14 If you would ask me what to study I would say, yourselfs; and when you well had studied them, and then would ask me what to study next, I would reply, yourselfs. 15 He who knows well his lower self, knows the illusions of the world, knows of the things that pass away; and he who knows his higher self, knows God; knows well the things that cannot pass away. 16 Thrice blessed is the man who has made purity and love his very own; he has been ransomed from the perils of the lower self and is himself his higher self. 17 Men seek salvation from an evil that they deem a living monster of the nether world; and they have gods that are but demons in disguise; all powerful, yet full of jealousy and hate and lust; 18 Whose favors must be bought with costly sacrifice of fruits, and of the lives of birds, and animals, and human kind. 19 And yet these gods possess no ears to hear, no eyes to see, no heart to sympathize, no power to save. 20 This evil is a myth; these gods are made of air, and clothed with shadows of a thought. 21 The only devil from which men must be redeemed is self, the lower self. If man would find his devil he must look within; his name is self. 22 If man would find his savior he must look within; and when the demon self has been dethroned the savior, Love, will be exalted to the throne of power. 23 The David of the light is Purity, who slays the strong Goliath of the dark, and seats the savior, Love, upon the throne. CHAPTER 9. _Salome’s lessons. The man and the woman. Philosophy of human moods. The triune God. The Septonate. The God Tao._ Salome taught the lesson of the day. She said, All times are not alike. Today the words of man may have the greatest power; tomorrow women teaches best. 2 In all the ways of life the man and woman should walk hand in hand; the one without the other is but half; each has a work to do. 3 But all things teach; each has a time and season for its own. The sun, the moon have lessons of their own for men; but each one teaches at the appointed time. 4 The lessons of the sun fall down on human hearts like withered leaves upon a stream, if given in the season of the moon; and so with lessons of the moon and all the stars. 5 Today one walks in gloom, downhearted and oppressed; tomorrow that same one is filled with joy. 6 Today the heavens seem full of blessedness and hope; tomorrow hope has fled, and every plan and purpose comes to naught. 7 Today one wants to curse the very ground on which he treads; tomorrow he is full of love and praise. 8 Today one hates and scorns and envies and is jealous of the child he loves; tomorrow he has risen above his carnal self, and breathes forth gladness and good will. 9 A thousand times men wonder why these heights and depths, these light hearts and these sad, are found in every life. 10 They do not know that there are teachers everywhere, each busy with a God-appointed task, and driving home to human hearts the truth.