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A Treatise on White Magic - Rule Seven - The two Paths
It is interesting to note the occult sequence in the description given of this plane in the rule under consideration. It is first of all the plane of dual forces. The first thing the aspirant becomes aware of is duality. The little evolved man is aware of synthesis, but it is the synthesis of his material nature. The highly spiritual man is aware also of synthesis but it is that in his soul, whose consciousness is that of unity. But in between is the wretched aspirant, conscious of duality above all else and pulled hither and thither between the two. His first step has, for its objective, to make him aware of the pairs of opposites and of the necessity to choose between them. Through the light, which he has discovered in himself, he becomes aware of the dark. Through the good which attracts him, he sees the evil which is for him the line of least resistance. Through the activity of pain, he can visualize and become aware of pleasure, and heaven and hell become to him realities. Through the activity of the attractive life of his soul, he realizes the attraction of matter and of form, and is forced to recognize the urge and pull of both of them. He learns to feel himself as "pendant 'twixt the two great forces", and, once the dualities are grasped, it dawns on him slowly and surely that the deciding factor in the struggle is his divine will, in contradistinction to his selfish will. [229] Thus the dual forces play their part until they are seen as two great streams of divine energy, pulling in opposite directions, and he becomes then aware of the two paths, mentioned in our rule. One path leads back into the dreary land of rebirth, and the other leads through the golden gate to the city of free souls. One is therefore involutionary and involves him in deepest matter; the other leads him out of the body nature, and makes him eventually aware of his spiritual body, through which he can function in the kingdom of the soul. One path, later on (when he is a true and pledged chela) is known to him as the left hand path and the other the path of right activity. On one path, he becomes proficient in black magic, which is only the developed powers of the personality, subordinated to the selfish purposes of a man whose motives are those of self interest and worldly ambition. These confine him to the three worlds and shut the door which opens on to life. On the other path, he subordinates his personality and exercises the magic of the White Brotherhood, working always in the light of the soul with the soul in all forms, and laying no emphasis upon the ambitions of the personal self. Clear discrimination of these two paths reveals what is called in some occult books that "narrow razor-edged Path" which lies between the two. This is the "noble middle Path" of the Buddha and marks the fine line of demarcation between the pairs of opposites, and between the two streams which he has learnt to recognize - one going up unto the gates of heaven, and the other passing down into the nethermost hell.
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