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Lesson II: More Light on the Path.253
entity outside of yourself—the temptings of a personal Devil. In time you
will outgrow these things, their places being filled with something better and
more worthy. But in the meantime, view them as you would the instinctive
desire to perform some trick of childhood, which while once natural is now
unnatural and undesirable. Many grown persons have had much trouble
in getting rid of the old baby trick of sucking the thumb, or twisting a lock
of hair between the fingers, which while considered as quite “cute” in the
baby days, nevertheless brought upon the growing child many reproaches
and punishments, and in after years, often required the exercise of the will
of the adult to cast it aside as an undesirable thing. Let us so view these
symptoms of the baby-days of our soul-life, and let us get rid of them by
understanding them, their nature, history, and meaning, instead of fearing
them as the “work of the Devil.” There is no Devil but Ignorance and Fear.
The seventh precept tells us to “Kill out desire for growth,” and yet the
eighth advises us to grow—“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.”
The writer of the above words has made so plain the meaning of this twofold
statement of truth, that very little comment upon the same is needed,
even for those just entering upon the Path. The distinction between the
“desire for growth,” and the unfoldment that comes to the advancing soul
lies in the motive. “Desire for growth,” in the relative sense, means desire for
growth for self-glorification—a subtle form of vanity—and a refined form
of selfish ambition. And this desire, as applied to spiritual, tends toward
what occultists know as “black magic,” which consists of a desire for spiritual
power to use for selfish ends, or even for the mere sense of power that such
development brings. The student of occultism cannot be warned too often
against such desires and practices—it is the dark side of the picture, and