s to be looked for beyond
the Gates. But only those who desire to go
that way read the meaning hidden within the
words. Scholars, or rather scholiasts, read the
sacred books of different nations, the poetry
and the philosophy left by enlightened minds,
and find in it all the merest materiality.
Imagination glorifying legends of nature, or
exaggerating the psychic possibilities of man,
explains to them all that they find in the Bibles
of humanity.

What is to be found within the words of
those books is to be found in each one of us;
and it is impossible to find in literature or
through any channel of thought that which
does not exist in the man who studies. This
is of course an evident fact known to all real
students. But it has to be especially remembered
in reference to this profound and obscure
subject, as men so readily believe that nothing
can exist for others where they themselves find
emptiness.

One thing is soon perceived by the man
who reads: those who have gone before have
not found that the Gates of Gold lead to
oblivion. On the contrary, sensation becomes
real for the first time when that threshold is
crossed. But it is of a new order, an order
unknown to us now, and by us impossible to
appreciate without at least some clew as to its
character. This clew can be obtained undoubtedly
by any student who cares to go through
all the literature accessible to us. That mystic
books and manuscripts exist, but remain inaccessible
simply because there is no man ready
to read the first page of any one of them,
becomes the conviction of all who have studied
the subject sufficiently. For there must be the
continuous line all through: we see it go from
dense ignorance up to intelligence and wisdom;
it is only natural that it should go on to
intuitive knowledge and to inspiration. Some
scant fragments we have of these great gifts
of man; where, then, is the whole of which
they must be a part? Hidden behind the thin
yet seemingly impassable veil which hides it
from us as it hid all science, all art, all powers
of man till he had the courage to tear away
the screen. That courage comes only of conviction.
When once man believes that the thing
exists which he desires, he will obtain it at any
cost. The difficulty in this case lies in man's
incredulity. It requires a great tide of thought
and attention to set in towards the unknown
region of man's nature in order that its gates
may be unlocked and its gloriou