so continually fall into blunders and mislead others with
whom they talk. I want to-night to draw a sharp and intelligible
division between psychism and spirituality; if possible, to explain
very clearly what each of them means; so that, thoroughly
understanding the meaning of the things, people may choose for
themselves which of the two they desire to evolve, or unfold, within
themselves. For if a person, desiring to unfold the spiritual nature,
uses the means which are only adapted for developing the psychic
nature, disappointment, possibly danger, will result; while, on the
other hand, if a person desires to develop the psychic nature, and
thinks that he will reach that development quickly by unfolding his
spiritual powers, he also is equally doomed to disappointment; but in
the second case, only to disappointment for a time. For while it is
not true that the great psychic is necessarily a spiritual person, it
is true that the great spiritual person is inevitably a psychic. All
the powers of Nature are subject to the Spirit, and hence, when a man
has truly unfolded his spiritual nature, there is nothing in the lower
world which is not open to him and obedient to his will. In that
sense, then, the man who follows the spiritual path will not
ultimately be disappointed if he is seeking psychic development, but
the very seeking for it will, on the spiritual path, act as a certain
barrier. I shall return to the point again presently, and show you in
what sense, and why, it is true that the development of the psychic
powers may hinder the unfolding of the spiritual.

Now, to distinguish clearly between the two, I will begin with two
brief definitions. They will be expanded naturally in the course of
the lecture, but I will define each of these two words in a single
sentence so as to make the definition clear and brief. Spirituality is
the Self-realisation of the One; psychism is the manifestation of the
powers of consciousness through organised matter. Each word of that
definition has its own value. We are far too apt, in our ordinary
thought and talking, to limit the words "psychical," "psychic," or
"psychism" in a quite illegitimate way, and the popular use of the
term is illegitimate. It is generally used amongst us to mean unusual
manifestations of the powers of consciousness, whereas, properly
speaking, the word ought to cover every outer manifestation of
consciousness, whether on the physical, on the astral, on the m