rtance. But one should
observe minutely everything which one experiences while
practicing,--experiences which are so fundamentally different from those of
the sense-world. We shall then become aware that we cannot work upon our
astral body as though it were some indifferent substance; but that in it
there lives a totally different world of which the life of our senses does
not inform us.

Higher entities act upon the astral body in the same way in which the
world of the physical senses acts upon the physical body, and we "come
upon" that higher life in our own astral body, provided only we do not
shut ourselves out from it. If we are perpetually saying: "I am aware of
nothing," then it is generally the case that we imagined that these
experiences should appear thus and so; and because we do not see what we
imagined we should see, we say, "I can see nothing."

However, he who is able to acquire the right attitude of mind with regard
to his practice during training, will find more and more that he has
something which he loves for its own sake and which, as an immeasurably
important vital function, he can no longer do without. He will then know
that through these very practices he is standing in the psycho-spiritual
world and will await with patience and resignation what may further
transpire. This attitude of mind of the student may best be expressed in
such words as these: "I _will_ do all the exercises which have been
assigned to me; for I know that in the fullness of time as much will come
to me as I should receive; I do not ask for it impatiently, but I prepare
myself to receive it." On the other hand one should not raise the
objection: The occult student, then, is expected perhaps for a long time
to feel around in the dark, because he cannot know that he is on the right
path with his exercises, before he obtains results. It is not true,
however, that he must wait until the results prove to him the correctness
of the exercises. If the attitude of the student is right, then the
satisfaction which he experiences in the practice of these exercises, in
itself carries the conviction that he is doing the right thing, and he
does not need to wait for results to prove it. The correct practice of
exercises in occult training brings with it a satisfaction that is not
merely satisfaction, but conviction--the conviction that I am doing
something which shows me that it is leading me forward in the right
direction. Every occult st