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At all events, on attaining the second degree, it then becomes essential that the advancing disciple should begin the acquirement in his physical consciousness of the manifold powers and faculties which belong to the Adept. For this purpose it is almost certain that he would in the life in which he was ripe to take the second initiation, be either incarnated from birth among THE, PROBATIONARY PATH. 45! Adepts, or be guided by destiny to enter into their companionship in physical life. ‘‘ Fetters,’ however, have still to be cast off by the “ Sakurtagami,”’ as the degree is designated according to a spelling with which I am more familiar than that employed by Max Miiller ; and it is not until the third stage is accomplished that the disciple has entered on the life in which he is expected to be able to take the great initiation which constitutes him an Arhat. To guard against a misunderstanding that would be fatal to the proper appreciation of the system I am describing, it is necessary here to remind readers familiar with certain frequently repeated statements in occult literature concerning the duration of the intervals between incarnate lives, that such statements relate to the normal progress of humanity along the majestic course of ordinary evolution. Once ‘‘ entered on the stream’’ new conditions come into play, and the physical lives required for the training of the disciple may follow in rapid and unbroken succession. Again, in order that the whole position may be properly appre- hended, it is necessary to explain that the course of initiation described so far is that which leads the aspirant directly up into the great ‘“‘ White I,odge,”’ as it is sometimes called—into close and immediate rela- tions with those spiritual beings more exalted in nature than even the full Adepts, who constitute what may be thought of as the governing hierarchy of this planet. There are other paths of occult initiation by which neophytes may be enabled to progress some distance along the avenues of advancement leading to power 452 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUT. and knowledge. Concerning some of these the less said the better, except for the consideration that to comprehend good aright it may be necessary to bear in mind the existence of evil. A resolute and sufficiently reckless determination may enable the aspirant to knowledge concerning, and power over, the occult forces of Nature, even to acquire considerable control of them, without fitting himself by moral development to use them for the good of humanity at large. Under the guidance of purely selfish motives, the neophyte who is unfortunate enough to be able to purchase help from corresponding Masters may get on to levels of knowledge and power corresponding to some of the stages of pro- gress described above as the four steps on the true path, This paper is not concerned to trace the ultimate Spiritual consequences of that sort of progress in what is technically called Black Magic; but the point to remember in this connexion is that a good deal of psychic and astral development going on in the world under the guidance of various old schools, or relatively modern societies, of occultism, is not necessarily Black Magic, though it may lie apart from the path of initia- tion leading directly upward to the White Lodge. There was a time when the White Lodge itself claimed progress in psychic development from its candidates as the first qualification for entrance on the path. That system prevailed during the Atlantean period. But with the great spiritual impulse imparted to the Fifth Race by its naturally appointed Teacher when his time came, a change was introduced under his direc- tion in the rules of initiation, and the ethical or moral THE PROBATIONARY PATH. 453 qualifications were taken first, in accordance with the scheme set forth in the earlier part of the present Statement. But, though the main, pre-eminent lodge of occultism which is welded with the spiritual hier- archy of Nature—the great White Lodge—was then reformed in its procedure, the various minor groups of occult initiates remained in attachment to the earlier’ method. Thus it does happen that persons may some- times be encountered who are distinguished by very considerable acquirements as regards psychic knowledge and power, without being equally remarkable exponents of the exalted moral attributes aimed at by the mere probationary disciple of the White Lodge. All that need be said about such persons is that until they acquire the moral attributes in question, and cast off the “ fetters’’ which impede the progress of the disciple through the final steps of initiation leading to Arhatship, they will nof be able to take the higher degrees, nor to put themselves on a level from which they are no longer in danger of falling away into the paths of Black Magic, with all its ultimate horrors. The precise nature of the acquirements which lead to actual Adeptship cannot, as I have already said, be dealt with on the physical plane of consciousness alone. It would be as reasonable to attempt a treatise on metaphysics in words of one syllable. Splendid as the modern achievements of the human mind in many directions may seem when they are compared with its conditions at ruder periods, they are merely concerned with one aspect of Nature, with one plane of conscious- 454 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUI.. ness, and the Adept has to concern himself with several. In terms of one plane it is impossible to describe the tasks of another. And this difficulty standing in our way before we even reach in imagination the Arhat level of progress, we are all the more debarred from attempting to analyse the functions and attributes ultimately exercised and acquired by some of the great Adepts who eventually enter into mysterious union with the fundamental laws of the cosmos, and become in a certain sense their expression—their radiant point, so to speak, through which the Divine idea thenceforth actually flows. Appreciating nothing more in this connexion than the broad principle that there is xo limit to the upward progress of humanity towards perfection and the infinitudes of wisdom, we may leave the subject at the threshold of mysteries it would be irreverent to handle at this stage of the world’s progress in a treatise designed for publication. Of one spiritual rank, higher even than that of the Arhat, it may, however, be possible to speak definitely, because it represents a condition of evolution which, stupendous as its significance may be, is nevertheless the theoretical goal of the whole human race in this Manvantara. All will certainly not attain it, and those who do so in the ordinary course of evolution will only reach it in the course of millions of ages and beyond an immeasur- able vista of lives, in reference to which on their own merits the doctrines of pessimistic philosophy would but too generally apply, but for everyone who may read these pages it is theoretically attainable. The rank in the hierarchy of Adeptship above that THE PROBATIONARY PATH. 455 of the Arhat, which we may now endeavour in some measure to comprehend, is attained by the Arhat, after what periods of effort and delay we need not now attempt to account for, when he casts off the final ‘fetter’? which impedes him at that stage. The fetter in question is simply ‘‘ avidya ’’—ignorance— and the use of the word in such a connexion may help to show how easily the terminology of the higher ‘“‘ Path”’ may be misunderstood. ‘“‘Ignorance’’ for most of us has a meaning derived from comparison of certain states of mind with ordinary nineteenth-century culture, taken as the standard of wisdom and knowledge. The “ignorance ”’ of the Adept is measured against absolute knowledge of all that concerns the system of evolution and the chain of planets to which he belongs. When he has at last—probably through: many protracted incarnations taken by his own will and choice—attained a complete mastery of all the wisdom and knowledge this scheme of evolution can afford, he is ready to pass on. When he is in a position to survey the whole process on which the human family is launched, from its beginning in the remote past to its conclusion in the almost immeasurably distant future; when all the natural laws and forces which play round it lie within his comprehension and grasp, whether they are opera- tive on the physical plane with its wonderful complexity of molecules and forces, or on those other planes invisible to ordinary sight which interpenetrate it or surround it and are more bewildering in their complexity still ; when all the myriad enigmas of good and evil, of sin and sorrow, and hope, are resolved into intelligible 456 THE GROWTH OF THE SOUL. meaning, and neither the earth below, nor the heavens above, nor life, nor death, hold any riddles from his understanding, the Adept is qualified to attain the final rank in the vast concatenation of progress we have been surveying, and is then known to initiates as “ Aseka.”’ It is by virtue of some appreciation, as far as it goes, of the place in Nature which the Aseka Adepts occupy, that their pupils, whether in a humble or advanced degree, entertain the assurance they always feel in reference to occult teachings definitely received from such a source. IRREGULAR PSYCHIC PROGRESS. 457 CHAPTER XVI. IRREGULAR PSYCHIC PROGRESS. NATURAL psychic faculties have been for a long time under observation one way or another, in the ordinary world, but this observation has been carried on in such an irregular, spasmodic, unscientific fashion that none of the many writers who have been concerned in the investigation have arrived at any satisfactory conclu- sion.