the surface of the
external world. All that man's soul has become under the influence of this
force, may be discerned in the image revealing itself during the
experience just described. Those who have been sufficiently prepared for
this experience will, when thus confronted, be able to assign to it its
true meaning, and then another form will soon become visible--one we may
describe as the "greater Guardian of the Threshold." This one will tell
the student not to rest content with the stage to which he has attained,
but to work on energetically. It will call forth in him the consciousness
that the world he has conquered will only become a truth, and not an
illusion, if the work thus begun be continued in a corresponding manner.
Those, however, who have gone through incorrect occult training and would
approach this meeting unprepared, would then experience something in their
souls when they come to the "greater Guardian of the Threshold," which can
only be described as a "feeling of inexpressible fright", of "boundless
fear."

Just as the meeting with the "lesser Guardian" gives the occult student
the opportunity of judging whether or not he is proof against delusions
such as might arise through interweaving his own personality with the
supersensible world, so too must he be able to prove from the experiences
which finally lead to the "greater Guardian," whether he is able to
withstand those illusions which are to be traced to the second source
mentioned farther back in this chapter. Should he be proof against the
powerful illusion by which the world of images to which he has attained,
is falsely displayed to him as a rich possession, when actually he is only
a captive, then he is guarded also against the danger of mistaking
appearance for reality during the further course of his development.

To a certain degree the Guardian of the Threshold will assume a different
form in the case of each individual. The meeting with him corresponds
exactly to the way in which the personal element in supersensible
observations is overcome, and therefore the possibility exists of entering
a realm of experience which is free from any tinge of personality and is
open to every human being.

-------------------------------------

When the occult student has passed through the above experiences, he will
be capable of distinguishing in the psycho-spiritual world between what he
himself is and what is outside of him, and h