The spiritual life

122 The Spiritual Life.

Letusexamineinto the cause of the dark-

ness,forthough,whileitisupon us,allmerely

theoretical knowledge breaks down underour

feet,yet that knowledge may help to clear it

away more rapidly, when once it begins to

lighten. Nothingbutrepeatedpracticalexperi-

encecan keepusassteadyandassereneinthe

darkness as in the light,buttheoretical know-

ledgehasitsplaceintheevolutionofthemind.

We will take separately the cases of the

aspirantandoftheaccepteddisciple,forthough

the causes of the darkness which affects the

former may also play their part in bringing

down the night on the latter,there are addi-

tional causes atwork wherethe accepted dis-

cipleisconcerned.

Firstcomesthewell-knownfactofthequick-

ening of karma, once a man has set his face

resolutelytowardstheportalof the Path. We

need not dwell on this, for it has been often

explained, and it plays a comparatively small

part in the bringing down of the darkness.

One element, however, perhaps less often

alluded to,maybe mentioned here. Pleasure

and pain, connected with the emotions and

passions, belong to the astral world and are

experienced through the astral body; conse-

quentlyaverylarge amount of karma belongs,