An essay on the fundamental principles of operative occultism prepared by Manly P. Hall to accompany three oil paintings by Mihran K. Serailian

It is for these reasons that the applicant is asked, "What motive urges you to take up these arts and sciences? Is your supreme and all-ensouling desire to be of unselfish service to humanity?" To these questions some reply, "Gladly will I die for truth." To them the answer is, "That is not enough. Will you live for truth?" A few brief moments and the act of martyrdom is consummated. A few seconds of pain and the soul of man is beyond the reach of the executioner. This is a tremendous sacrifice—a glorious death. But the daily living, surrounded by problems and worries, year after year of disappointments, this is the supreme test of unselfishness. Until the soul can find perfect joy in giving, perfect companionship in alone-ness, perfect sufficiency in the power of truth, perfect abundance in the gratitude of the few and the scorn of the many—until such a state is reached the disciple is not ready to leave the broad road on which the world walks and take the thorn-lined path which leads to conscious immortality.

Years are spent by the Masters testing the hearts of candidates. Those who begin spiritual unfoldment find difficulties of all kinds rising before them. The even tenor of human existence is shattered, temptations of all kinds confront the seeker, and it is only when he rises triumphant above them all that he is usable in the great plan of human progress. In a man of little mind selfishness is a small sin; should that man develop a great mind and control the destinies of thousands, the small sin if left unmastered becomes a great menace. The impotent selfishness of ignorance becomes the potent tyranny of power.

Occasionally we find persons who, if not in some way restrained by Nature, would become archdoers of evil. But Nature, Delilah-like referring to the biblical figure who robbed Samson of his strength by cutting his hair, has shorn them of their locks. One such case will suffice to demonstrate the principle: A sardonic iconoclast one who attacks settled beliefs or institutions, with a tongue like a two-edged sword, who ruthlessly—even gleefully—destroyed hope, love, and faith in the hearts of others, was struck with paralysis which, affecting his tongue, made speech a slow and painful process. His heart is still filled with malice; in fact he is more malignant than before, but his power to injure others has been taken from him. All men are born with many faculties and members paralyzed. Some are filled with malignancy, held in curb only by their inability to vent their spleen. All human beings have latent faculties and powers, but all are not privileged to develop them at this time. Before it would be safe to loosen the tongue of the malignant creature who calls himself a man, it would first be necessary to transmute the bitterness in his heart.

In a similar manner, before it would be advisable to liberate man from the natural paralysis of ignorance, there should be assurance that the newly awakened members shall be a blessing to humanity and not a curse. Before the Masters give man the power to loosen his tongue, his heart must be purified so that the new power which is given to him shall not frustrate the plan of true spiritual unfoldment. This is the real reason for the periods of probationship a trial period to test a candidate's character and fitness. During these periods the mind and heart are cleansed of those things which, if given power of expression, would work evil. When the supreme forces of Nature are placed in the hands of the newly raised initiate, his heart, his mind, and his soul must accept these gifts with divine humility without thought of self, and use them for the greatest good of the greatest number.

(5) The candidate must keep away from all kinds of psychism and phenomenalism. The fundamental purpose of occultism is not to equip a disciple with the power to see auras, elementals, or thought-forms. Nor is it concerned with the processes of bringing those who have passed on into communication with bereaved relatives on the material plane. Occultism is first, an ethical philosophy; second, an operative science. As the candidate obeys the laws imposed upon him by the Mysteries and as he is faithful in his attendance to the new duties which he is assuming, he gradually and sequentially unfolds the various parts of himself. His faculties become so sensitized that he is able to see at each step of his growth that which is essential for him to see and sense that which is essential for him to sense. Clairvoyance is an effect and not a cause; it is the result of certain adjustments of the life and a gradual regeneration of the particular members. True occult growth is so slow that it is almost imperceptible, the faculties unfolding from within outward like the petals of a flower. To hasten these natural processes beyond a certain point is to endanger the sanity and health of the candidate.

