e may master his
double, the Guardian of the Threshold. But he has also met the "greater
guardian of the Threshold" who stands before him perpetually urging him to
further labors. It is this greater Guardian of the Threshold who now
becomes the ideal he must strive to resemble, and when the student has
acquired this feeling he will have risen to that important stage of
development in which he will be in a position to recognize who it is that
is really standing before him as that "greater Guardian." For henceforth,
in the student's consciousness, the Guardian is gradually transformed into
the figure of the Christ, whose Being and intervention in the evolution of
the earth have been dealt with in a foregoing chapter.

Thus the student, through his intuition, will have become initiated into
that sublime Mystery which is linked with the name of Christ. The Christ
reveals himself to him as the "Great Ideal of humanity on earth."

When in this manner through intuition, the Christ has been recognized in
the spiritual world, then we can also understand those events that took
place historically upon earth during the fourth post-Atlantean period (the
Greco-Roman time), and how at that time the great Sun-Spirit, the
Christ-Being, intervened in the world's development, and how He still
continues to guide its evolution. These are matters the student will then
know by personal experience. Therefore it is through intuition that the
meaning and significance of the earth's evolution are disclosed to the
occult student.

The path leading to cognition of the supersensible worlds as above
indicated, is one which all men may travel, whatever their position under
the present conditions of life may be. And in speaking of such a path it
must be borne in mind that, while the goal of cognition and truth is the
same at all times of the earth's development, yet the starting-point for
man has varied considerably at different periods. For instance, the man of
the present day who wishes to find his way into supersensible worlds,
cannot start from the same point as the Egyptian candidate for initiation
of old. This is why it is impossible for modern humanity to apply, without
modification, the exercises given to the candidate for initiation in
ancient Egypt. For since those times men's souls have passed through
different incarnations, and this passing onward from incarnation to
incarnation is not without significance and importance. The capacities an