hance,
caprice, nor under protest, but even as they were in Greece, as an
offering of Love on the altar of divine man-womanhood, with a song of joy
to heaven.

Prof. Fiske somewhere said, "The evolution of man by Natural Selection
draws near its close, to be followed by that of Divine Selection."

The Divinity _in_ man is _Christos_, the "son of the Father," the Divine
and Eternal _Avatar_.

Belief is rather a superficial process, the intellect ("mortal mind")
mingled with the emotions, changing and evanescent. "Now you see it, and
now you don't." It is mingled with hope that alternates with fear and
doubt.

Faith, when once analyzed and apprehended, is another thing entirely,
though nearly every one, and most writers, confuse "belief" and "faith."

"Faith is the soul's _intuitive conviction_ of that which both _Reason_
and _Conscience_ approve."

Genuine faith rarely wavers or changes, because it is an evolution, a
"growth of the soul," a spiritual experience, and it becomes the "dominant
chord" in the symphony of life, determining Harmony.

It is in this deliberate and discriminative sense that I have used the
term _conviction_ in relation to the Master and his "Great Work." He never
dogmatizes, nor undertakes to "indoctrinate."

In answer to a question on some deep and perplexing problem of the soul or
of the spiritual plane, he replies, "So far as we _know_, it is so and
so." "A new experience, or an added light, may alter our conclusion."

The average individual scarcely realizes what absolute sincerity, with no
motive save Love of Truth, and beneficence to man guided by clear
intelligence, and dominated by the rational Will, means, or can
accomplish.

These are the natural powers of the human soul. There is nothing
mysterious or miraculous about them, more than in the art of music of a
Beethoven or a Paganini, or in gymnastics and the winner of the Marathon.

"To _shape_ and _use_, arise and fly,
The reeling Faun, the sensual feast,
Move upward, working out the beast,
And let the ape and tiger die."

My _conviction_ is strong, and my Faith unwavering.

"The great and peaceful ones live, regenerating the world like the coming
of spring: and having themselves crossed the ocean of embodied existence,
help those who try to do the same thing without personal motive." ("Crest
Jewel of Wisdom.")

CHAPTER XVI

THE NEW AVATAR