study guides
study guide for superdomain05c ["Creating reality]
Material from: Besant, A. (1912). The man of the world (pp. 1-16). In: Initiation, the perfecting of man. [Original scan courtesy of Global Grey EBooks: 2019, globalgreyebooks.com]
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1. Know whether or not the path to initiation, and through initiation to the perfecting of man, is recognized in only a few of the great religions. Know whether or not one of the fundamental facts in nature is the fact of reincarnation. Know whether or not for the selfish no advance is possible; for the unselfish advance is certain. Know whether or not the man who can become possessed by a natural idea is coming near to the Path. Know whether or not the service demanded is that unselfish service that gives everything and asks for nothing in return. Know whether or not You must feel the sorrow of others as you feel your own pain. Know whether or not, according to Patanji, the butterfly mind, is far from Yoga.
2. Know whether or not the eyes that scrutinize not the outer face but the heart of man, judge by a better judgment than the judgment of the world. Know whether or not the great facts in nature are reincarnation, the law of karma, the fact of the path, the existence of deities. Know whether or not it matters whether one is right or wrong. Know whether or not, from the occult standpoint, the outer action is as the husk which is broken and cast away, and within the husk the fruit of the motive is seen. Know whether or not one should despise the common world of men, in which men are striving and struggling.
3. Know whether or not the occult rule judges of the motive, and not of the outer action. Know whether or not, for the sake of the poor, the author flung aside everything that a woman values, [and] it brought her to the Gateway of Initiation in this life. Know whether or not when the author is not taking part in a thing, she never judges those who are facing a danger that she does not share.
4. Know whether or not that you have to study is your action more than your motive. Know whether or not the recognition of social duty, of social responsibility, is the noblest sign of the evolution of man. Know whether or not we do not judge the place of men by action, but by thought, by will and by emotion.
5. Know whether or not the errors of the brain may be corrected slowly, taking some time. Know whether or not the building of heroism, devotion, and self-sacrifice is the work of many lives of strenuous endeavour. Know whether or not Christ could never have declared that only a few should be the ranks of the saved. Know whether or not Besant proposes a short though difficult way by which man evolves more rapidly than in the ordinary course of human and natural evolution. Know whether or not it matters which faith you turn to and whether it matters which particular set of names you choose as best attracting or expressing your own ideas.
6. Know whether or not facts in nature do not change either with our believing or non-believing. Know whether or not our man of the world need not know of reincarnation. Know whether or not, In the higher world where the judgment of the great Ones is made, their sentence is pronounced, although you know it not. Know whether or not our man of the world, who is ready to take the first steps must have behind him a long, long course of human evolution. Know whether or not Charles Bradlaugh had firm beliefs in the life of the other side of death.
7. Know whether or not the outer action is the expression of some past thought or emotion but the motive for the action is what is all-important. Know whether or not wherever you see [Service to Man], the person is approaching the Path, though he may never have heard of it. Know whether or not the building of heroism, devotion, and self-sacrifice is the work of many lives of strenuous endeavor.
"As Below, So Above"