So-called clairvoyance may take many forms. A student may reach a comparatively high degree of Chelaship Sanskrit: the state of being a devoted disciple or pupil to a spiritual master and still be unaware of any extension of sense perception such as is commonly associated with spiritual growth, while a person possessing many psychic powers may be totally unfitted even to enter upon the path of Chelaship. One of the surest signs of true occult unfoldment is a peculiar extension of sense perception or of the mental sense of awareness, which might be called "clair-cognizance." The average person would describe this condition as a form of mental clarity or acuteness. Instead of presenting

itself through the organs of vision or hearing, occult cognition sometimes comes in a purely intellectual form, the mind becoming actually aware of occult truths and philosophic verities without any involvement of the lesser senses.

An example of this is the student who desires to learn the color vibration of a certain invisible organ or part of the body. The mind instantly replies that it is red, without giving any color value—the information coming more as words imprinted upon the mind than in any other form—yet the mind itself registers no awareness of words spoken either physically or spiritually. Apparently the mind of itself announces the color to be red.

In things pertaining to occult philosophy, this faculty seems to be the particular reward of the teacher. If the lay instructor is actually in contact with the higher worlds he will learn far more while he is teaching than will those to whom he is explaining the subjects under discussion, the "clair-cognizance" revealing spontaneously that which the faculties of the mind under normal conditions could not reason out in months. This is the only so-called psychic faculty the coming of which should not be viewed with a certain amount of apprehension. The premature development of clairvoyance and psychism is a serious impediment to the spiritual growth of the student, who is all too likely to wander astray in the byways of the astral plane a level of existence composed of emotional and mental energy and end in the blind alley of transcendentalism here referring to a preoccupation with supernatural phenomena at the expense of practical spiritual growth.

(6) The candidate must realize that with the increase of knowledge there is a proportionate increase of responsibility. With the acquirement of knowledge, the student must acquire the sense of discrimination, so that he may use most intelligently the information he has received. Nearly all who take up the study of occultism eventually becomes teachers of its abstruse sciences. It is proper that they should do this, for as they themselves were instructed they but pay their natural debt by becoming instructors of others. The lay teacher should realize, however, that he becomes accountable for the use which others make of the knowledge he entrusts to them. He cannot shift this burden on to the Mystery Schools; he must bear it himself. For this reason he must be as wise as the gods if he would save himself from the karmic relating to the law of moral cause and effect reactions of the forces which he has enabled others to set in operation.

In occultism the initiate speaks only for himself. Unless actually upon an official errand for the School to which he belongs, he never makes the esoteric Orders in any way responsible for his individual utterances and actions. Unless specifically ordered to do so, the emissaries of the Mysteries speak only for themselves—never for the higher initiates. Those illumined minds who represent the Schools of the Mysteries in the world need no heralding, nor do they require credentials from the invisible Brotherhood to which they belong. Never do they announce themselves, for their power lies not in their affiliations but in themselves. Why should an initiate tell the world that he is a super-man? Unless he demonstrates it by his actions, the world will not accept him as such; and if the exceptional qualities of his intellect prove it, the claim is unnecessary.

All over the world there are hundreds of individuals and institutions claiming to represent the secret Schools of the Ancient Wisdom. Few of these organizations, and still fewer of the individuals, can successfully defend their claims in the face of a critical analysis of their principles and policies. Those disciples truly consecrated to the service of the invisible Schools have made it their policy to refrain from even mentioning the august bodies which they so inadequately represent, until that time when the invisible Order could no longer be discredited by their actions. The true disciple would rather die than compromise his Master or the School into which he hopes sometime to be initiated. He can protect the institution only by assuming personal responsibility for all that he says and does. Then his faults disgrace no one but himself. Only when he has reached the point of complete spiritual illumination does he reveal the source of his knowledge, and then only to a limited few.

One of the laws of occultism is that in order to receive, one must give. Those desirous of greater insight into things spiritual must earn the right to that broader understanding by the intelligent use of that knowledge already possessed. The student-teacher must realize that he is personally responsible for whatever effects his theories and doctrines may have upon the minds and bodies of others. By instruction we actually change the course of other people's lives; we direct them into new channels of mental and physical activity; we change the tenor of their existence. If directly or indirectly these changes are not beneficial to them, we who gave them the knowledge become responsible before the gods for the results of our indiscretion.

In a similar manner, those who teach us are responsible for our actions and the use we make of the wisdom they have shared with us. Hence, when the disciple fails, it is the Master who suffers most. Most of all, we are responsible if we place in the hands of those unfitted to receive it that knowledge of...