sects
have foundered, and the reason why they have degenerated into degrading
superstitions. The Western monks and the Eastern Yogees, who think they
will reach the apex of powers by concentrating their thought on their
navel, or by standing on one leg, are practicing exercises which serve
no other purpose than to strengthen the willpower, which is sometimes
applied to the basest purposes. These are examples of this one-sided
and dwarf development. It is no use to fast as long as you require
food. The ceasing of desire for food without impairment of health is
the sign which indicates that it should be taken in lesser and ever
decreasing quantities until the extreme limit compatible with life is
reached. A stage will be finally attained where only water will be
required.

Nor is it of any use for this particular purpose of longevity to abstain
from immorality so long as you are craving for it in your heart; and so
on with all other unsatisfied inward cravings. To get rid of the inward
desire is the essential thing, and to mimic the real thing without it is
barefaced hypocrisy and useless slavery.

So it must be with the moral purification of the heart. The "basest"
inclinations must go first--then the others. First avarice, then fear,
then envy, worldly pride, uncharitableness, hatred; last of all
ambition and curiosity must be abandoned successively. The
strengthening of the more ethereal and so-called "spiritual" parts of
the man must go on at the same time. Reasoning from the known to the
unknown, meditation must be practiced and encouraged. Meditation is the
inexpressible yearning of the inner Man to "go out towards the
infinite," which in the olden time was the real meaning of adoration,
but which has now no synonym in the European languages, because the
thing no longer exists in the West, and its name has been vulgarized to
the make-believe shams known as prayer, glorification, and repentance.
Through all stages of training the equilibrium of the consciousness--the
assurance that all must be right in the Kosmos, and therefore with you a
portion of it--must be retained. The process of life must not be hurried
but retarded, if possible; to do otherwise may do good to others--
perhaps even to yourself in other spheres, but it will hasten your
dissolution in this.

Nor must the externals be neglected in this first stage. Remember that
an adept, though "existing" so as to convey to ordinary minds the id