Light on the Path and Through the Gates of Gold

by Mabel Collins

LIGHT ON THE PATH I These rules are written for all disciples: Attend you to them. Before the eyes can see, they must be incapable of tears. Before the ear can hear, it must have lost its sensitiveness. Before the voice can speak in the presence of the Masters it must have lost the power to wound. Before the soul can stand in the presence of the Masters its feet must be washed in the blood of the heart. 1. Kill out ambition. 2. Kill out desire of life. 3. Kill out desire of comfort. 4. Work as those work who are ambitious. Respect life as those do who desire it. Be happy as those are who live for happiness. Seek in the heart the source of evil and expunge it. It lives fruitfully in the heart of the devoted disciple as well as in the heart of the man of desire. Only the strong can kill it out. The weak must wait for its growth, its fruition, its death. And it is a plant that lives and increases throughout the ages. It flowers when the man has accumulated unto himself innumerable existences. He who will enter upon the path of power must tear this thing out of his heart. And then the heart will bleed, and the whole life of the man seem to be utterly dissolved. This ordeal must be endured: it may come at the first step of the perilous ladder which leads to the path of life: it may not come until the last. But, O disciple, remember that it has to be endured, and fasten the energies of your soul upon the task. Live neither in the present nor the future, but in the eternal. This giant weed cannot flower there: this blot upon existence is wiped out by the very atmosphere of eternal thought. 5. Kill out all sense of separateness. 6. Kill out desire for sensation. 7. Kill out the hunger for growth. 8. Yet stand alone and isolated, because nothing that is imbodied, nothing that is conscious of separation, nothing that is out of the eternal, can aid you. Learn from sensation and observe it, because only so can you commence the science of self-knowledge, and plant your foot on the first step of the ladder. Grow as the flower grows, unconsciously, but eagerly anxious to open its soul to the air. So must you press forward to open your soul to the eternal. But it must be the eternal that draws forth your strength and beauty, not desire of growth. For in the one case you develop in the luxuriance of purity, in the other you harden by the forcible passion for personal stature. 9. Desire only that which is within you. 10. Desire only that which is beyond you. 11. Desire only that which is unattainable. 12. For within you is the light of the world-the only light that can be shed upon the Path. If you are unable to perceive it within you, it is useless to look for it elsewhere. It is beyond you; because when you reach it you have lost yourself. It is unattainable, because it for ever recedes. You will enter the light, but you will never touch the flame. 13. Desire power ardently. 14. Desire peace fervently. 15. Desire possessions above all. 16. But those possessions must belong to the pure soul only, and be possessed therefore by all pure souls equally, and thus be the especial property of the whole only when united....

Genres: Theosophy, Spirituality

Paperback

First published January 1, 1888

About the author

Mabel Collins was born in St Peter Port, Guernsey. She was a writer of popular occult novels, a fashion writer and an anti-vivisection campaigner. According to Vittoria Cremers, as related by Aleister Crowley, Collins was at one time being romantically pursued by both Cremers and alleged occultist Robert D'Onston Stephenson. Cremers claimed that during this time she found five bload-soaked ties in a trunk under Stephenson's bed, corresponding to the five murders committed in Whitechapel by Jack the Ripper. Stephenson is no longer a candidate as being Jack the Ripper due to the efforts of competent, modern researchers. However, Stephenson was a rival with Cremers for Collins' affections, and this account cannot be independently confirmed

Reviews

[David Chmelik · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it is inspirational. It is said to be from the same source as HPB's stanzas of _Dzyan_ and _The_Voice_of_The_Silence_ of which the source of the latter is _The_Book_of_The_Golden_Precepts_ (part of _Dzyan_ or related.) HPB knew Collins,= but may not have publicized that their books were from the same source. The Panchen Lama is said to have these secret books of which the exoteric version is _Kalachakra_Tantra_.

[Little Miss Esoteric]

Dnf therefore no rating. Confusing for the sake of it? It seems to me this could have been wrapped up in ten pages, and for the benefit of all.

[Denisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

These two books stand as two opposites.
In the first she wrote:
6. Kill out desire for sensation

In the second she wrote:
It is sensation we desire, else we would with one accord taste of the deep waters of oblivion, and the human race would become extinct.
Destroy the sensation which makes them wish to persevere in the experiment of living, and there is nothing left.
Thus it is clear that the philosopher who refuses to feel, leaves himself no place to retreat to.... He can only deny himself his heritage of life, which is... the right of sensation.
If he chooses to sacrifice that which MAKES HIM MAN, he must be content with mere idleness of consciousness.
Desire MUST BE GRATIFIED in physical life...

In the first she wrote:
Seal in the heart the source of evil and expunge it. ... Only the strong can kill it out.

In the second, she wrote:
First it makes the vital MISTAKE of distinguishing between good and evil. Nature KNOWS NO such distinction.... We forget them forever.

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great read for an open mind

I would recommended this book only to someone that is able to look at everything fully and interpret it well