The path of Renunciation ...is the Path that leads to God. The straight and narrow way, is the bridge of light that links heaven and earth; the seen and the unseen; the finite and the infinite; the man of Adam and the man of the Celestial realms; the mortal with the immortal.

The path that leads to God means the voluntary putting off of the old man of clay, the body of generation, and assuming the body of re-generation; it means transmuting the old into the new; the baser into the finer; the clay into the gold; the selfish into the selfless. It is the first halting step toward the Path that leads to heavenly places.

Each soul that enters this High Way, must undress itself; dissolve itself; strip for the race to be run; voluntarily cast aside all that hinders, holds back, or hampers or binds; that trips or retards.

To each soul is given, deep within, the Magic Mirror of Truth, wherein he may see himself as he is; not as he thinks he is, but—as he Is. He looks not upon his own idea of himself, formed by his dropsical ego, but himself stripped of all ...save stark reality.

Not until a soul can stand calmly, steadily and unafraid, before this terrible mirror of self-revelation, is it ready to take the first step toward the path that leads to God. Through the eye single, the celestial ray of pure truth—the all-seeing, all-revealing eye of the Spirit—he must look upon himself, with all he has gathered unto himself, all he has wrapped around himself ...see without flinching —the moldering grave-clothes with which he has bound his mind and his heart and his soul. With steady hands and unfaltering courage he must tear away all that is not of the Spirit; toss aside as dross all that is not true; and he must weld into his shrinking soul—courage, which has been termed the supreme faith; strength; chastity—as pure as distilled water; concentration; and discrimination. He is then the volunteer!

We do not seek celestial light—celestial light seeks us. The terrible anguish through which we often pass, and out of whose darkness we reach forth gropingly ...seeking the divine hand, is the agony of separation, when first the ray of celestial fire begins to consume the outer casing of the soul; it is when this consuming of the things we have cherished—have held dear, have clung to— begins, that so many falter ...close their eyes to the light, and turn back!

God must be first, last and ...all that lies between. If we would know truth in its purity, strength, power and glory, we must become an empty vessel—willing to be filled as God wills. This we must become, sooner or later; if not in this incarnation, then in another.

When first this absolute truth is realized, a great horror clutches us; and we reach forth frantically for the hands of those we love; we clutch at things we value; at places we long to occupy; for we feel that to turn loose and swing forth alone into the great silence of the desert, with empty hands, is impossible.

Nothing impossible is ever demanded of a soul! Each strength tester that comes, we are ready to meet—if we look within for the power to face the firing squad! We have the strength —if we seek it where it may be found, to place the bit between our own teeth; to buckle on the check rein. A time comes, and come it does to all, when one must walk the trackless way. To abide in the desert of waiting; to step into the furnace; to mount the place, upon whose summit waits the cross. The renunciation is not demanded by some power without; it comes from some great urge within; it is given, not taken; it is not a terrible trial—but a glorious privilege!

Along this lonely trail; up this ladder of swords ...whose end rests upon earth—whose top touches heaven— a Holy Guide is needed. A Wisdom Teacher, not only to point the way to the Path that leads to God, but to see that we keep the trail after we are on it! For it is easier to find than it is to enter; easier to enter than it is to follow; easier to follow than it is to keep! As it ascends ...it becomes narrower and narrower, until at last it is as fine as a hair and as thin and sharp as a sword blade. As it goes onward and upward, the time comes ...when we can not retrace our footsteps, for the Path has vanished behind us! We have consumed it ...as our feet passed over it; until at last we have become the Path.

God's Lamps ...are the shining souls who have trod the path of purity and renunciation until they have become so entirely one with celestial radiance ...they cannot see the great light by which they travel. They have become so entirely at one with the light ...they cannot objectify it, or detach themselves from it, any more than a man can look into his left eye ...with his right eye. The thing seen is always the thing apart. When we become one with it, it can no longer be separated from ourselves in our consciousness.

To realize our Own Divinity does not mean ego-anointing; it does not mean to affirm it; to privately believe it, and hope secretly, that the rest of the world will see it shine, recognize it, and give to us honor and glory! It means the silent ...living of the life; it means the sharing of the little; the giving of the crust and the cup of cold water; the going silently and steadily on ...in the narrow Path as it unfolds before one; with no shrinking, no hesitation, no fear, no regrets, no looking behind. It is a steady—putting aside— with a firm and a fearless hand ...all that stands between the soul and God. All from which we can detach ourselves ...belongs to this earth, and has nothing to do with the celestial realms.

Chastity is the flawless diamond ...in the foundation of the life of Illumination. It is the Crown Jewel, in which is rooted all virtues; all powers; all light; the lotus blossom of ten thousand times ten thousand celestial petals. Rightly understood, each of these petals blooms into a crown of glory; for Chastity is—Life Everlasting; eternally renewed; an endless chain of celestial light encircling the universe ...linking man with the stars.