________________
LIGHT ON THE PATH 83 . But this conquering of self implies a destruction of qualities which most men regard as not only indestructible but desirable. The power to wound" in. cludes much that men value, not only in themselves but in others. The instinct of self-defence and of self-preservation is part of it; the idea dhat one has any right or rights, 'either as citizen, or man, or individual, the pleasant consciousness of selfrespect and of virtue. These are hard sayings to many, yet they are true. For these words that I am writing now, and those which I have written on this subject, are not in any sense my own. They are drawn from the traditions of the Lodge of the Great Brotherhood, which was once the secret splendour of Egypt. The rules written in its ante-chamber were the same as those now written in the ante-chamber of existing schools. Through all time the wise råen have lived apart from the mass. And even' wiier some temporary purpose
