voluntary self-awakening. Such a person will become
conscious of a change affecting his entire being; his soul's experiences
will have been enriched beyond measure and he will find that no
experiences of the sense-world can bring him such spiritual happiness,
such soul satisfaction and inner warmth as that which now opens up to him,
which no physical eye can see and no hand can touch. From the spiritual
world strength and a sense of security in all situations in life, will
flow into his will. There are instances of such self-initiation; but they
should not give rise to the idea that the only right course is to wait for
the coming of such self-initiation, and to do nothing toward bringing
about initiation through regular training. We need not here give further
space to the subject of self-initiation, since it may take place without
regard to rules of any kind whatsoever.

What we have to consider is how by training, one may develop those organs
of perception, lying dormant in the Soul. Those who do not feel themselves
especially impelled toward doing something for their own development may
easily say that man stands under the guidance of spiritual powers, that
such guidance should therefore not be interfered with, and that the
moment, deemed by those powers to be the right one for revealing another
world to the soul, should be awaited in patience. Indeed, persons who are
of this opinion are inclined to consider it a kind of presumption, or
unjustifiable desire for any one to interfere with the wisdom of such
spiritual guidance.

Those who think in this way will only change their opinion if some other
mode of presenting the case makes a sufficiently strong impression upon
them. If they were to say to themselves, "This wise guidance has endowed
me with certain faculties, and it has done so, not that I should let them
lie idle, but rather that I should use them. Indeed, the very wisdom of
such guidance lies in the fact of its having placed in me the rudiments of
those organs necessary for a higher state of consciousness. I can,
therefore, rightly comprehend this guidance only when I regard it as my
duty to do everything in my power that may serve to bring such rudimentary
growths to their proper development." Should such thoughts make a
sufficiently strong impression on the mind, scruples against training for
the attainment of higher consciousness will disappear.

There is, it is true, another scruple which may arise in th