Above Lifes Turmoil | Page 4

proceed from some or all of the ten qualities,
he truly and wisely acts and so preserves his soul.
He who lives largely in the ten earthly elements, and who is blind and
deaf to the spiritual verities, will find no attraction in the doctrine of
self-surrender, for it will appear to him as the complete extinction of
his being; but he who is endeavouring to live in the ten heavenly
qualities will see the glory and beauty of the doctrine, and will know it
as the foundation of Life Eternal. He will also see that when men
apprehend and practise it, industry, commerce, government, and every

worldly activity will be purified; and action, purpose and intelligence,
instead of being destroyed, will be intensified and enlarged, but freed
from strife and pain.
The Uses of Temptation
The soul, in its journey towards perfection, passes through three
distinct stages. The first is the animal stage, in which the man is content
to live, in the gratification of his senses, unawakened to the knowledge
of sin, or of his divine inheritance, and altogether unconscious of the
spiritual possibilities within himself.
The second is the dual stage, in which the mind is continually
oscillating between its animal and divine tendencies having become
awakened to the consciousness of both. It is during this stage that
temptation plays its part in the progress of the soul. It is a stage of
continual fighting, of falling and rising, of sinning and repenting, for
the man, still loving, and reluctant to leave, the gratifications in which
he has so long lived, yet also aspires to the purity and excellence of the
spiritual state, and he is continually mortified by an undecided choice.
Urged on by the divine life within him, this stage becomes at last one
of deep anguish and suffering, and then the soul is ushered into the
third stage, that of knowledge , in which the man rises above both sin
and temptation, and enters into peace.
Temptation, like contentment in sin, is not a lasting condition,as the
majority of people suppose; it is a passing phase, an experience through
which the soul must pass; but as to whether a man will pass through
that condition in this present life, and realise holiness and heavenly rest
here and now, will depend entirely upon the strength of his intellectual
and spiritual exertions, and upon the intensity and ardour with which he
searches for Truth.
Temptation, with all its attendant torments can be overcome here and
now, but it can only be overcome by knowledge. It is a condition of
darkness or of semi-darkness. The fully enlightened soul is proof
against all temptation. When a man fully understands the source, nature,

and meaning of temptation, in that hour he will conquer it, and will rest
from his long travail; but whilst he remains in ignorance, attention to
religious observances, and much praying and reading of Scripture will
fail to bring him peace.
If a man goes out to conquer an enemy, knowing nothing of his
enemy's strength, tactics, or place of ambush, he will not only
ignominiously fail, but will speedily fall into the hands of the enemy.
He who would overcome his enemy the tempter, must discover his
stronghold and place of concealment, and must also find out the
unguarded gates in his own fortress where his enemy effects so easy an
entrance. This necessitates continual meditation, ceaseless watchfulness,
and constant and rigid introspection which lays bare, before the
spiritual eyes of the tempted one, the vain and selfish motives of his
soul. This is the holy warfare of the saints; it is the fight upon which
every soul enters when it awakens out of its long sleep of animal
indulgence.
Men fail to conquer, and the fight is indefinitely prolonged, because
they labour, almost universally, under two delusions: first, that all
temptations come from without; and second, that they are tempted
because of their goodness. Whilst a man is held in bondage by these
two delusions, he will make no progress; when he has shaken them off,
he will pass on rapidly from victory to victory, and will taste of
spiritual joy and rest.
Two searching truths must take the place of these two delusions, and
those truths are: first, that all temptation comes from within; and
second, that a man is tempted because of the evil that is within him.
The idea that God, a devil, evil spirits, or outward objects are the
source of temptation must be dispelled.
The source and cause of all temptation is in the inward desire; that
being purified or eliminated, outward objects and extraneous powers
are utterly powerless to move the soul to sin or to temptation. The
outward object is merely the occasion of the temptation, never the
cause;