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Advanced Course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism258
17. Seek out the way.
18. Seek the way by retreating within.
19. Seek the way advancing boldly without.
Here is another example of the relative and the absolute. “Desire power
ardently.” And yet power, selfish power, is the greatest curse of the man who
possess it. The power of the Spirit, which is “the power which the disciples
shall covet,” may indeed make him “appear as nothing in the eyes of men”
who are striving after material power. For it is the conscious power of which
the average man knows nothing—of which he is unable to form a mental
image. And he is very apt to regard as a fool the man who possesses it, or
who is reaching out for it. The power which is applied to unselfish uses is
incomprehensible to the average man who seeks for worldly power—and
yet that worldly power, and all that it is capable of accomplishing, will
crumble before the flame of time, as a sheet of tissue before the match,
and will be in ashes in the twinkling of an eye, while the real power of
spiritual attainment grows stronger and mightier as the ages roll by. The
one is the substance—the other the shadow—and yet the world reverses
their position because of its imperfect vision. Do not make the mistake of
translating this sixteenth precept as meaning that the student should seek
to “appear as nothing in the eyes of men.” This is not the meaning—the
student should avoid seeking to “appear” as anything in the eyes of man,
whether that anything be everything or nothing. Let the appearances go—
they belong to the world of shadows and the true student has naught to do
with them. Let the world attend to its own “appearances”—let it amuse itself
with its childish toys, and soap bubbles. Do not seek to “appear”—let the
world attend to that, it will amuse the world, and will not hurt you. We say
this because some have translated this precept as if it were an incentive to
assumed humility which is akin to the “humbleness” of Uriah Heep. As if to
“appear” as nothing were some particular virtue! The precept really means
to point out the only power worth seeking, and at the same time to show