
human heart. It may be hidden over and utterly concealed and
silenced -- but it is there. At the very base of your nature
you will find faith, hope, and love. He that chooses evil refuses
to look within himself, shuts his ears to the melody of his
heart, as he blinds his eyes to the light of his soul. He does
this because he finds it easier to live in desires. But underneath
all life is the strong current that cannot be checked; the
great waters are there in reality. Find them, and you will
perceive that none, not the most wretched of creatures, but
is a part of it, however he blind himself to the fact and build
up for himself a phantasmal outer form of horror. In that sense
it is that I say to you -- All those beings among whom you
struggle on are fragments of the Divine. And so deceptive is
the illusion in which you live, that it is hard to guess where
you will first detect the sweet voice in the hearts of others.
But know that it is certainly within yourself. Look for it
there, and once having heard it, you will more readily recognize
it around you.
Note
on Part II Rule 10. - From an
absolutely impersonal point of view, otherwise your sight is
colored. Therefore impersonality must first be understood.
Intelligence
is impartial: no man is your enemy: no man is your friend.
All alike are your teachers. Your enemy becomes a mystery that
must be solved, even though it take ages: for man must be understood.
Your friend becomes a part of yourself, an extension of yourself,
a riddle hard to read. Only one thing is more difficult to
know -- your own heart. Not until the bonds of personality
are loosed, can that profound mystery of self begin to be seen.
Not till you stand aside from it will it in any way reveal
itself to your understanding. Then, and not till then, can
you grasp and guide it. Then, and not till then, can you use
all its powers, and devote them to a worthy service.
Note
on Part II Rule 13. - It is
impossible to help others till you have obtained some certainty
of your own. When you have learned the first 21 rules and have
entered the Hall of Learning with your powers developed and
sense unchained, then you will find there is a fount within
you from which speech will arise.
After
the 13th rule I can add no words to what is already written.
My
peace I give unto you.
These
notes are written only for those to whom I give my peace; those
who can read what I have written with the inner as well as
the outer sense.
| Authors
Details: Mable Collins |
|
