To Light a Thousand Lamps - The Theosophical Society

170 / TO LIGHT A THOUSAND LAMPS
replied: ‘‘One and one and one: I look only at the child or the
old man or woman I am tending; if I thought of the millions
and millions who need my help I could do nothing.’’
It seems to me that every human being has within him
the power to do what is required: privately and unnoticed to
follow the lead of his higher self. But we have to persevere
in this practice; above all, we have to trust unreservedly in
the potency of our inner light to illumine our lives. If each
one of us steadfastly heeds its guidance, in time we will become
an imbodiment of compassion, understanding, knowledge,
and helpfulness — and yet, paradoxically, we will
have achieved the greatest boon of all, we will have become
as ‘‘nothing in the eyes of the world.’’ In this manner will
we strengthen the light-impulses that are gaining in number
and momentum, and by so much fortify the compassionate
labors of those who work unceasingly for all nations and for
the unborn and who are, even now, readying the way for the
dawn of a brighter age.