hich is nearest to our ignorant perceptions,
where we see it first after beginning the search.
When we assault and conquer it there it disappears.
It has only retreated to the next row of outworks
where for a time it appears not to our sight, and
we imagine it killed, while it is laughing at our
imaginary conquests and security. Soon again we
find it and conquer again, only to have it again
retreat. So we must follow it up if we wish to
grasp it at last in its final stand just near the "kernel
of the heart." There it has become "an iron bar
that holds down the heart," and there only can
the fight be really won. That disciple is fortunate
who is able to sink past all the pretended outer
citadels and seize at once this _personal devil_ who
holds the bar of iron, and there wage the battle.
If won there, it is easy to return to the outermost
places and take them by capitulation. This is very
difficult, for many reasons. It is not a mere juggle of
words to speak of this trial. It is a living tangible
thing that can be met by any real student. The
great difficulty of rushing at once to the centre lies
in the unimaginable terrors which assault the soul
on its short journey there. This being so it is better
to begin the battle on the outside in just the way
pointed out in this book and _Light on the Path_,
by testing experience and learning from it.

In the lines quoted the author attempts to direct
the eyes of a very materialistic age to the fact which
is an accepted one by all true students of occultism,
that the true heart of a man--which is visibly represented
by the muscular heart--is the focus point
for spirit, for knowledge, for power; and that from
that point the converged rays begin to spread out
fan-like, until they embrace the Universe. So it is
the Gate. And it is just at that neutral spot of
concentration that the pillars and the doors are fixed.
It is beyond it that the glorious golden light burns,
and throws up a "burnished glow." We find in
this the same teachings as in the Upanishads. The
latter speaks of "the ether which is within the
heart," and also says that we must pass across
that ether.

"The Meaning of Pain" is considered in a way
which throws a great light on the existence of that
which for ages has puzzled many learned men.
"Pain arouses, softens, breaks, and destroys. Regarded
from a sufficiently removed standpoint, it
appears as a medicine, as a knife, as a weapon, as a
poison, in turn