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Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism32
led to the cultivation of the soil; through the adobe brick and the building
of houses therefrom; through the smelting of metals and the slow birth of
the arts which rest upon these; through the slow making of alphabets and
the evolution of the written word; in short, through thousands of centuries
of human life, of human aspiration, of human growth, sprang the world
of men and women as it stands before us and within us to-day with all its
achievements and possessions.”
Self-consciousness is a thing easy to comprehend, but difficult to define.
One writer has expressed it well when he says that without self-consciousness
a creature may know; but only by the aid of self-consciousness is it possible
for him to know that he knows.
And with this unfoldment of the intellect came the beginnings of all the
wonderful achievements of the human mind of to-day. But great as are
these achievements, these are as nothing to what is yet before the race.
From victory on to victory will the intellect progress. In its unfoldment, as
it begins to receive more and more light from the next highest principle,
the spiritual mind, it will achieve things as yet undreamed of. And yet, poor
mortal, remember, intellect is third from the highest in the scale on the
principles of man. There are two principles as much higher than intellect, as
intellect is higher than the principle below—instinctive mind. Do not make
a God of intellect; do not allow the pride of intellect to blind you.
The importance of the awakening of self-consciousness may be more
clearly recognized when we tell you that the occult doctrine is that once the
self-consciousness is awakened into being, once the “I” has been felt and
recognized, the real awakened life of the soul begins. We do not refer to
the life that comes after the spiritual awakening—that is a still higher stage—
but to the mental awakening of the soul to the “I” consciousness. This is the
stage where the baby ego first begins its waking existence. Previous to that
time it has slumbered on, alive but not conscious of itself, and now the time
of labor pains and birth is at hand. The soul has to meet new conditions,
and has many an obstacle to overcome before it reaches spiritual manhood.