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848
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
possess little or no validity in the realm of true metaphysics. Many of them even deny the existence of phenomena which are only too well proved, on unimpeachable testimony. But no more of this.
The one most fatal effect of ignorance in us is that it makes us blind to our own inner forces and powers. By the impetuosity of will running wild in the pursuit of desire, the transparency of consciousness is disturbed to such an extent that we are rendered quite unconscious of its inner operations, and begin to prize the little gleam left to us, with which to adjust our relations with the outer world. The consequence of this is the most unfortunate one for our race, for it renders the will negative, exposes us to all sorts of evils, and prevents our acquiring a knowledge of such psychic faculties as clairvoyance, clair-audience, and the like, lying dormant within the soul. When one desires to have the homage of all mankind, to appropriate all the wealth of the world, to be admired and praised by every one, to get all the titles and other marks of distinction, which tickle the vanity of the foolish-in short, when one craves for all the things that abound in the world, he converts himself into a sort of pit which remains ever empty, in spite of being filled from all directions unceasingly. When a man thus turns himself into what may, more appropriately, be called a dust-bin, his will becomes negative, and is forced to look upon itself as impotent. In such a state of mental cowardice it cannot perform its higher functions, and lies dormant, as if drugged and stupefied. If we are then exposed to any danger, we are powerless to combat it, and readily
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