The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7.: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.Various
Religion
The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7.: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.
Various
Theosophy -- Periodicals
—Know, O student of wisdom! that the body, which is the kingdom of the
heart, resembles a great city. The hand, the foot, the mouth and the
other members resemble the people of the various trades. Desire is
a standard bearer; anger is a superintendent of the city, the heart
is its sovereign, and reason is the vizier. The sovereign needs the
service of all the inhabitants. But desire, the standard bearer, is
a liar, vain and ambitious. He is always ready to do the contrary
of what reason, the vizier, commands. He strives to appropriate to
himself whatever he sees in the city, which is the body. Anger, the
superintendent, is rebellious and corrupt, quick and passionate. He
is always ready to be enraged, to spill blood, and to blast one’s
reputation. If the sovereign, the heart, should invariably consult
with reason, his vizier, and, when desire was transgressing, should
give to wrath to have power over him (yet, without giving him full
liberty, should make him angry in subjection to reason, the vizier, so
that passing all bounds he should not stretch out his hand upon the
kingdom), there would then be an equilibrium in the condition of the
kingdom, and all the members would perform the functions for which they
were created, their service would be accepted at the mercy seat, and
they would obtain eternal felicity.
The dignity of the heart is of two kinds; one is by means of knowledge,
and the other through the exertion of divine power. Its dignity
by means of knowledge is also of two kinds. The first is external
knowledge, which everyone understands: the second kind is veiled and
cannot be understood by all, and is extremely precious.
—In the second, by the power of thought, the soul passes from the abyss
to the highest heaven, and from the East to the West.
The most wonderful thing of all is, that there is a window in the heart
from whence it surveys the world. This is called the invisible world,
the world of intelligence, or the spiritual world.
—The heart resembles a pure mirror, you must know, in this particular,
that when a man falls asleep, when his senses are closed, and when
the heart, free and pure from blamable affections, is confronted with
the preserved tablet, then the tablet reflects upon the heart the
real states and hidden forms inscribed upon it. In that state the
heart sees most wonderful forms and combinations. But when the heart
is not free from impurity, or when, on waking, it busies itself with
things of sense, the side towards the tablet will be obscured, and it
can view nothing. For, although in sleep the senses are blunted, the
image-making faculty is not, but preserves the forms reflected upon the
mirror of the heart.
—In death, the senses are completely separated and the veil of the
body is removed, the heart can contemplate the invisible world and its
hidden mysteries, without a veil, just as lightning or the celestial
rays impress the external eye.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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