nd therefore as we _will_ our thoughts to be so we
_will_ the thing to be. If, then, we will to use the Infinite Spirit as
a spirit of guidance, we shall find that the fact is as we have willed
it; and in doing this we are still making use of our own supreme
principle. And this is the true "understanding" which, by placing all
the other powers in their correct order, creates one grand unity of
power directed to clearly defined and worthy aims, in place of the
dispersion of our powers, by which they only neutralise each other and
effect nothing.

This is that Spirit of Truth which shall guide us into all Truth. It is
the sincere Desire of us reaching out after Truth. Truth first and Power
afterwards is the reasonable order, which we cannot invert without
injury to ourselves and others; but if we follow this order we shall
always find scope for our powers in developing into present realities
the continually growing glory of our vision of the ideal.

The ideal is the true real, but it must be brought into manifestation
before it can be shown to be so, and it is in this that the _practical_
nature of our mental studies consists. It is the _practical_ mystic who
is the man of power; the man who, realising the mystical powers within,
fits his outward action to this knowledge, and so shows his faith by his
works; and assuredly the first step is to make use of that power of
infallible guidance which he can call to his aid simply by desiring to
be led by it.

VIII

DESIRE AS THE MOTIVE POWER

There are certain Oriental schools of thought, together with various
Western offshoots from them, which are entirely founded on the principle
of annihilating all desire. Reach that point at which you have no wish
for anything and you will find yourself free, is the sum and substance
of their teaching; and in support of this they put forward a great deal
of very specious argument, which is all the more likely to entangle the
unwary, because it contains a recognition of many of the profoundest
truths of Nature. But we must bear in mind that it is possible to have a
very deep knowledge of psychological facts, and at the same time vitiate
the results of our knowledge by an entirely wrong assumption in regard
to the law which binds these facts together in the universal system; and
the injurious results of misapprehension upon such a vital question are
so radical and far-reaching that we cannot too forcibly urge the
necessity of cle