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80 THE PATH OF LOVE
For example, if an ordinary man looks down from the
heights of the Empire State Building in New York on to the
streets below, he sees crowds of human beings looking as
insignificant as a multitude of ants, mechanically moving hither
and thither. In order to be able to attach due value to the antlike
masses of his fellow-beings, as they appear from these
heights, he must necessarily come down amongst them.
Similarly, those on the higher planes of the Subtle Sphere are apt
to consider the Gross Sphere and all its activities as equally
insignificant as that of the ants. Now, when a man happens to
see a swarm of ants as feverishly busy as any crowd of human
beings in a city Stock Exchange, he is not as a rule inclined to
give them any serious consideration. But if by chance any of the
ants happen to bite him, his reaction may take the turn of either
forbearance or revenge. It might even tempt him to crush most
of the ants if not all.
This illustration is only one aspect of the misuses of power.
The Fourth Plane is the greatest hurdle of the spiritual Path, the
crucial stage of the pilgrim’s journey, where all is gained or lost.
Great as are the powers at his command, greater are the temptations
to use them for his own gratification, to exhibit these powers
for the sake of display, for name, power, fame. For the ego,
fearing complete defeat, rises to its highest, prodding and luring
the pilgrim on to make selfish use of the powers lent to him.
This lone fight with the hydra-headed ego is depicted in the
paintings of the life of Buddha, and is known as the “dark night
of the soul.”
The pilgrim on the Fourth Plane is permitted, however,
to make use of his powers for purely unselfish motives, with no