PHILOSOPHY AND THEOSOPHY 271 



that, having escaped his punishment once, he will escape 

 it again. Such a person is blown about like a reed, 

 and cannot resist the forces which are acting upon him, 

 and the reason of this is, that he has no real self-know- 

 ledge, and does not know that there is in him a power 

 superior to that of the stars (the lower mind). Wisdom 

 in man is nobody's servant and has not lost its own 

 freedom, and through wisdom man attains power over 

 the stars " ^ (Dt Fundamento Sapientice). 



Knowledge 



Intellectual reasoning may arrive at the door of the 

 spiritual temple, but man cannot enter without perceiv- 

 ing that the temple exists and that he has the power 

 to enter. This knowledge is called faith ; but faith 

 does not come to those who do not desire it, and a 

 desire for divine wisdom is not created by man. Man's 

 desires depend on the presence of an exciting cause, 

 and that which attracts him strongest is the thing for 

 which he has the greatest desire. It is not within the 

 power of the animal or intellectual nature of man to 

 desire or to love that which he does not know. He 

 may have a curiosity to see the unknown God, but he 

 can truly love only that which he feels, and of which 

 he knows that it exists. He must realise the presence 

 of the highest in his own heart before he can know 

 it. The spiritual temple is locked with many keys, 

 and those who are vain enough to believe that they can 

 invade it by their own power, and without being shown 

 the way by the light of wisdom, will storm against it 

 in vain. Wisdom is not created by man ; it must 

 come to him, and cannot be purchased for money nor 



1 Everybody knows that the thinking faculty is not our own self, but 

 that there is something in us which has the power to think or to let think- 

 ing alone. This something is higher than the intellectual realm, and 

 therefore higher than all of its "stars." 



