the Candidates toward this goal. First by this path, and then by that
one, giving them different glimpses of the desired point, until finally
the student finds a path best fitted for his feet, and he moves along
straight to the mark, and throwing aside the confining bonds that have
proved so irksome, he cries aloud for joy at his new found Freedom.

The following exercises and Mental Drills are intended to aid the
Candidate in his work of growing into a realization of his relationship
with the Whole of Life and Being.


MENTAL DRILL.

(1) Read over what we have said in the "Advanced Course" regarding
the principle known as Matter. Realize that all Matter is One at the
last--that the real underlying substance of Matter is _Akasa_ or
Ether, and that all the varying forms evident to our senses are but
modifications and grosser forms of that underlying principle. Realize
that by known chemical processes all forms of Matter known to us, or
rather all combinations resulting in "forms," may be resolved into their
original elements, and that these elements are merely _Akasa_ in
different states of vibration. Let the idea of the Oneness of the visible
Universe sink deeply into your mind, until it becomes fixed there. The
erroneous conception of diversity in the material world must be replaced
by the consciousness of Unity--Oneness, at the last, in spite of the
appearance of variety and manifold forms. You must grow to see behind the
world of forms of Matter, and see the great principle of Matter (_Akasa_
or Ether) back of, within, and under it all. You must grow to _feel_
this, as well as to intellectually see it.