Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
1At the very first step the student takes into the hidden pathway of Nature’s mysteries, he is met face to face with this startling fact, that all his preconceptions, all his education, all his accumulation of materialistic wisdom are unable to account for the most simple phe¬ nomena that transpire in the action and inter-action of the life forces of the planet on which he lives. As a chemist, he may pursue the atoms of force until they become lost within the realms of the im¬ ponderable, “the great unknown,” or, as it has been facetiously chris¬ tened amid the groans of scientific travail, “the aching void.” But he can get no farther. As a physicist, he may decompose light and sound into their component parts, and, with scientific accuracy, dissect them before your very eyes as a surgeon would his anatomical subject. But no sooner is this point reached, than the shy molecules and timid vibrations become alarmed as it were at man’s daring presumption, and fly into the realm of the infinite unknown. There, in “the aching void” to sport in delight, safe from man’s intrusion. This realm of the un¬ known imponderables is the universal ether, an infinite ocean of something, which science created in her frantic endeavors to account for the material phenomena of light and heat, and for a time she was infinitely pleased with her own peculiar offspring. But it has become a restless phantom, a grim, unlovely spectre, which haunts the labora¬ tories of her parent, night and day, until at last science has become frightened at her own child, and tries now in vain to slay the ghost of her own creation. She dares not enter the “aching void” she has called into existence, and there pursue and recapture the truant atoms and timid vibrations of this sublunary sphere.
2Therefore, at the very outset of his pilgrimage through these vast and as yet “scientifically unknown” regions, the student had better unload, so to say, all the heavy and useless baggage of educated opinion and scientific dogmas that he may have on board. If he does not, he will find himself top heavy, and will either capsize or run off the track and be buried amid the debris of conflicting opinions. The 2 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT only equipment that will be found useful, and will repay the cost of transportation, is an unbiased mind, logical reasoning, genuine common sense, and a calm, reflective brain. Anything else for the voyage upon which we are now about to embark, is simply so much useless, costly lumber. Hence, so far as modem science and theology are concerned, the less the student has, the better it is for him, unless he can use his scientific acquirements merely as aids in climbing the spiritual steps of Occultism. If he can do this, then he will find science a most valu¬ able auxiliary aid. But this achievement is an exceedingly rare gift, and one that is seldom found. It is also a most delusive snare, because nine out of every ten seriously cheat themselves into the belief that they possess, this ability, whereas in reality they are woefully deficient. Hence it is always a safe course to mistrust the absolute impartiality of our opinions and reasoning.
3Before starting out on such a mighty and important undertaking, we must draw the reader’s attention to the chief obstacle of the voyage, and the one which he will have the greatest difficulty in surmounting. This hidden rock upon which so many otherwise profound students of the Occult have become shipwrecked, is the non-realization of the duality of truth, viz., the truth of appearances, and the truth of realities. The former is relative only. But the latter is absolute. We do not mean merely taking for granted that truth is dual, and so assenting to the statement; but we mean that the great majority of Occult students fail to realize this conception within themselves. Know that; every thing is real upon its plain of manifestation.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1At the very first step the student takes into the hidden pathway of Nature’s mysteries, he is met face to face with this startling fact, that all his preconceptions, all his education, all his accumulation of materialistic wisdom are unable to account for the most simple phe¬ nomena that transpire in the action and inter-action of the life forces of the planet on which he lives. As a chemist, he may pursue the atoms of force until they become lost within the realms of the im¬ ponderable, “the great unknown,” or, as it has been facetiously chris¬ tened amid the groans of scientific travail, “the aching void.” But he can get no farther. As a physicist, he may decompose light and sound into their component parts, and, with scientific accuracy, dissect them before your very eyes as a surgeon would his anatomical subject. But no sooner is this point reached, than the shy molecules and timid vibrations become alarmed as it were at man’s daring presumption, and fly into the realm of the infinite unknown. There, in “the aching void” to sport in delight, safe from man’s intrusion. This realm of the un¬ known imponderables is the universal ether, an infinite ocean of something, which science created in her frantic endeavors to account for the material phenomena of light and heat, and for a time she was infinitely pleased with her own peculiar offspring. But it has become a restless phantom, a grim, unlovely spectre, which haunts the labora¬ tories of her parent, night and day, until at last science has become frightened at her own child, and tries now in vain to slay the ghost of her own creation. She dares not enter the “aching void” she has called into existence, and there pursue and recapture the truant atoms and timid vibrations of this sublunary sphere.
2Therefore, at the very outset of his pilgrimage through these vast and as yet “scientifically unknown” regions, the student had better unload, so to say, all the heavy and useless baggage of educated opinion and scientific dogmas that he may have on board. If he does not, he will find himself top heavy, and will either capsize or run off the track and be buried amid the debris of conflicting opinions. The 2 THE LIGHT OF EGYPT only equipment that will be found useful, and will repay the cost of transportation, is an unbiased mind, logical reasoning, genuine common sense, and a calm, reflective brain. Anything else for the voyage upon which we are now about to embark, is simply so much useless, costly lumber. Hence, so far as modem science and theology are concerned, the less the student has, the better it is for him, unless he can use his scientific acquirements merely as aids in climbing the spiritual steps of Occultism. If he can do this, then he will find science a most valu¬ able auxiliary aid. But this achievement is an exceedingly rare gift, and one that is seldom found. It is also a most delusive snare, because nine out of every ten seriously cheat themselves into the belief that they possess, this ability, whereas in reality they are woefully deficient. Hence it is always a safe course to mistrust the absolute impartiality of our opinions and reasoning.
3Before starting out on such a mighty and important undertaking, we must draw the reader’s attention to the chief obstacle of the voyage, and the one which he will have the greatest difficulty in surmounting. This hidden rock upon which so many otherwise profound students of the Occult have become shipwrecked, is the non-realization of the duality of truth, viz., the truth of appearances, and the truth of realities. The former is relative only. But the latter is absolute. We do not mean merely taking for granted that truth is dual, and so assenting to the statement; but we mean that the great majority of Occult students fail to realize this conception within themselves. Know that; every thing is real upon its plain of manifestation.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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